Think Psychology Think Bangor Open Day Leaflet

COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES

School of Psychology

For further information, please contact: School of Psychology Bangor University Gwynedd LL57 2DG Tel: 01248 382629 E-mail: psychology@bangor.acuk

@PsychBangor www.facebook.com/bangoruniversity

The University makes all reasonable efforts to ensure that the information in this leaflet is correct at the time of printing.

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www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology

THINK PSYCHOLOGY THINK BANGOR

THINK PSYCHOLGY THINK BANGOR There are many good reasons why you should think about doing your psychology degree at Bangor. Here are just three of them:

1. TEACHING The School of Psychology is one of only five departments ranked in The Times 2014 Good University Guide as top 20 for the three key measures - Student Satisfaction, Research Quality, Graduate Prospects. It is also ranked in the top 100 Psychology Departments in the world by the QS World University Ranking. The School's excellent score in the National Student Survey is probably linked to the exemplary standard of the School's teaching, as well as the high levels of student support and an unbeatable lifestyle.

“The staff and lecturers are absolutely outstanding, helpful, dedicated, passionate and always friendly.” Student view “Students in the School of Psychology at Bangor are provided with teaching resources and support to the very highest quality. This is a school that has attracted leading academics and is at the cutting edge of teaching and research developments in contemporary psychology.” External Examiner view

2. RESEARCH The quality of research carried out in University departments is also subject to intensive examination by the UK Government.

The results from the most recent Research Assessment Exercise placed the department in 7th place in the UK for research power, a ranking based on the quality of research output multiplied by the quantity of that output. More simply put the table below shows that we are both big and clever!

Research Power Rating Table (i.e. quantity x quality) 1. Cardiff University 2. UCL 3. Birmingham 5. Oxford 6. Sheffield 7. Bangor 8. Southampton 9. Edinburgh 10. St Andrews Staff whose research is internationally recognised have to be knowledgeable and active in their fields, and this results in a rich and stimulating learning experience for their students. Students also have the opportunity to participate in staff research when conducting their own year three research projects.

3. VALUE ADDED What really sets us apart is our ability to provide a unique learning environment in which our students can thrive and develop. We have an excellent reputation for the help and support we provide to undergraduates, particularly in the first year when individuals are most likely to look for support. If you’ve been to a Psychology Open Day, you’ll have seen for yourself just what a friendly, homely city Bangor is, and how supportive and friendly members of the School of Psychology are. As reported in the Times Higher Educational Supplement, Bangor students are amongst the most likely in the entire country to recommend their University to a friend.

The University Vice-Chancellor sums it up saying: “We focus on providing an excellent student experience at Bangor, through excellent teaching and student support and I’m pleased that our strategy is successful.”

Not only is Bangor a great place to study, it is also a fantastic place to live. If you haven’t visited yet, here’s what the Guardian University Guide had to say: “...a friendly cathedral city set in a stunning location. It lies between Snowdonia and the Menai Strait which divides mainland Wales from the island of Anglesey. The general consensus is that Bangor is a safe, clean and affordable place to live, and comes highly recommended.”

RESEARCH From the very beginning of your course, you’ll be involved in the School’s research programmes and, in your final year research project, you’ll work closely alongside one of the School’s active scientists carrying out your own study in one of the School’s areas of expertise. So it’s important for you to know something about each of those areas.

The School conducts research that is amongst the very best internationally in these overarching research domains: • Perception, Action and Memory • Language, Bilingualism and Cognitive Development • Social Neuroscience • Clinical, Health and Behavioural Psychology Many academics you will encounter are involved in more than one domain and the department’s explicit strategy is to foster cross-area collaboration, promoting innovation and a lively, creative research culture. Linking the laboratory to the clinic, the marketplace, and the family are areas in which Bangor excels.

PERCEPTION, ACTION AND MEMORY This group addresses how we extract information from the environment and use this information to guide our actions, and how such interactions result in learning and memory.

Studies investigate the flow of information from perception, such as object recognition, to how attention and eye-movements guide the selection of action, how response can be switched between different stimulus properties, how actions are directed through 3D space and how memory systems interact.

