From the moment you step inside the Psychology building, you’re surrounded by research. Just walking down the corridor, you pass photos of cutting-edge experimental gadgets, posters inviting students to participate in ongoing studies, and displays celebrating some of the pioneering discoveries that have been made in this very department. Research might seem like something you’ll only hear about in seminars or read in journal articles, rather than something that you can be actively involved in – but at York, you’ll quickly discover that the ways you can engage in research extend far beyond the lecture theatre!
Hi! I’m Georgie, and I’m in the third year of my integrated masters in Psychology,
specialising in Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. I’m hoping to go on to do a PhD in
cognitive neuroscience and eventually go into academia full-time as a researcher or university lecturer. If it wasn’t already obvious, I love research and learning new things – my family often say that I never grew out of that “why?” phase that toddlers go through, when they’re exhaustingly curious about practically everything that they experience. Needless to say, I’ve joined in with research in any way that I can during my MSci… so, here’s a rundown of the many ways you can get involved, alongside a few tips from someone who’s lived through all the awkward emails!
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics: the research you’ll do within your degree. Mainly, this consists of group projects, where you’ll learn to build experiments and questionnaires, collect data from real participants, and use statistical techniques to analyse the resulting data. These projects are designed to give you hands-on, practical experience in key aspects of the research process, and they’re honestly so helpful for understanding how concepts from your lectures can be investigated within actual experiments. From the very start of your degree, you’ll be developing and implementing vital research skills. You’ll also be expected to complete a set
number of hours’ worth of active studies within the department. This gives you insight into the other side of research – what it’s like to be a participant. Projects can range from behavioural tasks to eye tracking to neuroimaging, so this is an amazing opportunity to see the many different types of research the department has to offer, and interact with academics whose field you might be interested in. You might even be able to get a picture of your own brain if you participate in a neuroimaging experiment! These activities within your degree are often the first moment when research starts to feel genuinely accessible, shifting from something reserved for high-level researchers that you only read about, to something you can actually do yourself.
Academic Relationships
So, you enjoyed the research aspects of your coursework and you want to get more involved – what’s next? The first thing that I did was just emailing lecturers whose modules I enjoyed, and asking them whether I could help out with any of their active projects. And yes, this absolutely feels as awkward as it sounds at first, but sometimes the best way to get involved is to just ask – lecturers are very busy, and a lot of the time they will really appreciate the extra help. In first year alone, this email-politely-and-hope strategy managed to get me involved with participant recruitment for two neuroimaging projects, as well as actually running the data collection sessions for a separate memory study. And all I had to do was ask! There will always be the possibility that they say no, but many of the lecturers still pointed me in the right direction towards staff that they knew were looking for some help. As hard as it may be to imagine, even the most experienced academics were all once in your shoes. They remember what it’s like to be an undergrad wanting to get involved in research. The entire department are so incredibly encouraging, and this welcoming research culture has honestly become one of my favourite things about studying at York.
Opportunities
The next step up from voluntary research assistance is then formal RA roles that are advertised by academic staff throughout the year. These might be paid or unpaid – I first did a 6-week unpaid internship working on data analysis, which then gave me amazing experience to talk about in applications for paid work. I’ve since worked as an RA in another lab, where I helped run studies with both children and adults, and last summer I did an internship in the Linguistics department which turned into a permanent part-time job! It’s definitely hard to find the time to do RA work alongside your studies (especially when it’s unpaid), but if you’re interested in a career in research, these roles are so valuable for setting you apart from the rest. These are often longer-term and give you more responsibility than voluntary roles,
meaning you can make vital contributions to the project and become a proper part of the team. These little windows into research as a career are what solidified my aspirations to pursue academia.
New Skills and Challenges
At the most independent end of the research spectrum, some students even go on to run their own research projects outside of the formal course requirements. This isn’t the norm, and is very dependent on how much free time you are willing to sacrifice, as it’s far more intensive than group projects or RA work. For me, I wanted to be able to go into PhD interviews having been properly responsible for a study, since I felt that this was the best way for me to fully understand the entire research process. Once I had found a gap within the literature, I reached out to potential supervisors to discuss my ideas with them. This was met with a lot of rejection (academic staff are busy enough without an extracurricular project on top!), but I eventually found someone who was willing to help me make my idea a reality. The next few months were spent designing the entire study, going through the process of ethical approval,
and building the experiment from scratch. I’m now at the stage where I’ve just finished
piloting my study, so I’m about to start participant recruitment! Even though it seems like I’ve barely started, this experience has been the most eye-opening out of any of the research I’ve been involved with. Doing almost everything yourself is such a unique challenge, as it’s the first time you have proper creative freedom and responsibility. I’ve gained so many new skills over the course of the project so far, but the most important factor has been being able to ask for help and guidance when I need it – not just from my supervisor, but from academics across the department.
The Main Takeaway
My main takeaway from all of the research I’ve been involved in so far is that research is, at its core, a collaborative effort. The Psychology Department at York have fostered such an encouraging, motivating, and welcoming environment, where students are constantly supported in developing their research skills. Whether the extent of your involvement is just within the course, or you want to get stuck in and be a part of all the research that you can, one thing you can count on is that there are always people willing to help you with those goals. At York, research isn’t just something you read – it’s something you can actually do!
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