PhD/MPhil Experimental Psychology

Visit our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health postgraduate research events page to find out about upcoming open days and events.

• Browse our project listings and funded programmes to discover a project you’re passionate about and check you meet eligibility criteria.
• Understand how your project is funded and, if it’s listed as self-funded, consider our funding opportunities for self-funded projects or other funding opportunities .
• Speak to the listed supervisor about your suitability for their project or programme before you apply.
• Visit our ‘How to apply’ page to find out more and ensure you include all required supporting documents at the time of submission.

Visit our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health postgraduate research page to find out more.

Before you start your application, you should:

• Discover more about the research area you’re interested in.
• Identify the programme or find the specific research project you'd like to apply for.
• Contact the listed project supervisor and speak to them about your suitability for the project.
• Understand how your project is funded and, if you are applying for a self-funded project, consider how you plan on funding your project and discuss this with the listed supervisor.

If you already have your own funding:

• Find a specific self-funded project and contact the project supervisor to talk to them about your suitability for the project; OR
• Determine your own research project and title, find a potential supervisor in this research area and contact them to discuss potentially supervising your research.

Supporting documents

You'll also need to make sure you have the following documents before you start your application:

• Personal statement
• Certificates and transcripts
• CV
• Confirmation of funding (if you are self-funded)
• English language ability
• Names and details of two referees to support your application

Visit our ‘How to apply’ page to find out more about the information required for each of these supporting documents.

Any missing information may delay the processing of your application.

Application deadlines

The deadline for applying for postgraduate research in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health depends on when you intend to start your research and how your project is funded.

If you are applying for one of our funded programmes, please refer to the deadlines detailed on the relevant page .

If you’re applying for a project that isn’t part of one of these programmes, our final application deadlines are:

• January 2026 entry: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
• April 2026 entry: Thursday, 15 January 2026
• September 2026 entry: Tuesday, 15 June 2026

The discipline of experimental psychology involves application of rigorous scientific experimental methods to the study of psychology and its underlying neural processes. In the same way that a physicist might develop theories and test hypotheses about physical systems, experimental psychologists develop and test theories about the processes of human psychology.

Experimental Psychology has a long tradition at the University of Manchester. Prof. Samuel Alexander, the late 19 ^th and early 20 ^th century philosopher, kick-started the study of psychology in Manchester after visiting experimental psychologists in Germany.

This eventually led to the appointment of the first lecturer in experimental psychology in Manchester in 1909 and the establishment of a dedicated psychology department - a rare phenomenon for Britain and, indeed, anywhere outside of London at the time.

We primarily use behavioural experimental methods in order to study psychological processes, measuring key metrics such as perceptual biases and thresholds, reaction times, pupil responses and eye-movements. We use these measures to inform, and further develop, models of cognition.

Our major research themes include:

• Sensation and perception
• Vision and action
• Memory
• Judgement and Decision making
• Language processing
• Emotion
• Time perception

To search for specific project keywords, disciplines, topics and/or supervisors visit our research project pages.

Training and development

All of our postgraduate researchers attend the Doctoral Academy Training Programme delivered by the Researcher Development team . The programme provides key transferable skills and equips our postgraduate researchers with the tools to progress beyond their research degree into influential positions within academia, industry and consultancy. The emphasis is on enhancing skills critical to developing early-stage researchers and professionals, whether they relate to effective communication, disseminating research findings and project management skills.

Visit our PhD life page to discover life as a postgraduate researcher at Manchester or read our postgraduate research student blog .