Psychology: Unit of Assessment 44
The majority of research in the Psychology UoA is officially classified as world-leading, internationally excellent or recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour, having almost all of its evidence assessed as being in the three highest categories for quality in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.
| Quality Level | 4* | 3* | 2* | 1* | Unclassified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of research activity | 10 | 30 | 45 | 15 | 0 |
Since our 5* RAE rating in 2001, we have strengthened our focus on neuroscience and behaviour, by recruiting nine new academic members, including three early career researchers holding prestigious Fellowships (Royal Society, RCUK, and Lloyds Tercentenary), and by integrating two members which held Royal Society fellowships.
We have moved to the purpose built Henry Wellcome Building for Neuroecology, enabled by the £8.3m Joint Infrastructure award at the end of the last assessment period, where we have successfully established the UK's only non-human primate neuroimaging centre, new laboratory facilities for animal behaviour, in vivo multi-electrode electrophysiology and neuropharmacology, human perception and psychophysics, and computational neuroscience.
The impact of our research on science and society is reflected by 16 publications in discovery journals (Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Genetics, PNAS, and Current Biology), and its wide international recognition
During the assessment period the group had £5.9m in research expenditure through funding from the Wellcome Trust, MRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, NERC, EC, Royal Society, DEFRA and the Leverhulme Trust. Members of the group have been instrumental in gaining a £4.3m EPSRC award for CARMEN, a multicentre neuroinformatics e-science project for the storage, analysis and modelling of basic and clinical neurophysiological data.
Our research centres on two main themes:
Our concentrated success in the above research themes was key to the formation of a University Research Institute, the Institute of Neuroscience(IoN).
We have access to a well equipped mechanical workshop, to an electronics workshop, to shared Histology laboratory facilities, and to a highly qualified computing support officer.
Postgraduate students benefit from our strong research groups, interaction with Institutes and involvement in a wider postgraduate culture through the Faculty of Medical Sciences Graduate School. Over 20 PhD and three Master degrees have been awarded in the current RAE period.