CLINICAL, HEALTH AND BEHAVIOURAL PSYCHOLOGY The heart of the Clinical, Health and Behavioural Psychology research grouping is the application of psychological knowledge to understand and to address human behaviour and broader psychological well-being in multiple contexts. A range of applied questions drives the research in this group, with many addressing Behaviour Change but also typical developmental processes across the lifespan.

Using a variety of psychological approaches, we seek to make real changes to behaviour of benefit to individuals and to other psychological and Quality of Life outcomes.

LANGUAGE, BILINGUALISM, AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT A variety of behavioural, neuropsychological, and cognitive neuroscience methods are used to study the interaction of language and cognition across the lifespan. Research Projects include both basic level and transactional research with monolingual and bilingual infants, children, and adults. Current topics of research include phonological and lexical development, word recognition, semantic processing, literacy, treatment programmes for aphasia in bilinguals, cognitive advantages to bilingualism, crosslanguage priming and interference in bilinguals.

SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE This newest addition to the research groups in the School arose organically from the developing research interests of established staff members and the addition of a number of recent faculty appointments. Broadly, our research questions are about how the brain makes sense of the social world. Particular foci are on the perception of other people their faces, bodies, voices; understanding the meaning of others' actions; on social learning; on disorders of social cognition; and on emotion and memory.

"The lecturers are easy and friendly to talk to, attention is paid to me as an individual and I have always had advice when I needed it.” Student view

YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT Typically, students regard their third year research project as one of the most demanding, but rewarding, elements of their course. It’s your opportunity to carry out original research work in the experimental laboratory, in the community, in industry, hospitals, schools or nurseries. Throughout the process, you’ll work under the close supervision of a member of academic staff who is an expert in your chosen field of research. This 18 month research project is rare in Undergraduate degrees as it gives an exceptionally thorough grounding in research techniques and ensures that our projects are amongst the best in the UK. You’ll start preparation for your project during the second year by identifying the research question you wish to study and how you are going to approach it. Then, in your final year, you’ll carry out the research - Setting up experiments, recruiting participants, collecting and analysing the data, interpreting and presenting your findings, both orally and in writing.

Some recent undergraduate project titles include: • Self control in pre-school children • An event-related potential study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder • Long term mental health of children who are placed in care • Emotion, appraisal and coping with stress • An implicit measure of emotional face processing • The interaction of eye gaze and visual attention • Testing the involvement of brain systems in mental self-control • FMRI studies of modularity in the human visual system • The onset of word recognition in bilingual children

PSYCHNEWS This is a newsletter written by current psychology students for current psychology students. It deals with both subject based topics and issues of general interest and recent editions of the newsletter can be seen on our website under the 'Life in Bangor' section.

YOUR OWN PERSONAL TUTOR During Welcome Week, you will meet your Personal Tutor, a member of academic staff who will be on hand to advise you on academic and personal matters during the whole of your course. You will be urged to develop a good relationship with your Personal Tutor. This will ensure that your individual needs are recognised and that you get all the help you need to achieve your full potential.

SUPPORT STAFF

STUDENT SUPPORT Bangor Psychology is a large and dynamic academic community. Every September we welcome over 300 new first year students and we understand that arriving at university can be a daunting experience. We do all we can to help you settle in quickly and provide an academic environment that is not only stimulating, but also caring and encouraging at a personal level. Should you ever need advice on academic, practical or personal problems, there is always someone you can turn to for help.

“ “It’s very much a team effort and everyone - from central

recruitment and admissions staff, to academic and support staff in departments - plays their part in ensuring students have a positive experience at Bangor.”

University Vice-Chancellor

BANGOR HIGHLY RATED FOR SUPPORT Bangor University regularly scores very highly in independent polls for the help and support provided to students during their application and admissions process as well as during their first year. You can be guaranteed all the support and help you need to make the most of your time at Bangor - here’s what the School of Psychology provides all students:

EMAIL BUDDIES Bangor Psychology runs a popular scheme that puts applicants and current students into email contact with each other. If you decide to take part, you will establish contact with one of our students and will have plenty of opportunities to ask about all aspects of student life in Bangor, which will all be answered with the benefit of first hand experience!

