Tag Archives: Event

Psychology and the Brain 2018

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By Dr Daniel Jolley, Lecturer in Psychology, Staffordshire University.

During this year’s Brain Awareness Week, the Department of Psychology organised an event called Psychology and the Brain.

Psychology and the Brain was an interactive evening where guests first enjoyed short talks from experts in the Department, such as how we measure brain activity and how Virtual Reality can trick our minds. Next, guests were invited to get hands-on with some of the latest technology in the Department – as such our Virtual Reality headsets, eye-tracking, EEG, driving simulator, and many other interactive demonstrations. We also had colleagues from Biology who joined us to run a demonstration for the guests. To end the evening, guests who had visited 3 or more demonstrations were invited to enter a prize draw to win some Love2Shop vouchers.

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At the end of the evening, guests were invited to give feedback on their experiences… some of the comments are included below:

“A mix of information and interaction. Very enjoyable and well planned”

“Thanks for setting up so many different tasks to have a go at – very interesting”

“MINT”

“I’ve loved this, I learnt how the brain works and I played on a game and beat a 30 year old (Henry, age 9)”

“Fantastic evening. Great technology and amazing demonstrations”

“It was an amazing experience and will love to come back next year!”

Psychology and the Brain was only possible with the support of many staff and students throughout the University. Dr Emily Buckley, Head of the Psychology Department, who led the thanks on the evening has said:

“We love hosting these kinds of events as it’s great for us to be able meet members of the local (and not so local) community and introduce them to psychology, as well as specifically what we do here at Staffs.  We welcomed a wide variety of guests from young children to those of the older generations, and from all different walks of life. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with people really enjoying the opportunity to get ‘hands on’ with our kit as well as the free cake and chance to win prizes.” 

Highlights from the Psychology and the Brain event, including photos and videos of the evening’s activities, can be viewed by our ‘Psychology and the Brain‘ twitter moment (click here).

We are excited for our next public engagement event – keep your eyes out for advertisements!

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details and to book your place at an open day please click here.

For more information about the Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the below pages:

Psychology and the Brain

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The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University is delighted to invite you to Psychology and the Brain, a fun and interactive evening where you will be given the opportunity to get hands-on with some of our fascinating equipment and hear from experts in the field.

Psychology and the Brain will take place at Staffordshire University’s Science Centre, Leek Road, Stoke-on-Trent, on Thursday 15th March 6 – 8:30 pm. Click here to view the location of the Science Centre on Staffordshire University’s Stoke-on-Trent campus. Includes free parking on site and refreshments.

Psychology and the Brain: Listen

Have you ever wondered… how we measure brain activity? How does VR trick our eyes into thinking what we’re seeing is reality? A series of short expert talks will explore these and other fascinating questions.

Psychology and the Brain: Hands-on

Try your hand at learning how our equipment works such as how we tell if you are stressed, how we can uncover if you are lying and how we test your reaction skills in our driving simulator, amongst other fun demonstrations.

Psychology and the Brain: A chance to win

Having taken part in the hands-on activities, you have a chance to win some Love2Shop vouchers. Entry information and winners announced on the night.

Follow the Psychology and the Brain event via our twitter hashtag #StaffsPsychBrain, including live tweets on the night.

Book Tickets: All welcome. Reserve your (free) space at https://psychologyandthebrain.eventbrite.co.uk or contact psychologyevents@staffs.ac.uk for more information.

Psychology and the Brain is part of a series of events organised in connection with the Psychology Society to celebrate Brain Awareness Week. Full details can be found here.

How does psychology and the brain apply to you and your life? Come along and find out.

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details and to book your place at an open day please click here.

For more information about the Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the below pages:

The Department of Psychology Celebrate Staff Success!

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By Dr Robert Dempsey, Senior Lecturer in Psychology.

In October 2017, the Department of Psychology were pleased to celebrate winning three awards at Staffordshire University’s Celebrating Staff Success Ceremony held at the Kings Hall in Stoke-on-Trent. This yearly awards ceremony recognises the contributions and successes of staff working at the University across a range of roles.

