Psychology

General information for incoming students

Before you make a decision on your Erasmus plan you need to be aware of the conditions of participating in the Erasmus Student Exchange programme. First of all, you need to know that you can study with us if there is a bilateral contract between your depertment and ours. If there is a biletral contract your department has to nominate you before we discuss and prepare a contract, a Learning Agreement with you.

All the information you need to know before coming to live and study in Portsmouth can be found at the International Office.

For enquiries about your future stay in Portsmouth you can e-mail us at erasmus@port.ac.uk.

For help with planning your studies at the Department of Psychology please contact our departmental Erasmus coordinator at Stefanie.Sonnenberg@port.ac.uk.

Courses Available to Erasmus Students

As a student coming to University of Portsmouth you will have the choice of studying in the final (3rd) year of two of our undergraduate courses. A list of available courses is given below, once you have identified units that are of interest to you and before submitting your learning agreement, you should discuss your proposed plan of study with our departmental Erasmus coordinator by e-mailing Stefanie.Sonnenberg@port.ac.uk.

BSc (Hons) Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour, and the thoughts, feelings and motivation that underlie that behaviour. It is a broad-ranging discipline encompassing a wide variety of stimulating and exciting areas of study. Psychology at Portsmouth will allow you to undertake a thorough grounding in all the fundamental areas considered essential by the British Psychological Society (BPS). It will also allow you to develop interests and participate in a wide range of specialist research areas.

Our full-time BSc (Hons) Psychology degree is designed to provide an integrated and broad-based approach to psychology in the first two years, followed by an opportunity to develop more specialist areas of knowledge in the final year. The degree is intended both to prepare you for careers within psychology and to provide a range of skills and knowledge that those who choose other careers will find useful. The same course is offered on a part-time basis and can be spread over six years.

BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology

Our BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology programme is one of only a few undergraduate courses in the UK specialising in this area. Moreover, no other psychology department in the UK boasts such a large number of academic forensic psychologists, including lecturing staff and PhD students whose interests range from investigative interviewing and detecting deception to jury decision making, burglars’ target selection strategies and offenders’ attitudes and beliefs.

We are a dynamic and growing department, which houses the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology (ICRFP). Our staff are actively committed to providing excellent teaching based on high-quality research. Unlike other BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology programmes, our course contains forensically relevant topics in all three years of study. Topics include investigative interviewing, detecting deception, personality disordered offenders, assessment and treatment of offenders, and false confessions.

The BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology degree is intended both to prepare you for careers within psychology and to provide a range of skills and knowledge that those who choose other careers will find useful.
We also have a very active forensic psychology research group and consider the development of high-calibre research to be essential in providing the highest quality education. A priority is placed on integrating the research activities of staff within the teaching programme, so you will be taught by academics at the cutting edge of many different aspects of forensic psychology. Final-year units directly reflect the ongoing research interests of staff members.