PEER GUIDE SCHEME Before you even arrive at Bangor, you’ll be invited to join our Peer Guide scheme. Then, at the start of Welcome Week, you’ll meet your own Peer Guide a second or third year psychology student who has volunteered to offer support and guidance to new first years. Your Peer Guide can provide information on things like registration, the library, computing facilities, clubs and societies, Morrison’s opening hours... and introduce you to Bangor’s buzzing social scene. Peer Guides have recently been first years themselves, so they understand how you’re feeling, and know the importance of a friendly face or word of helpful advice.

You’ll find all our teaching staff very approachable and willing to discuss problems with you. We also have special learning support staff to help you develop your independent learning skills, and student support staff are there to assist with everyday queries and problems.

PSCH: BANGOR PSYCHOLOGY SOCIETY PSCH is your Society - run by psychology students for psychology students - and it’s alive and well! The society organises regular social activities and fund-raising charity events, so it’s a great way to have fun and make friends.

More seriously, it’s also a great opportunity to get involved in seminars on the issues in psychology that you want to learn about. Feel free to checkout what the society has been up to recently by visiting its Facebook page called (not surprisingly) PSYCH:Bangor Psychology Society'.

STUDENT SERVICES Student Services offers a range of support services advice on health, housing, finance, a confidential professional counselling service and specialised advisory services for students with disabilities. They can also put you in touch with University Chaplains of all dominations.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES In addition to the University Disability Service, the School has a disability tutor who can assist with any queries or concerns you may have.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS The School has an academic staff member dedicated to assisting International students. A Learning Advisor scheme also runs for International students whereby they are paired with year three students who can advise on issues that arise during the first semester of year one.

COMPUTING SECTION COMPUTING Bangor Psychology is committed to equipping its students with key skills and experience that are vital - whatever career path they choose.

This is one reason why we encourage students to use computers for communication, word processing, statistics, data analysis, presenting and research. Many of the experiments in which you will participate are run on computers. Moreover, a vast wealth of information can be searched and accessed through the internet, including literature from our own libraries and those of other universities and academic or professional societies.

LABS AND RESEARCH ROOMS Psychology students have free access to several psychology-specific computer labs in the Wheldon Building when they are not in use for classes. These labs are equipped with over 100 Apple Macs that are networked to laser printers, scanners, BU file servers and the internet. There is a "cluster space" which features several study spaces that are equipped with a computer linked to a 32 inch display screen. Students are finding this facility increasingly useful when working on group presentations and assignments so don't forget to book early when deadlines are looming.

The Wheldon also benefits from wireless networking and a suite of laptops that are often used for special practical lab sessions.

You may book out digital camcorders and cameras for research, and easily edit movies or photos using MacLab computers. Printing is cheap, and you can earn print credits by participating in the experimental research of other students. Also in the Wheldon Building are research rooms which you can book for private study, special projects, experiments, and group collaboration. These are equipped with specialised software and equipment such as button boxes, microphones, sounddamping, and video and sound-editing equipment. The School is also at the forefront of the use of Audience Response Systems (as used on things like Who Wants To Be A

Millionaire?) in lectures and large seminars and is pioneering the use of podcasts and vodcasts of both lectures and support tutorials to help you take greater control of your learning experience.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE Psychology’s Maclab computers are all Intel based iMacs. These machines range from dual to quad core Intel Core i5s. They also have between 4Gb and 8Gb of RAM and have hard disks ranging between 500Gb and 1TB. All the machines come with the most up-to-date office and statistical packages to aid in a student’s work, these includes Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), IBM statistics (SPSS), iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes (for podcasts) and Firefox to name but a few. There are also a number of computer-aided learning programs installed, related to specialist topics in Psychology.

“It has prepared me for the world of work in skills as well as information, which is great for me as I am not planning on being a psychologist when I graduate."

It is important to the School that the best facilities are on offer. Each year, to keep the Maclab up-to-date and running at its best, we buy a batch of the latest iMacs.

Our research rooms are also equipped with a variety of computers, including Intel iMacs and Core i5 PCs. They are configured for experimental and research use with E-prime and other testing packages installed.

Student view

BRINGING YOUR OWN COMPUTER? If you are bringing a computer to campus with you, you can easily work with both Mac-created and Windows-created files in the MacLab. We encourage students to purchase a small USB removable storage device to house personal files.

