This MRes degree programme provides you with comprehensive training in the skills required for psychological research. You will gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of particular research methods, experimental designs and statistical procedures.
This programme is studied on campus.
The University of Aberdeen has one of the longest established departments of Psychology in the UK with a long tradition of high-quality research training. The School of Psychology was ranked in the top 20 in the UK for its research in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework audit.
The Masters of Research (MRes) course consists of 6 smaller taught modules and one large research module, lasting for one year of full-time study. The taught courses will provide an introduction to postgraduate research and training, including issues surrounding ethics. You will develop core skills required for research, including reviewing the literature, publishing web pages, preparing funding applications, disseminating your research through presentations and papers, and communicating with non-academic audiences. There will be training in advanced design and statistics, including sessions on both quantitative and qualitative techniques. This course will introduce you to issues associated with conducting research with various populations such as clinical samples and older people.
You will also learn about important techniques of data collection such as neuroimaging and eye-tracking. A major component of the MRes is the individual research project. You will complete a research project, supervised by a member of staff. Please see a list of potential research projects that staff are willing to supervise.
A major component of the MRes is the individual research project. You will complete a research project, closely supervised by a member of staff who is an expert in the relevant field. For information about staff and the types of research project they are willing to supervise, please see potential research projects.
This course provides an introduction to postgraduate study in psychology, including issues surrounding ethics and data protection. It also includes sessions on the history of psychology and philosophy of science.
These courses introduce some of the core skills required for a career in research, including reviewing the literature, publishing webpages, preparing funding applications, disseminating research through presentations and papers.
These courses provide training in advanced design and statistical techniques including analysis of variance and multiple regression, as well as an SPSS practical class.
These courses in advanced design and statistics include sessions on both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Statistical techniques covered include logistic and multiple regression, confirmatory factor analysis and multidimensional scaling. The principles of questionnaire design are explained.
These courses introduce more of the core skills required for a career in research, including report writing, preparing for the viva examination, dealing with non-academic audiences, and planning a career route.
This course provides an introduction to the issues associated with conducting research with various populations including children, clinical patients, and older adults. It covers the process of working in collaboration with industry, and the techniques available for collecting data over the internet.
A major component of the MRes is the Research Module. For this, students complete their own research project supervised by a member of staff who is an expert in the relevant field. They also attend departmental seminars, present their research at a postgraduate psycholoquia and take part in journal clubs.
We will endeavour to make all course options available; however, these may be subject to timetabling and other constraints. Please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
Teaching consists of lectures, seminars, tutorials and practical classes. A lot of research training is through hands-on learning by designing and running studies and analysing data in close coordination with supervisors.
All of the teaching proceeds in small groups, allowing for individual support and feedback. The research project is guided by individual meetings with the supervisor. A further member of staff, the assessor, will provide feedback on all assessments related to the research module.
Students can also choose from a range of other courses offered by the University of Aberdeen.
Assessment includes essays, oral and poster presentations, and the production of a thesis reporting your research project.
View the list of potential projects and staff research interests on our School website to select areas of research which interest you. You should specify in your personal statement three members of academic staff that you might be interested in doing a research project with during the MRes. Note that this does not commit you or the School to carrying out a project with these particular supervisors. You are welcome to contact potential supervisors during the application process to find out more about their research interests. You do not need to prepare a research proposal at this stage.
A list of staff and their research interests and example projects can be found on our School website.
A 2:1 degree in Psychology or a cognate discipline.
Please check our International student pages for country-specific requirements.
All students entering the University must provide evidence that they can use English well enough to study effectively at the University of Aberdeen.
Details of our English language entry requirements can be found on our English Language Requirements webpages. This programme requires that you meet the College of Life Sciences and Medicine Postgraduate Standard level of English proficiency.
If you have not achieved the required scores, the University of Aberdeen offers pre-sessional English courses. Further details are available on our Language Centre website.
Nationals of some English-speaking countries or those who hold degrees from some English-speaking countries may be exempt from this requirement. Details of countries recognised as English-speaking can be found on our English Language Requirements webpages.
You will be required to supply the following documentation with your application as proof you meet the entry requirements of this degree programme.
You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.
| Fee category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Home / EU / RUK Students | £6,000 |
| Tuition Fee for 2017/18 Academic Year | |
| International Students | £18,000 |
| Tuition Fee for 2017/18 Academic Year |
Further Information about tuition fees and the cost of living in Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen is very pleased to offer a 20% discount on postgraduate tuition fees for all alumni who have graduated with a degree from the University of Aberdeen. More information can be found on our Finance and Funding page.
View all funding options in our Funding Database.
This programme provides an excellent platform for those students wanting to pursue a career in psychological research, particularly those wishing to study towards a PhD. The transferrable skills included in the MRes programme would also be useful for careers in other fields. Potential careers for MRes Psychology graduates include clinical psychology, human factors, industrial research, and business administration. Many employers seek psychology graduates as people with an understanding of human behaviour and knowledge of data processing.
I really enjoyed the freedom to work on my own research project, while receiving all the support I needed from my supervisors. The taught component of the degree helped me build the skills I needed to become a better researcher.
The MRes course taught me not only different research skills that are now vital for a PhD but also enabled me to become a more independent and self-directed researcher than was previously afforded to me in my undergraduate course.
The School of Psychology provides an exciting and vibrant research environment. Our degrees are taught by a range of experts across our 3 research themes, Cognition, Perception and Attention and Social Cognition.
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. Staff changes will occur from time to time; please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
This facility consists of several spacious rooms that house electroencephalographic (EEG) equipment and sound-attenuated, shielded testing booths.
The School of Psychology has four in-house eye trackers. The Eyelink 1000 system allows the recording of eye gaze at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz.
The University’s award winning Sir Duncan Rice Library is listed in the “Top 20 spellbinding University libraries in the World”. It contains over a million volumes, more than 300,000 e-books and 21,000 journals.
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