Psychology

Undergraduate and postgraduate

• The Department of Psychology is based on Campus West
• We are a research-intensive department where students are taught by people at the forefront of their fields in well-equipped facilities including:
  
  • state-of-the-art lecture theatre equipped with multiple screens for presentations, audio amplification and lecture recording facilities
  • interactive lectures that let students instantaneously respond to questions using a smartphone
  • dedicated computer lab for carrying out practical experiments
  • multimodal Action Perception Laboratory, as well as facilities for testing children and measuring eye movements and other aspects of perceptual and cognitive function
  • EEG lab
  • TMS Lab
  • sleep Lab
  • several Virtual Reality labs

Postgraduate-specific

• Unique access to the York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC) where students have opportunities for hands-on experience of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

• We received the Athena SWAN Gold Award in 2019.
• Courses are accredited by the British Psychological Society.
• Psychology Society -  PsychSoc is a society designed to create a safe space for all those interested in Psycology to participate in weekly socials and events, and to learn more about exciting developments within the field. The society organises regular social and academic events, including opportunities for first years to mix with upper years who can assist in a smooth transition to university life. Another aim of the society is to improve the relationship between staff and students in the department, hosting in-department events such as quiz nights and sporting competitions.

Key message about Psychology at York.

• We are a friendly, stimulating and supportive environment for students where science flourishes. We’re one of the world’s top psychology departments, excelling in both teaching and research.

• 9th in the UK for Psychology, Complete University Guide 2025

• 8th in the UK for Psychology, The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025

• Ranked 8th in the UK for research and 2nd for research output quality in the Times Higher Education’s ranking of the latest REF results (2021). Our research environment - the support we give to our researchers - is rated as 4*,  the Research Excellence Framework’s highest rating.
• 1st in the Russell Group for 'Organisation and Management', 2nd for 'Academic Support' and 3rd for 'Teaching on my course' in the National Student Survey 2024 for pyschology (non-specific).

Undergraduate and postgraduate

• Psychology student blogs (UG and PGT)
• Studying Psychology at York
• Interview with a York academic - Department of Psychology
• Studying my psychology degree at York
• Free online course, "Introduction to cognitive psychology: an experimental science"