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Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London - UCAS

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2025 - 2026
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Course summary

This MRes Psychology is a research only degree that enables you to conduct extended supervised research in a focused area of your choice within contemporary psychology, such as in brain and cognitive development, or computational cognitive neuroscience. Why choose this course?

  • This course is ideal if you are a graduate in psychology or a related discipline with prior research skills training and are seeking to complete a specific, well-defined research project.
  • It provides you with valuable experience of designing and running your own research project in psychological sciences under the supervision of a leading academic in the field.
  • You will have the opportunity to attend research seminars and meet and network with world-class researchers in our School of Psychological Sciences and at leading Birkbeck research centres and institutes in the Bloomsbury area and from around the world.
  • It will prepare you with a range of appropriate research skills and experiences if you have an ambition to carry out further research in any area of contemporary psychology, either at PhD level or in the private sector.
What you will learn You will develop a critical appreciation of existing research and research methods in a chosen research area. You will also learn subject-specific IT skills and will gain experience and skills in designing, managing and reporting on an extended research project. How you will learn This MRes Psychology is available to study full- or part-time. It is mainly taught through one-to-one supervision meetings with your project supervisor. You will also attend research seminars and an introductory, taught course on postgraduate research as part of your training. Highlights
  • This MRes Psychology provides you with a potential route into the MPhil/PhD Psychology at Birkbeck.
  • In the 2023 National Student Survey, Birkbeck's School of Psychological Sciences ranked 5th in the UK for teaching.
  • We are consistently regarded as one of the top institutions teaching psychological sciences in the UK. Birkbeck’s research excellence overall was confirmed in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework with 83% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
  • Birkbeck is strongly oriented towards research in psychological sciences and we are home to the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, the Health and Lived Experience Cluster, the Birkbeck - UCL Centre for Neuroimaging and the Centre for Cognition, Computation and Modelling.
Careers and employability On successfully graduating from this MRes Psychology, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including in:
  • research design and methodology
  • critical thinking and essay writing
  • experimental platform design
  • advanced quantitative statistics
  • presentation.
Some of our graduates from this course have gone on to progress their studies at MPhil/PhD level. They have also gone on to be employed at organisations including:
  • charities, policy and non-governmental organisations
  • primary and secondary schools
  • the NHS.
We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.

Modules

For information about course structure and the modules you will be studying, please visit Birkbeck’s online prospectus.

Assessment method

One essay or equivalent written work of 2000-2500 words, a research presentation, and a project dissertation of approximately 20,000 words. No written examinations. Assessments will be bespoke to your particular project, and will involve a consideration of the methods in your field and writing an ethics application.

How to apply

International applicants

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

Entry requirements

A second-class honours degree (2:2) or above in psychology or a relevant discipline, with prior advanced training (normally graduate level) in psychological research methods. Applicants with undergraduate qualifications only should normally apply for the MSc Psychological Research Methods. In your application you will need to offer an outline of your research proposal with specifications. You will also need to nominate possible supervisors from our Faculty of Science who have expertise relevant to your proposed project. Please refer to our staff research interests to help you with this. Applications are reviewed on their individual merits and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

To be confirmed
Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London - UCAS