Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Psychology

Undertake a PhD in Psychology

Generate new knowledge through scientific research

Undertake a Doctor of Philosophy specialising in Psychology and gain the skills to undertake independent, ambitious research. You will have the opportunity to develop world class research skills and make a significant difference to what we know about human behaviour across multiple domains - e.g., in clinical, legal, and social settings.

Students develop statistical, presentation, and writing skills over the course of their degree, giving them the ability to communicate complex scientific ideas to both the scientific community and the general public. Students are supported throughout their degree by a supervisor who is an expert in their field, providing inspiration, mentoring, and pastoral support.

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Why undertake a PhD in Psychology at Flinders

Gain knowledge and understanding of how to tackle complex problems in a way that is systematic and evidence-based.
Work with world-leading researchers to better understand the human mind, brain and behaviour.
Access state-of-the-art research facilities.
Regular contact with your supervisor and access to Flinders University online support tools and resources.

Discover more about research at the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.

Your career

The Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) provides opportunities to work as a professional researcher within universities and private organisations or a pathway to a role at university. Graduates of the Doctor of Psychology can apply for general registration as a psychology in Australia and are eligible to apply for the Registrar Program through the Psychology Board of Australia.

Potential occupations include:

Researcher
Academic
Policy analyst
Professional advisor (politics, law, crime, etc)

Potential employers include:

Local, state, and federal government
Not for profit sector
Private sector
Social marketing organisations
Universities

The Órama Institute is a multi-disciplinary research institute for mental health and wellbeing at Flinders University, with a focus on research and discovery related to brain and mind and their relationship to the body.

Find out more

Potential research supervisors

Flinders University Psychology staff include some of Australia’s most well renowned researchers in their fields. Psychology research at Flinders University is rated above world standard (Excellence in Research for Australia 2018).

Hear from Associate Professor Emma Thomas as she talks about PhD opportunities in Psychology, as well as her own research interests.

Hear from Dr Oren Griffiths as he talks about his research interests in Cognitive and behavioural therapies for psychosis.

Professor Michael Gradisar	The prevalence, consequences, and the psychological assessment and treatment of sleep disorders in children and adolescents
Professor Eva Kemps	Applications of cognitive experimental psychology in the areas of eating behaviour and physical activity
Professor Mike Nicholls	Cognitive neuroscience which examines cognitive processes and how they relate to brain function, asymmetries in behaviour and perception tied to lateralisation of brain function
Professor Reg Nixon	Posttraumatic stress in children and adults, the development and treatment of acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder following initial trauma
Professor Tracey Wade	Eating disorders, bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa, risk factors (genetic and environmental), diagnostic and classificatory issues, treatment, prevention, the impact of perfectionism
Professor Michael Wenzel	Social psychology issues of justice and morality, justice restoration, moral repair and reconciliation
Professor Robyn Young	Autism, older persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and people with ASD who unwittingly become involved in crime
Associate Professor Glen Bodner	Influences of memory and how to evaluate subjective experiences, how encoding and retrieval factors shape memory accuracy and the variety of subjective experiences that arise during cognitive processing
Associate Professor Sarah Cohen-Woods	Behavioural genomics and epigenomics across the lifespan in mental and physical health
Associate Professor Melanie Takarangi	Memory distortion, autobiographical memory for negative and traumatic experiences, intrusive and involuntary memories in attitudes towards wrongful conviction, expectancy effects, the relationship between alcohol, crime and memory, and other legal implications of memory distortion
Professor Emma Thomas	Political engagement (protest) and extremism; group emotions; moralization; radicalization and political violence; conspiracy theories and misinformation; social media and social change.
Associate Professor Lydia Woodyatt	Social and clinical psychology of applying the science of emotions, motivation, and justice to individuals, relationships, organisation, and education
Associate Professor Nathan Weber	Applied and theoretical aspects of metacognition, witness’s decisions to make an identification from a line-up, regulation of grain size and reporting of eyewitness testimony, predictors of identification accuracy, monitoring and control processes in recognition memory, mechanisms underlying positive versus negative recognition decisions
Associate Professor Tim Windsor	Changes in activity engagement, social behaviour, emotion regulation, and cognition that occur during adulthood and ageing, and psychosocial characteristics such as control beliefs and sense of purpose that contribute to effective self-regulation and development over the lifespan
Dr Ryan Balzan	The role that cognitive biases or problematic thinking styles play in the development and maintenance of delusions, and the reasons why people form misbeliefs for example in the area of eating disorders
Dr Mariette Berndsen	Emotions, how other persons influence our emotions over and above the emotional stimulus itself and how emotions influence our behaviours, group-based emotions; perspective taking and intergroup conflicts, and the rise of prejudice and discrimination cross-cultural psychology
Dr Monica Cations	Ageing, dementia and dementia care pathways, knowledge translation, young onset dementia, epidemiology, and psychological trauma
Dr Dan Fassnacht	Understanding the influences of low levels of wellbeing and development of mental illness, identifying psychological interventions that are efficacious, developing and evaluating technology-enhanced interventions (Internet, Apps, Podcast, SMS) to improve wellbeing and prevent and treat mental illness
Dr Oren Griffiths	Cognitive and behavioural therapies for psychosis, cognitive mechanisms in learning and belief-updating: how ‘trial and error’ learning takes place, the role of attention and beliefs in guiding learning, and what brings about unsupported, idiosyncratic or erroneous beliefs
Associate Professor Daniel King	Digital technology-based problems focused on online gambling and simulated gambling
Dr Julie Mattiske	Abnormal psychology, human memory function, women's health, and methodological issues, particularly in relation to research into interventions
Dr Paul Williamson	Memory judgments, memory conformity, the misinformation effect and how confidence-accuracy plays a role; emotion recognition and uncertainty orientation in decision-processes