The South East Doctoral Training Arc (SEDarc)

The intuitions of organisations managing adolescent student exchanges are that this experience leads to later promotion of diversity and inclusivity, with supportive anecdotal evidence. Our initial longitudinal study suggests a more complex picture, see here (p.19). The project will be informed by our initial findings and use our connections with such organisations to examine the process of change throughout and after the experience, focusing on value and behaviour change, using longitudinal surveys and possibly interviews and intervention studies. Excellent achievements in prior statistics training is required, and fluency in another European language is an advantage. I welcome other ideas on values. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

Picture this: you've spent a lot of money on tickets for an outdoor concert. When the day finally arrives, the weather is terrible—strong winds and snow make it miserable to be outside. Would you still go? Research suggests that you likely would, even though you'd probably turn down free tickets if you hadn’t already paid for them. This is an example of sunk cost bias, the undue influence of past investment on decisions. This bias can have a large effect on technological innovations and progress, yet research on cultural evolution that investigates technological progress ignores such biases. This PhD project will use experiments to examine how social and cultural factors influence people's vulnerability to the sunk cost bias, and consequently, technological progress. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

Learning to read is the most important outcome of primary schooling.  It brings knowledge, employment, and prosperity to an individual; high levels of literacy at a societal level also contribute to poverty reduction and economic growth.  This PhD studentship will focus on some aspect of how children learn to read but will be tailored to the student’s interests and expertise.  Projects may be focused on English but may also focus on writing systems that differ from English in important ways (e.g. Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew).  Likewise, while projects may be focused on learning to read in high-income, largely monolingual settings such as England, it would be possible to develop a project tackling the special challenges of learning to read in a low- and middle-income country, particularly where a child may be learning to read in a language that they do not know. This project will be conducted with appropriate partner organisations (e.g. schools, literacy charities, international development agencies), and the second supervisor will be selected according to the particular focus of the project. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

The last five years has seen an explosion of progress in building large language models such as Alexa and Siri able to mimic aspects of human language behaviour.  However, there has been very limited interaction between the engineers and computer scientists building these models and psychologists studying aspects of human language understanding. This project will focus on some aspect of the interface between large language models (typically used for engineering applications) and human language understanding but will be tailored to the student’s interests and expertise.  One avenue would be for students to uncover the similarities and differences between large language models and human language understanding; for example, how do humans and large language models generalise their knowledge to unfamiliar situations?  The other avenue would be for students to investigate how large language models can be used to improve the accessibility of text for individuals with low literacy or for children who struggle to learn to read; for example, through the use of summarisation tools or by parsing text automatically into meaningful elements.  These would both be cross-disciplinary projects conducted in collaboration with experts from the Department of Computer Science.  Students would require very strong quantitative and programming skills. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

Bilingual children and adults are better at learning new words compared to monolingual children and adults. The precise cognitive mechanisms that support this bilingual advantage are not clear. The advantage could be due to pre-existing memory schemas: new information that is compatible with an existing memory schema can lead to accelerated memory consolidation. The aim of this project is to find out what role sleep-associated memory consolidation plays in this advantage. The project will use word learning and sleep paradigms and in adults and children to discover whether bilinguals show accelerated consolidation of new words. Dr Tamminen will contribute expertise on sleep and memory research, and Professor Ricketts will contribute to the developmental aspects of the work. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

Statistics for mental health in the UK portray a stark picture: about three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health problem. Mental health issues often emerge in early adolescence, with earlier symptoms typically leading to worse outcomes. The NHS reports that the crisis is growing, with 1 in 4 young people (age 17-19) showing signs of mental disorder. However, effective, evidence-based interventions remain scarce. The crisis is likely to escalate, but the causes of mental health problems are not well understood. One particularly overlooked area is the school environment, where children spend significant time, potentially affecting their mental wellbeing. The current mental health crisis among young people calls for a paradigm shift toward identifying modifiable risk factors within their daily environments.

Risk factors for poor mental health are likely to be multifactorial, ranging from biological (genetic factors) to psychological (attitudes) and environmental (home and school environment; broader society) factors. There is an urgent need for research that combines these risk domains to better understand the processes affecting children's mental health. This project seeks to unlock the potential of the school environment in tackling the youth mental health crisis using longitudinal, genetically informed design and multiple cohorts and study designs to establish the causal links between school environment and mental health.

The proposed interdisciplinary project uses advanced statistical methods and is jointly supervised by Dr Kaili Rimfeld (Psychology) and Prof Dan Anderberg (Economics). This research has the potential to significantly influence policy and the design of intervention and prevention programmes, thereby contributing to a transformation in young people's mental wellbeing.

For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

People typically show optimistic biases in learning, favouring desirable than undesirable information; in self-attribution, preferring to think they caused desirable than undesirable outcomes; and in self-evaluation, like overconfidence. Yet, the relation between these types of biases remains unclear, including regarding whether similar or different neural networks are involved. Moreover, what biases may protect, or hinder, mental health remains underinvestigated. Leveraging computational models of reinforcement learning, this project will investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying optimistic biases in human learning and decision making, through behavioural and neuroimaging studies. Candidates would require very strong quantitative and programming skills, and an interest in learning and decision-making research. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here.

