The University of Sheffield
Department of Psychology

PhD and MPhil Research Degrees in Psychology at Sheffield

We pride ourselves on the quality of our research and the opportunities that this gives our postgraduates, here at Sheffield.

View our current PhD funding opportunities here

Top-rated

Our department has received a 5A rating in all the Research Assessment Exercises (RAE) carried out to date, and in the latest RAE we were ranked 4th in the country in the number of research-active staff we submitted (ranked out of 73 psychology departments).

Research supervision

We offer high quality research and professional training. Our postgraduate research students have the opportunity to undertake cutting-edge research supervised by internationally acclaimed researchers in a wide-range of research areas. 100% of our staff are research-active and this gives you a large pool of potential supervisors from whom to choose.

As a PhD student you will be assigned at least two supervisors, one of whom will have overall responsibility for helping you with your research.

Research areas

We go for excellence in all areas. Whatever your intended research area - social, health, cognition, development, work, neuroscience, computational neuroscience, brain imaging, clinical, developmental disorders - we have world class research groups, targeted training and tailor-made projects available. View the most recent PhD study opportunities.

Read about staff and their research interests

....or take a look at our Postgraduate Research Brochure (available as a download from the box on the right of this page)

Entry Requirements

We ask for a good honours degree of 2:1 or above in Psychology or a related discipline.

English Language Requirements

A good command of the English language is essential for postgraduate study. If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your language ability. In all cases the English language test should have been taken within the preceding two years. Our standard English requirement is a minimum IELTS 7.0 (with no less than 6 in each part) – or equivalent (please see the link below for alternative acceptable qualifications). Additional evidence may be requested and judged at the discretion of the admissions tutor.

Acceptable English Language Qualifications

Application Procedures

Please see here for details of how to apply to read for a PhD.

Fees and funding

Our community


The Department of Psychology has a thriving postgraduate community. This provides a mutually supportive and creative environment in which to carry out your research.

Facilities and resources

Ask our postgraduates


Why take our word for it? If you'd like to ask our current postgrads a question about research at Sheffield, please email Josie Cassidy with "Postgrad Query" in the subject title. Josie will pass on your query to our postgraduates who will send you a reply.
email : j.cassidy@sheffield.ac.uk