The Department of Psychology had a number of nominated staff across a variety of award categories, including nominations for our Psychology and Me event (for public engagement), research impact (with both Professor Karen Rodham & Dr Amy Burton receiving nominations), as well as a People’s Choice Award nomination for Judy David‘s valued contributions to the successful running of the Department of Psychology.

The team were ecstatic to win three highly competitive University awards for: Living our Values – Brilliant and Friendly (Sarah Higgins), Best Newcomer (Dr Michael Batashvili), and Innovative and Applied Learning (Dr Robert Dempsey).

“I was so surprised to be nominated and then to win it was incredible. It felt amazing to receive the award, mainly because it reminded me how much I love my job and the people I work with, both students and staff.”

Dr Michael Batashvili, Lecturer in Psychology & Winner – Best Newcomer Award

 

“I am delighted and very proud to have received this award. I feel that the award is a reflection of the supportive and encouraging environment that I work in with my many brilliant colleagues and students. A big thank you to the nominator and to everyone that made achieving this award possible. The event was a lovely opportunity to celebrate and reflect on so many achievements from colleagues over the past year.”

Sarah Higgins, Technical Skills Specialist in Psychology & Winner – Living our Values – Brilliant & Friendly Award.

“It was a pleasure just to be nominated and invited to attend the ceremony. To win the award was a very nice surprise and motivates me to keep improving my teaching approaches and develop my students as independent learners, whilst also challenging them and having fun at the same time”

Dr Robert Dempsey, Senior Lecturer in Psychology & Winner – The Innovative and Applied Learning Award

 

“While it was fabulous to see some of our LSE staff winning awards at the CSS event, it was really pleasing to see so many LSE  nominations, and for both academic and professional staff. It was a really enjoyable event – connecting with staff from the many different parts of the University. A  much valued opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the many individual and team achievements within the School and across the wider University”

Dr Nigel Thomas, Head of the School of Life Sciences & Education

 

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details and to book your place at an open day please click here.

For more information about the Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the below pages:

Explore With Us 2017: Teaching research methods the fun way

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Do you teach Psychology in Further Education?  Want to teach research the fun way?

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University are delighted to have been awarded funding by the ESRC to hold an event for teachers of psychology during the Festival of Social Sciences.

Teachers are being invited to attend Staffordshire University on Wednesday 8th November 2017 to explore with us how teaching research methods can be fun and effective. “Teaching research the fun way” is designed for A-Level Psychology teachers but will be relevant to anyone teaching Psychology in an FE setting.

During the event there will be short talks on maths anxiety, giving effective student feedback and engaging in students with research methods, followed by an opportunity to get involved with some hands-on demos of equipment used by psychology researchers. This will include measuring brainwaves with EEG testing, assessing visual attention with eye tracking and a driving simulator, which tests how good your reactions are behind the wheel. Refreshments, time for networking and questions and answers are also included.

The event is free to attend for FE psychology teachers and each attendee will be able to claim £10 to cover their travel to the event.

For more information about this event, including booking a place please click here.

Queries about the event can be directed to: psychologyevents@staffs.ac.uk

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

 

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details and to book your place at an open day please click here.

For more information about the Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the below pages:

Fourth Annual Staffs Psychology Student Conference held in March 2017

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Dr Louise Humphreys (Lecturer in Psychology & Level 6 Tutor) blogs about the Fourth Annual Psychology Student Conference held at Staffordshire University in March 2017, featuring talks by our current final year students on their Final Year Research Projects:

This year’s Psychology Student Conference was a huge success and an event that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was lovely to hear about all of the work the students had conducted over this last year. I was very impressed with the quality of the presentations (oral and posters), and the students’ enthusiasm for their work. The level 4 and 5 students that attended found it useful and inspired them for their final year.

Many congratulations to our Prize Winners, Emma Manchester (Best Talk) and Jade Martin (Best Poster), as well as to all our presenters who did a great job presenting their research! Tweets from this year’s conference can be found via #StaffsPsyConf.

