Department of Psychology
Teaching | Research | Our staff | Explore our Faculty | Contact us
Our Department of Psychology has been guiding students in the field since 1969. Over the past 50 years, the department has become one of the top 25 places to study psychology in the UK (The Guardian), and the 7th best school for graduate prospects for UK psychology undergraduate courses (2020 Complete University Guide).
The department offers degrees covering a wide range of psychological topics, making graduates especially attractive to future employers – 95% of students from our BSc Psychology and BSc Forensic Psychology students are in employment or further study 6 months after graduation (DLHE, 2017). In a 2017 survey by the Economist, we were ranked 6th out of 104 British universities for boosting our students chances at getting higher salaries.
We hold an Athena SWAN bronze award for our commitment to gender and social equality in the workplace, and a National Union of Students Green Impact Gold Award for our voluntary green practices.
Teaching
We pay particular attention to supporting our students outside of lectures so they get the best out of our degrees.
For example, during level 4 and 5 of the courses students meet in small groups, during the first and second year of our courses, students meet in small groups and individually with their personal tutor on a regular basis – and in their final year students get one-on-one supervision while they work on their chosen psychological research project. We pride ourselves on offering excellent student support which creates a pleasant and helpful environment.
You can see all the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees we offer at the Psychology subject area page.
Research
Psychologists play an important role in understanding the world, and our research aims to improve the lives of people around the world.
Our recent projects include innovative work on predicting high-risk offenders, and studies exploring how to protect victims and support witnesses. Other projects include 'increasing mammal release success rates and reducing the impact of tourism on wildlife' and 'developing tools to enhance employment prospects of adults on the autism spectrum'. Our research portal, Pure, has a full list of staff and researchers working within the department.
We've received funding from many prestigious organisations, including the Economic & Social Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, Federal Bureau of Investigation, British Academy and the British Psychological Society.Our areas of expertise
Take a closer look at the work we're doing across our 4 areas of expertise in Psychology research.
Our research centres
Much of our exceptional research takes place within the following cross-disciplinary research centres – find out more below.
We're researching the most effective and reliable methods to gather information about criminal activities, that ensure accurate investigations.
Research project highlights
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Cognitive research leads to improved lie detection
Our researchers developed the innovative Cognitive Load (CL) technique – based on cognitive theory – which yields significantly superior lie detection results by devising interviews that are more difficult for liars than truth-tellers.
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Improving public engagement with science through primate research
Our researchers have established a primate research centre in a zoo environment (Marwell Zoo), where visitors can watch the science taking place – this led to significant increases in their perception of the zoo as a place of learning; increased their knowledge about the specific research being conducted; and improved children's attitudes to science as an exciting subject.
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Promoting justice, protecting victims and supporting witnesses
Developed in the laboratory and tested in the field, the Self-Administered Interview (SAI©) is an evidence-based investigative interviewing tool designed to elicit comprehensive initial statements from multiple witnesses and victims – particularly in time- and resource-critical situations – which is now being used by police forces internationally.
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Improving the well being of employees
Our researchers created the quality of working life (WRQoL) – a psychometric scale to understand and improve the quality of working life of working people in the UK and across the world, which is now being used by universities, NHS Trusts, Trade Unions, schools, and major organisations including the Police, and the BBC.
Our staff
Dr Lucy Akehurst
- Job Title Head of Department
- Email Address Lucy.Akehurst@port.ac.uk
- Department Department of Psychology
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Mark Turner
- Job Title Associate Head of Teaching and Learning
- Email Address Mark.Turner@port.ac.uk
- Department Department of Psychology
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Leanne Proops
- Job Title Associate Head (Research)
- Email Address leanne.proops@port.ac.uk
- Department Department of Psychology
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Iris Nomikou
- Job Title Associate Head (Innovation)
- Email Address iris.nomikou@port.ac.uk
- Department Department of Psychology
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Explore our faculty
Explore the other Schools and Departments that make up our Faculty of Science and Health.
Contact us
To get in touch, please contact our Faculty office.
University Coronavirus Information Line
With effect from Monday 23 March and until further notice, we're operating a very limited opening arrangement due to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak.
Please only contact us via the Coronavirus Information Line if you need information about our response to the Coronavirus situation.
Email: infoline@port.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)23 9284 5588
The phone line is open Monday – Thursday 9.00am – 5.00pm and Friday 9.00am – 4.00pm.
Further information about our response can be found on the Coronavirus Information and FAQs page