Students are entitled to discounts on Microsoft Office for both Windows and Macs; see http://students.pugh.co.uk/. SPSS can be purchased on campus for £2.

If you are interested in purchasing a new Macintosh computer, you can take advantage of substantial educational discounts directly from Apple Computer.

Check http://www.apple.com/uk/education or phone 0800 048 0408 for details. Many university buildings and halls of residence now have broadband wifi or other methods to connect to the internet. For for detailed information please visit the IT support pages (http://www.bangor.ac.uk/itservices/for_stude nts/your_pc) or phone 01248 388111 to talk to someone about your query.

WHERE TO FIND HELP If you have little or no computer experience, don’t worry. Throughout the year, we offer computer skills courses free to all students.

A team of student MacLab assistants are on hand in the lab during office hours, to help with day-to-day problems and to offer guidance on software use. We are committed to helping students, whatever their backgrounds, achieve a high level of both general and specialist computer literacy during the course of their studies.

YOUR FUTURE Whatever career path you choose to follow after you graduate (and as a psychology graduate, you will have a vast range of careers to choose from), there’s a range of skills you should acquire, that will make you more attractive to prospective employers.

EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS Employability skills are those identified by employers and representatives from Higher Education as the skills needed to succeed in the modern workplace and educational environment. Graduate employability skills are taught within the curriculum in the School of Psychology.

1. Written communication As part of the year one Scientific Writing and Communication Skills modules, you will cover the basic writing and text formatting skills required for Psychology at undergraduate level, learning to write clearly and concisely in the style and format used in psychology (American Psychological Association; APA style).

2. Oral communication In informal groups, led by student mentors, you'll learn how to prepare and deliver an oral presentation. You'll get plenty of opportunities to practise your use of audio-visual aids, body language and speech rate and receive helpful feedback on your performance form your mentor and peers.

3. Information technology This IT skills module is derived from the syllabus for the European Computer Driver’s Licence (ECDL), but it has been tailored to be directly relevant to the needs of psychology graduates. The topics covered include basic file management, word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation and drawing, internet, e-mail and information search techniques.

4. Team working, problem solving and critical thinking In several of your taught modules, you'll get the chance to work in a small team on group assignments that are designed to develop your ability to work in a team and to acquire problem solving and critical thinking skills that are vital to psychological research.

YOUR CV During the three years of your course, you personal tutor will get to know you well, and so is usually the best person to ask for a reference. He or she can also help you to compile a curriculum vitae which does justice to your qualifications, achievements and skills.

BANGOR EMPLOYABILITY AWARD The Bangor Employability Award (BEA) scheme was designed to enhance the immediate and longer-term career prospects of Bangor University students. The scheme works alongside the University’s academic schools and Bangor Students’ Union, and also with private, public and voluntary sector organisations. It offers accreditation for cocurricular and extra-curricular activities (e.g. volunteering, clubs & societies, work experiences, part-time work, learning a new language, etc.) which may not be formally recognised within your academic degree programme, but which are valuable in the graduate jobs market. The School of Psychology has both an Employability Tutor and a Careers Officer to support your long term careers goals.

“The lecturers are brilliant and interesting, each with their own personal area of interest that they breathe life into.” Student view

YOUR CAREER As a graduate with a good degree in psychology, and a suite of well-honed employability skills, you will have a wide range of career choices open to you. For some of these careers, a BPS accredited degree in psychology is essential. For further information visit the careers section on our website: www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/undergraduate

CAREERS AND EMPLOYABILITY SERVICE It is never too early to consider your career options, and is certainly something you must not leave until the last minute; it is best to plan and spread the work over your time spent as an undergraduate. The University’s Careers and Employability Service provides a range of resources, practical advice, and support to help students decide what they want to do when they graduate; this might be anything from finding a job, researching careers in psychology, writing your CV, going on to further study, doing voluntary work or taking time out. Whether you are a first year student, or are halfway through your degree, or even a finalist or postgraduate, it is likely that the Careers and Employability Service will be able to help you in some way. Visit the Careers and Employability Service website at: www.bangor.ac.uk/careers for more details.