PHD.PSYC - Psychology - PhD

The PhD in Psychology is a 4-year program leading to a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The aim of the PhD program is to train and equip students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to carry out advanced research in Psychology and to become independent producers of original scholarly research. The PhD program offers prospective students with the opportunity to focus their program of study along three distinct areas of research: Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience, Development Psychology, and Social, Health, and Personality Psychology. Students will have the opportunity to gain breadth in their knowledge base and skill set as scholars in Psychology by completing advanced specialization courses and research opportunities. With this degree, PhD graduates will have the knowledge and training to prepare them for traditional positions within academia (University) or to pursue non-academic career paths, where in-depth research training is required.

The Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience stream is intended for candidates who wish to focus primarily on basic research and theoretical issues related to the analysis of neurobiological and psychological processes that govern behaviour in humans or non-human species, and include topics of investigations involving the connection between action and perception, language comprehension, visual cognition, focused attention, neural mechanisms of memory formation and learning, the ethics of cognitive enhancement, and the molecular/cellular foundations of stress biology and neuropsychiatric disorders.

The Developmental Psychology stream is concerned with training candidates in the theoretical and research foundations involved with the study of psychological change across the lifespan and includes areas of research such as the acquisition of cognition, language, social cognition, atypical development, attachment relationships, community and family dynamics, culture and development, and identity formation and sexuality.

The Social, Health, and Personality Psychology stream is concerned with psychological, social and behavioural factors that impact overall health and well-being, and include areas of focus in emotional intelligence, community and family dynamics, attachment relationships, human sexuality, self-regulation, personality, psychopathology and mental health, determinants of health within LGBTQ+ communities, and promoting stress coping/resilience.