Psychology (Experimental)

Experimental Psychology undergraduates at St Edmund Hall are given close personal guidance throughout their time at the College from both the College Fellow in Psychology, Professor David Bannerman, and the College Lecturer, Dr Iana Alexeeva.  Both will assist students in structuring their personal programmes of study.

Experimental Psychology is an exciting, dynamic and diverse field in which students sample widely for the Preliminary Examinations (‘Prelims’) in the first year. This provides a broad base of knowledge with which to enter the Final Honour School. In all three years Psychology teaching is based on lectures and tutorials – much of this takes place in the University Department of Experimental Psychology where there are excellent facilities, a friendly atmosphere and much opportunity to work with students and tutors of other colleges. During the first year all students follow the same course in Psychology, but after prelims students may choose from among a wide range of course options. There is also a varied programme of practical work, and in addition each student carries out a research project which allows them to work individually with an academic who is at the cutting edge of the relevant area of psychological research.

At St Edmund Hall there is a strong interest in neuroscience and in understanding the biological basis of psychology and behaviour. Members of the Hall have a strong interest in understanding how the brain learns and remembers, what goes wrong in the brain in psychiatric and neurological disorders , and how the brain tries to recover from injury and disease . This spans all the way from the action of different neurotransmitters and their receptors, through the activity of individual nerve cells and brain circuits, up to the behaving organism. St. Edmund Hall students will therefore have the opportunity to interact with a strong research community in psychology and neuroscience