Dr Robert Dempsey and Dr Louise Humphreys, co-organisers of this year’s Psychology Student Conference, report on a very successful event featuring a range of talks by current third year students about their final year research projects:
The Psychology Department at Staffordshire University were pleased to host the Third Annual Psychology Student Conference in March 2016. The Conference featured a range of talks and poster presentations by current Final Year Psychology Students and was well attended by current first, second and third year students, postgraduate research students, academic staff and invited guests from the University including Professor Allan Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Enterprise & External Affairs).
The students presented research using a variety of psychological methodologies and included presentations on diverse topics such as “Experiences of positive body image in women with a BMI above 25“, “The effects of cooperative gaming vs competitive gaming on spontaneous helping behaviour“, “The Effect of Fact vs. Myth-Based Interventions on Mental Health-Related Stigmatising Attitudes”, and “The effects of physical activity and hypnosis on physiological stress response and psychomotor performance”.
All our students did a fantastic job of presenting their research and presented in a confident, professional and engaging manner.
Student Awards Ceremony
The Conference was also followed by a Student Awards Ceremony where we acknowledged the contributions of our student presenters and also gave out prizes for Best Performance at each level of study, plus two student-nominated awards for Best Teamwork and Unsung Student (recognising a student who makes a valuable contribution to student life at Staffordshire). Professor Allan Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University presented the awards and raised the students for their hard-work and their confidence in presenting their research in front of a large audience.
Staff attending the conference also voted for the Best Student Talk and Best Student Poster Presentation. We were extremely impressed with the overall quality of the students’ presentations and the hard work they had obviously placed into their final year research project. The two winners of the Best Talk and Poster prizes were:
- Kondwa Thawethe won the Best Poster Prize for her poster titled: The effect of music listening on cold pressor pain perception and tolerance.
- Paige Johns won the Best Talk for her oral presentation titled: Effect of different presentation modes and levels of negative arousal on an individual’s susceptibility to developing false memories.
Dr Louise Humphreys, Level 6 Psychology Tutor and conference co-organiser, said “the conference was fantastic event and was very much enjoyed by all who attended. The presentations covered such a range of topics and the students were very enthusiastic about their research – I really enjoyed hearing about the work that they had done. I felt very proud to be part of the event. It was also great to see students from various years receive awards – to see their hard work and achievements being recognised.”
Dr Robert Dempsey, conference co-organiser and Award Leader for the BSc Psychology degree, commented: “I thought the conference was a great showcase for our students’ final year research projects and that our students did a fantastic job of presenting their work to an audience of their peers and staff. I was very impressed by the quality of the students’ talks and poster presentations and, like many who attended the event, I really enjoyed the conference and enjoyed hearing about great research being produced by our students“.
The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England. We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.
For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.