Psychology BSc (Hons)

Fieldwork

At BU we offer a Research Apprenticeship Scheme to our second-year Psychology undergraduates. The scheme gives students the opportunity to work with members of the faculty on their research projects and could be on one of the many areas of expertise found amongst the staff including autism, prosopagnosia and also how not to get lost! Your role would be to undertake literature searches, prepare stimuli and experiments using appropriate software and recruit and test participants. The scheme gives you the chance to earn invaluable experience that looks great on your CV.

You would normally be required to work 4 hours a week on a voluntary basis during the first and second terms and the project leaders are always flexible around assignment deadlines.

This is a great opportunity and there are numerous benefits for those involved including getting a professional reference for job applications or applications for further study at MSc and PhD level. Students can also continue working with the project leader in a related area for their final year project which is worth 20% of the final degree grade meaning that you will be well on the way to getting a great mark for the project and will be able to hit the ground running come project commencement.

Hear some of our students' experiences of the scheme:

Ben Hunt, Year 3: 'Being a research assistant is a great privilege for many reasons. Firstly, it enables you to get a flavour of the nature of research. Secondly, it gives you a good grounding in research so that when it comes to writing your final year project you already have a head start against others in your year. You may also be able to extend the research you conducted whilst acting as a research assistant, meaning that you have one of the most difficult parts of the dissertation, deciding what to do, behind you. Finally, if you are considering a career in research, experience is key. Acting as an honorary research assistant so early in your career can really stand out on post graduate applications and your CV- it could mean the difference between getting that all important interview or not. You do need to be able to commit time to the research, perhaps aiming to hold at least two or more experiments per week. This sacrifice of time is more than worth it considering the benefits of being an RA, both during your degree and beyond'.

Areti Smaragdi, Year 3: 'My first research assistant position mostly concerned collecting and entering data, and with that first experience it gradually grew to taking on more responsibilities by for example analysing the data, as well as planning and setting up a study. In short term, it helped solidify all the theoretical knowledge I gained throughout my course, which greatly helped me when planning my dissertation. In the long term, it gave me an oppurtunity to try research before I applied to any postgraduate courses, and so gave me a better understanding of what I was applying for and wanted to do. It is great experience to have whether you end up doing research or not, because you get to try out different areas and learn more about different subjects.'