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Comments from presenters

“The experience of presenting in front of my peers and lecturers was scary, thrilling, exciting and energising. Having people feedback to me afterwards and show interest in what I was doing has been such a huge confidence boost and it’s an experience I’ll never forget. I would definitely encourage anyone doing a final year project to take the time to present at the conference and I’d say to all other students that it really interesting, informative and great fun to attend. I also want to say a huge thank you to all the lecturers that attended and worked on pulling the conference together on top of all the other work you already have. It’s been such a valuable experience for me and I’m so grateful for the opportunity and support I’ve received. It really makes all the difference.”

Emma Manchester (BSc Psychology & Child Development Student)

“Being a part of the Psychology conference really sums up an amazing journey and how far I have progressed at Staffordshire University. The Psychology conference was one of the highlights of my degree. I was able to share my project with students and lecturers and never felt more accomplished than I did then. When I was in Level 5 I came to the psychology conference and it was great even helped me plan my own project and then to take part at Level 6 was just awesome!”

Steph Slade (L6 BSc Psychology Student)

“Presenting my project also gave me a boost of confidence and motivation after hearing people’s feedback and the general interest in my research. Presenting as a poster was also a great way to interact with people more one-on-one, and is particularly good for people who, like me, get extremely nervous in front of large crowds.”

Jade Martin (L6 BSc Psychology & Criminology Student)

“I really enjoyed the conference. I felt like it gave me the opportunity to use and improve on my presenting skills as well as giving me the confidence and experience to be able to present at other future events.”

Asmah Ahmed (L6 BSc Psychology & Counselling Student)

Comments from level 5 students attending the conference:

“I really enjoyed the conference and found it really interesting. It will definitely be something that I will recommend to my friends, and will myself aspire towards next year”

Ruth Pettitt (L5 BSc Psychology & Child Development Student)

“The conference was really interesting and I’m glad I was able to make it! It was also nice to see the professional relationships that have formed between the final years and staff through working together! Overall it was very useful and enjoyable.”

Sophie Potts (L5 BSc Psychology & Criminology Student)

The psychology conference was really useful to attend; it gives good insight into the vast topic areas you can do for your own project. Even if there isn’t a topic area of your choice, it is still helpful as it shows just what needs to be included and everyone broke each section down – which is really handy… plus the free cake is always a bonus!

Zoe Collins (L5 BSc Psychology & Child Development Student)

 

Staffs-Uni-Hi-Res_45-1024x683The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details, and to book your place at an open day, please visit: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

For more information about the undergraduate Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the course profiles below:

Stoke Psychology in the Pub returns for 2016/17!

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We are pleased to announce that a new series of the Stoke Psychologist in the Pub talks starts on the 5th October. The series is organised by the British Psychological Society’s West Midlands Branch, the BPS Stoke Hub, and psychologists at Staffordshire University, and very kindly hosted by The Glebe Pub in Stoke.

The Glebe Pub, Stoke-upon-Trent

The Glebe Pub, Stoke-upon-Trent

The talks provide a friendly, informal and inspiring space for anyone with an interest in Psychology, to hear about the latest psychological research being conducted in the West Midlands.

The 2015/16 Stoke Psychology in the Pub series saw a series of great talks from academic psychologists working in Staffordshire University’s Psychology department and universities around the region on subjects as diverse as psychogeography, false confessions, the psychology of art and aesthetics, cyberpsychology and consumer psychology!

The 2016/17 edition of #PitPStoke starts on Wednesday 5th October 2016, 6pm, with a talk by Dr Jo Lloyd (Staffordshire University) titled “Is gambling really the son of avarice and the father of despair?“.

Upcoming talks (may be subject to change) include:

2nd Nov 2016: Dr. Jim Grange (Keele University) “The Reproducibility Crisis in Psychological Science: One Year Later”

7th Dec 2016: Dave Spence, Keele University. “The Psychology of Beliefs: Christmas Special”

1st Feb 2017: Dr. Daniel Jolley, Staffordshire University. “Are Conspiracy Theories Harmless?”

