Studying psychology at Goldsmiths

As a psychology student at Goldsmiths, you will:

• have the opportunity to gain formal and informal professional work experience 
• be taught by and work closely with award-winning lecturers and professors of psychology
• have access to departmental research facilities to undertake your own research project

Teaching and learning

We run a seminar series throughout the academic year, at which internal and guest speakers present their research. This allows staff and students to be inspired by leading academics and learn about current developments across the range of psychological fields.

Students will experience psychology in action through interactive experiences such as Forest schools, forensic investigation, and museum and gallery visits.

Developing your skills

Skill development is integral to our psychology programmes. From year one students have the opportunity to develop their public speaking and presenting skills. As well as producing academic essays, students also write popular science articles and prepare poster presentations.

The development of research skills runs throughout our programmes, introducing students to the scientific method, critical thinking, research design, and statistical analysis. This focus results in some truly exceptional work produced by students in the department.

Our teaching experts

The psychology department is currently led jointly by Dr Guido Orgs, a cognitive neuroscientist and dancer studying action and body perception, and Professor José van Velzen. José’s research focuses on multisensory processing, spatial attention, and sensory processing in the context of motor behaviour.

The department benefits from an incredibly strong research ethos, with many world leading experts in their respective fields. This includes:

• Professor Alice Gregory, a world-leading expert in sleep who has written several books on the subject
• Professor Yulia Kovas, who has been awarded mega-grants for her research into genetics and psychology
• Professor Jonathan Freeman, Director of i2media, conducting groundbreaking research at the intersection of psychology and media

Opportunities for psychology students

Goldsmiths psychology students have access to a comprehensive suite of platforms and behavioural measures for use in Psychological research:

• Qualtrics
• Gorilla for online data collection
• a comprehensive test battery  

Students can also join the British Psychological Society at a discounted rate, as well as become part of the excellent Psychology Society, part of the Goldsmiths Students' Union.

Careers and support

Psychology is a truly interdisciplinary area of study and opens up both traditional and diverse career options.

Traditional options include clinical, counselling, educational, forensic, occupational, and research psychology paths. The critical, analytical, and statistical skills students develop by studying psychology makes them solid candidates for a variety of jobs across all sectors.

Career guidance is embedded in all our programmes from the first term.

Facilities and resources

Goldsmiths has a full suite of EEG (Electroencephalogram), Biosignals, and Virtual Reality laboratory facilities that students are able to make use of – especially in their dissertations and research projects.

Students are also invited to join specific research teams that run within the department. These include:

• InLab run by Professor Yulia Kovas
• Sleep Lab run by Professor Alice Gregory
• Neuroscience Journal Club run by Professor Joydeep Bhattacharya
• Prejudice Lab run by Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala
• ART (Ashok’s research team) run by Dr Ashok Jansari
• Forensic Lab run by Fiona Goddard and Adrian Scott
• EquaLab run by Professor Keon West