PSYCHOLOGY
Nationally the discipline of psychology is in an extremely healthy state, and its research quality bears comparison with the best in the world. The South West is very well represented in this discipline, with departments having particular strengths in applied cognition and cognitive neuroscience and social, economic, clinical and health psychology. GWR are funding 17 Psychology PhDs and 4 Research Fellows in the South West, and this 'critical mass' will allow institutions to make a real step-change in training in these areas. This funding has already led to further Research Council and Charity funding for research training (MRC, ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC, Wellcome, Leverhulme) and project grant funding (with associated studentships).
GWR are organising a series of seminars in the South West on broad topics within 'Psychology'. These seminars can viewed 'live' at Exeter, Bath, Bristol, UWE and Plymouth via Access Grid nodes in these universities.
Forthcoming seminars
16th December, Prof Anthony Dickinson (University of Cambridge), 'Actions, habits and conflict: Reflections on the castaway's dilemma'
17th February, Dr Ben Whalley (University of Plymouth), 'A meta-analysis of health outcomes'
24th February, Dr Liz Jenkinson (UWE), 'Appearance research'
10th March, Dr Valerie Purdie-Vaughns (Columbia University NY) , 'Inter-group relations and diversity'
Archived seminars
'Developing quality criteria for using photography in research dissemination', Dr Sarah Riley (University of Bath)
'Paradigms: War and Peace', Emma Dures (UWE)
'In those shoes?: Exploring women's identities through footwear', Dr Vivien Burr (University of Huddersfield),
'Introduction to Mathematical modeling', Dr. Chris Kent, GWR Research Fellow (University of Bristol, Plymouth University)
An introduction to the basic principles of modeling in psychology, with a particular emphasis on mathematical models of cognition. The seminar will cover all aspects of modeling, from construction, through parameter estimation, and model evaluation. The seminar assumes basic knowledge of statistics and experimental design.