1st Mar 2017: Andrew Wood, Staffordshire University. “Irrational Beliefs in Sport – Helpful or Hindrance?”

The talks take place in the Glebe Pub, Glebe Street, Stoke-upon-Trent, ST4 1HG. Talks start at 6pm and last until 7pm, with opportunities for questions to the invited speaker and networking after the talk has finished. Guests are advised to arrive early to secure a seat and order food/drinks! Directions to the Glebe Pub can be found here.

Students, staff and anyone interested in psychology from the general public are very welcome to attend the talks! No need to book just show up!

Don’t forget that you can join in the Psychology in the Pub conversation using the #PitPStoke twitter hashtag or follow the Staffordshire University Psychology Department twitter feed for live tweets (@StaffsPsych)!

We hope to see you there!

Could you design and conduct a psychological experiment in one day?

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On Wednesday 11th May 2016 the Psychology Department welcomed sixteen psychology students from Stoke-On-Trent Sixth Form for an ‘Experiment in a Day Workshop’. The interactive workshop provided the students with an opportunity to develop and run memory-based experiments whilst gaining insights into the Psychology technical resources available in the department.

Paul Gallimore and Sarah Higgins, Technical Sarah-H paul-GSkills Specialists in the Psychology Department and members of the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research, delivered the workshop with assistance from George Fortune, a current second year Staffordshire Psychology Student Advocate. In the session, the sixth form students defined the different memory processes and engaged with tasks to test apply their knowledge. Afterwards they then ran their own experiments on student participants from the sixth form to collect data to take away and analyse for a report set by their teacher.

There were four different experiments that the students had a chance to build, all of which tested different types of memory processing from recognition tasks to encoding tasks. One of the experiments ran by the students was the Stroop Task (pictured below) which required their participants to identify the ink colour words were written in. Once the data was collected the group discussed the findings for each of the experiments and provided suggestions to explain the results collected.Stroop Task

Students who took part in the workshop were asked for their feedback, with all students in attendance stating that they enjoyed the workshop, particularly the practical elements. Some students mentioned that they liked being able to take part in the experiments as well as conducting them. Whereas other students mentioned that they enjoyed using the psychology equipment / software and enjoyed the interactive quiz and tasks integrated within the workshop.

If you would like to come and have a go at some experiments and see the equipment that we have to offer why not attend our next open day?

Interested in Psychology? Come to an Open Day & find out more about Psychology courses at Staffordshire University.

Curious about how psychologists test and observe behaviour? Thinking about taking a Psychology degree or a related course?

Come to one of Staffordshire University’s Open Days and find out more! Book your place via: www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

The Role of Health Psychology in fighting the Obesity Epidemic, #StaffsVSS, Thursday 7th April 4pm

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Apr 16 Gillison VSS

Dr Fiona Gillison

The School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise is pleased to welcome Dr Fiona Gillison (Senior Lecturer in Exercise & Health Psychology, University of Bath) who is giving the next Visiting Speaker Series talk on Thursday 7th April, 4pm, in the LT003 Lecture Theatre in the Ashley Building (Leek Road campus).

Fiona previously worked in a public engagement role with primary care teams, and as a stop smoking and weight management specialist in the NHS, and so has continued to take a very applied approach to her research. Fiona’s current focus is on applying psychological theory into practice, in investigating how we can better support people to improve their health behaviours in the prevention and reduction of obesity – whether at the individual, community or policy level. She is currently involved in a range of research studies including; an intervention to promote weight loss in people with high cardiovascular risk, work with school nurses, public health teams and health communication specialists to improve the positive impact of the National Child Measurement Programme, and a collaborative project to identify the important dynamic processes within groups that facilitate behaviour change.

