Studying psychology at Goldsmiths
Find out what it is like to be a psychology student, from career enhancing opportunities, teaching expertise and how you can get ahead in psychology.
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 Professor Rebecca Charlton and Professor José van Velzen. José’s research focuses on multisensory processing, spatial attention, and sensory processing in the context of motor behaviour while Charlton's research focuses on changes in later-life and the factors that promote healthy ageing.
The department benefits from an incredibly strong research ethos, with many world leading experts in their respective fields. This includes:
- 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.
I found the atmosphere very surprising at Goldsmiths. The atmosphere being very chilled and friendly.
Sarah Ngan, BSc Psychology
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:
- 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
- The Forensic Psychology Unit run by Fiona Gabbert and Adrian Scott
Explore what a potential day in the life of a psychology student could be with our virtual tour.
