About the School of Psychology
Welcome to the School of Psychology at Keele University. My name is Professor Abigail Locke and I am the Head of the School of Psychology as well as being an expert in Social and Health Psychology. I am proud to lead the School at Keele.
As a School, we have demonstrable research excellence across many areas of psychology, including social and political psychology, health and behaviour change, cognitive and translational neuroscience and criminal psychology. Our expertise in research is reflected in both the importance and impactful nature of the work that we deliver. Our researchers undertake research funded by both research councils and industry on a range of topics aiming to give insight into understanding the fundamental nature of people and behaviour, developing practical insightful applications from advanced psychological theory.
The School of Psychology offers a thriving and dynamic environment for both research and teaching excellence and we are proud to offer you excellent facilities enabling a vibrant education and research environment. Such facilities include our extensive laboratory provision including our new Virtual Reality lab. We have a strong portfolio of courses in psychology, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and our courses offer clear progression routes all the way from undergraduate study to Postgraduate Masters provision as well as PhD study. Our Undergraduate courses benefit from British Psychological Society (BPS) accreditation. We also provide opportunities for placements and the chance to study abroad. Our postgraduate courses are designed to consolidate your interests and experience in the field and give you cutting edge research by our expert, research active staff. Keele Psychology prides itself on its excellence in both education and research.
Our research
Research within the School is supported by four research groups: the Cognition, Brain and Behaviour Research Group; the Health, Well-Being and Behaviour Change Research Group; the Identities, Values and Social Change Research Group; the Justice, Security and Institutional Change Research Group. In addition, various members of the School are engaged in interdisciplinary research, including the Keele Policing Collaboration (KPAC), and projects with colleagues in Health, Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines. Our research is internationally recognised; we achieved one of the highest rankings in REF2014 for a medium-sized research group. Our subsequent growth, success in obtaining grant funding (including ESRC, NIHR, Wellcome and Leverhulme Trusts), and our ambitious research strategy mean that we anticipate even better performance in the next REF.
Our courses
Psychology is one of the longest established disciplines at Keele, and is very popular with students. We offer Single Honours and Combined Honours degrees, including an exciting new Psychology and Education course. Our undergraduate students have opportunites to study abroad for a semester or a whole year, and we have recently introduced the option for single honours students to study a placement year.
At postgraduate level in psychology, we offer a portfolio of MSc Psychology courses (Applied Social and Political Psychology, Applied Child Psychology, Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology and Health Inequalities), which integrate well with our research themes.
Keele University has an Equality and Diversity vision which includes Protected Characteristics, Bullying, Harrassment and Behaviour. Information and advice can be found within the University Equality and Diversity web pages.
The Athena SWAN Charter recognises commitment to advancing women's careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in academia.
Within the School of Psychology our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) committee works to ensure that the School promotes EDI and takes action to address inequalities within the School, for the benefit of its staff, students, and the wider Keele community, whilst demonstrating a continuing commitment to an organisational culture of dignity and respect.
Our School EDI committee is chaired by Dr Sue Sherman, and members include the Head of School, Senior School Manager, representatives from our administrative and technical support staff, PGR students, and other staff who have an interest in EDI issues.
Part of the EDI committee’s role in the School is to drive forward the Athena SWAN and Race Equality agendas, in accordance with their respective Charters and Principles, and to oversee the writing and submission of the School Athena SWAN award applications; and contribute to University submission Race Equality Charter awards.
Established in 2005, Advance HE’s Athena SWAN Charter evolved from work between the Athena Project and the Scientific Women’s Academic Network (SWAN), to advance the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics (STEMM). In May 2015 the scope of Advance HE’s Athena SWAN Charter was expanded to cover gender equality in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law disciplines, and to include professional support staff.
Keele School of Psychology was first awarded a Bronze Athena SWAN departmental award in 2013. This Bronze award was then renewed in 2020. We are currently actively working towards a Silver award for the School.
View our Athena SWAN application 2020.
Ongoing EDI activities within the School
- Annual staff survey (training, promotion, workload, culture, challenges, opportunities, morale)
- Annual student survey of EDI experiences (e.g., gender equality/discrimination)
- Regular social events (e.g., summer picnic, FIKA, baby photo competition)
- Regular staff training/team-building activities (based on current concerns/needs within the School)
- Regular promotions workshops
- Transparency of decisions made by Senior Management Team
- Transparency of workload allocations and monitoring of workload
- Academic admin roles advertised for expressions of interest
Academic role models
Psychologist of the month: We asked academic staff and PGR students in the School to nominate psychologists who inspired them. We received nominations for some fascinating people who have done remarkable work. See the nominations here:
Visiting speaker biographies: In order to provide more female academic role models for our students, we decided to invite our visiting speakers to answer some questions about their career paths. There's quite a variety of replies - we hope you find them interesting and thought provoking. Thanks to all our speakers for taking part.
School of Psychology
Dorothy Hodgkin Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Psychology School office
Tel: +44(0)1782 731831
Fax: +44(0)1782 733387
Email: psychology@keele.ac.uk
Accessibility
Accessibility information for Dorothy Hodgkin Building can be found on its AccessAble page.