April7th VSS F Gillison

All staff, students and members of the public are welcome to attend these free Visiting Speaker talks – join in our live tweeting from the talk using the #StaffsVSS event hashtag. We hope to see you there!

The Visiting Speaker seminars are a regular series of free talks hosted by the School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise. Psychologists from across the country are invited to speak at these events to share their research and discuss their findings with staff and students from Staffordshire University. The Visiting Speaker series is also open to anyone from the general public with an interest in psychological research.

No need to book a place – just turn up!

Getting Psych’d about baking!

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Next Tuesday (1st December) the Psychology department at Staffordshire University are excited to be hosting the ‘Weird and Wonderful Psychology Event’.

cropped-Dec-15-WW-Psychology-Plasma.jpgWe have an exciting line up including demonstrations and speakers lined up! There is also an opportunity for EVERYONE to be involved (students, staff and the public this is your chance) to submit a cake to the competition and win a prize.

Weird & Wonderful Psychology Bake-off!!

The psychology bake-off is open for entries from all budding bakers. To enter the competition you just need to bake and decorate a cake/biscuits with a psychology theme. To get your creative minds going here are some cakes that you could use for inspiration……

https://twitter.com/sugarplumpuds

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/203365739393681351/

Nov 15 WWPsy bake 1

https://twitter.com/sugarplumpuds

Nov 15 WWPsy 15 Bake 3

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266979084130424150/

So get your aprons on and produce a psychology bake! The weirder and more wonderful the better!

If you have any questions about the competition and for further details on how to enter please get in touch with Nikki Street (Nichola.Street@staffs.ac.uk).

NB: Due to health and safety issues the cake will not be able to be eaten during the event and awarded prizes based on overall look of the image.

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.

School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise’s Visiting Speaker Series 2015/16

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Nichola_Street_150px_tcm44-85175

Dr Nichola Street

Dr Nichola Street announces a new edition of the Visiting Speaker Series in the School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise:

Each year the School holds a visiting speaker series hosting academics and practitioners working in a variety of settings around the UK. We encourage attendance from everyone with an interest in psychological research and practice and we hope to see students, staff and the general public attending and engaging with psychological research.

The series is held on Thursdays from 4-5pm on a (mostly) bi-weekly basis and begins next week on Thursday 1st October. In Semester 1 talks will be held in the Science Centre Lecture theatre R001 and Semester 2 in Ashley Lecture building LT2. To keep up to date with the schedule or for more information please visit the visiting speaker series webpage for information.

This year we have a great line up of speakers that show the current and up to date trends in a number of different areas within psychology. A wide range of topics will be covered by this year’s speakers including health psychology, face perception, forensic and investigative psychology, impact pathways in applying psychology as well as cognitive and experimental neuropsychology.

First Visiting Speaker: Dr Elena Hoicka, Thursday 1st October, 4pm

Visiting Speaker

Dr Elena Hoicka

Next week the series kicks off with Dr Elena Hoicka from University of Sheffield who will be coming to speak with us about her work in developmental psychology and particularly how ‘Toddlers think for themselves!’ the abstract for her talk below outlines the fascinating research she will be discussing.

‘Toddlers think for themselves!’

Social learning has been a large focus of early developmental psychology for the past two decades. While importantly revealing how culture is transmitted to young children, questions about how young children come up with their own ideas and learn for themselves have been largely ignored. In this talk, I will present research showing that toddlers can be creative and come up with their own ideas. I will focus on two streams of research – toddlers’ creation of their own novel jokes, and toddlers’ divergent thinking with novel objects. However, I will also demonstrate that social learning can be an important part of children’s independent learning and thought, suggesting both of these strands of learning are inter-connected.

New students, returning students, members of staff, and anyone with an interest in psychology are very welcome to come along! Hope to see you Thursday 1st Oct 4-5pm, R001 Science Centre for a chance to hear about the latest research in psychology.

For more information please contact the Visiting Speaker series organiser: Dr. Nikki Street  Tel: 01782 294672 Email: nichola.street@staffs.ac.uk

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.

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.