This PhD project investigates how the brain organizes complex auditory experiences during music-making, focusing on grid-like neural coding—patterns typically associated with spatial navigation. Recent findings suggest these coding mechanisms also play a role in auditory tasks. The research will explore how these patterns operate during more naturalistic music-making activities.

The project combines neuroscience psychology, and music cognition, using innovative brain imaging techniques, such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), to study how the brain processes multi-dimensional auditory information. This interdisciplinary approach could have implications for understanding music cognition, auditory disorders, and other cognitive functions.

Ideal candidates will have an interest in cognitive neuroscience and music cognition, and will gain valuable experience in neuroimaging, data analysis, and interdisciplinary research. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research at the intersection of brain science and music.

For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

Prosociality is a central, human quality allowing large-scale cooperation in modern societies. Previous theoretical work has suggested that prosociality requires at least two cognitive processes: 1) mentalizing (i.e., the ability to understand other’s intentions); 2) and empathy (particularly, empathic concern to motivate acts of prosociality).

However, recent work has cast doubt on the requirement of these cognitive processes for prosocial behaviours. This project aims to tackle the contributing role of mentalizing abilities in prosociality from a decision-theoretic perspective with focus on social learning.

The proposed project will develop interactive paradigms to measure prosocial behaviours by manipulating mentalizing abilities in which different levels of mentalization lead to different beliefs and, consequently, behaviours. It will be investigated how mentalizing abilities shape people’s decision-making processes underlying prosocial behaviours and help inferences on others’ prosocial behaviours and character traits. These abilities will be linked to different psychological traits (e.g., personality) and/or states (e.g., loneliness), and the interplay between mentalizing abilities and empathy will be further explored.

The project will require to combine advanced tools of experimental designing, like online and in-lab multiplayer games as well as interactions with model-based agents, with state-of-the-art computational modelling and neuroimaging techniques (i.e., functional magnetic resonance imaging) to dive into the different cognitive dimensions underlying prosocial acts.

Fostering prosociality has been suggested to benefit all humanity through the adoption of other-regarding behaviours (e.g., helping and pro-environmental behaviours) that will be essential to tackle the major challenges the humanity is facing today––from war conflicts to climate change. Hence, understanding the cognitive and psychological underpinnings of prosocial behaviour is pivotal to develop strategies and policies that most effectively harness positive impacts and mitigate harm in response to the collective challenges of the future.

For more information about the primary supervisor, see here. 

As we age, our hearing and cognitive abilities gradually change in ways that make it difficult to understand speech. For example, many older adults struggle to hear speech in noisy social environments like pubs, bars, and restaurants. On top of this, older adults with hearing loss have trouble hearing high frequencies that are important for differentiating between speech sounds. Although understanding speech can get more difficult with age, there are multiple potential strategies that older adults can use to adapt, such as using preserved auditory cues or relying more on contextual information. This project will explore how older adults adapt to changes in their auditory system, with the aim of identifying the strategies that promote effective communication in real-world listening environments. For more information about the primary supervisor, see here.

The world is at a critical tipping point in the climate crisis, making immediate collective action essential to prevent irreversible damage and safeguard our future. While psychological research often emphasises individual agency in pro-environmental decision-making, climate change is fundamentally an intergroup challenge that demands cooperation across groups. This project seeks to understand pro-climate actions and support for pro-environmental policies through the lenses of intergroup relations and intergenerational cooperation. Specifically, we will explore, for instance, how perceptions of systemic inequality and current intergroup conflicts shape pro-climate behaviours and how willing individuals are to display intergenerational cooperation that differently influence different groups. Hiro is open to discussing ideas for student-led PhD projects. Please visit his website to find out more about his research and expertise.

Research find that there are benefits for spending time in nature with connection to nature and wellbeing. However, less is known about why this association exists, or how we can maximise the benefits. I am keen to work with potential applicants to tease apart what factors (‘ingredients’ or a ‘recipe’) may need to be present to benefit from engaging with nature (e.g., is it a particular biodiverse landscape, is it the sounds of nature, is it about how much time is spent, is it about sitting and taking the time to notice nature). You may be interested in different outcome variables, such as connection to nature, sustainability behaviours, loneliness, or wellbeing, as examples. Project partners may include Kew RBG, who I have been working within the ‘Nature Unlocked’ programme of work, seeking to unlock which biodiverse landscape may be most strongly associated with developing a stronger connection to nature. We will identify a second supervisor once I have a better understanding of which direction you would like to take the work! 

For more information about the primary supervisor, see here.

The project will examine the potential of tech such as digital interview recording and AI tools to increase reporting of crimes from those at risk of becoming victims and those affected by repeat offences.

For more information about the primary supervisor, see here.