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Graduate Study in Social Psychology

Supervisory Experience

Students who are considering enrolling in the PhD degree in the area of social psychology may wish to contact one of our teaching and research staff. If your questions are of a more general nature you should contact the Graduate Program Convenor, Prof Mike Smithson ( ).

Our staff offer opportunities for supervision in areas such as social categorization and intergroup relations that we believe would be difficult for any institution in the world to match. The Research School of Psychology also offers excellent supervision opportunities in relation to such areas as risk and uncertainty and the social psychology of organizational behaviour.

Example PhD

Recent or current Ph.D.s at ANU in social psychology and closely related areas include :

• Gender as a social psychological structure (Renata Bongiorno)
• Influence, identity and interpersonal networks in dynamic social systems (Martin Copeland)
• Whistle-blowing and attempts at in-group change from an SIT perspective (Monique Crane)
• Organisational mergers and procedural and distributive fairness (Siobhan Hennessy)
• Social development of shared categories (Diana Grace)
• Mood and intergroup behaviour (Janet Tweedie)
• Changing stereotypes of the mentally ill (Amaly Khalaf)
• Uncertainty, conflict and ambiguity (John Beale)
• From me to we: effective communciation within and between group members (Ruth Wright)
• Political Solidarity as a Social Change Process: Dynamics of Self-Categorization in Intergroup Power Relations (Emina Subasic)
• Interaction versus action in on-line communities (Girish Lala)
• Processes in long-term attitude change in relation to reconciliation (Caroline Blink)

Environment and Resources

When considering the ANU and/or other institutions as potential places of study, the resources and support that they offer will be an important factor in your decision. Following are some of the benefits that the ANU Research School of Psychology can offer you :

Resources and office space

ANU Psychology research students normally share an office with an average of four other students during their first two years. In later years research students will normally share an office with one other student. All students have desktop computers and receive a high level of technical and administrative support. Students receive financial support for research needs and peak-conference attendance based on the submission of an annual budget.

Supervisory panels

Students work closely with their principal supervisor to identify an advisory panels within three months of enrolment.

Excellent statistical/methodological Support

ANU social psychologists carry out the advanced (i.e., fourth year) research methods training in the Department and have published extensively on research methods and statistics. Haslam and McGarty have written an introductory statistics and research methods text (Doing Psychology which is widely adopted at other institutions) and Smithson has written a forthcoming second year research methods text.

Active research environment

Social psychologists at the ANU are actively involved in publishing research. They are at the forefront of international developments in their fields. ANU students have multiple opportunities to obtain publications.

Comprehensive research opportunities

Articulation with developments in Clinical/ Health Psychology, Organizational Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Law and Psychology. Some students are completing social psychology-related PhDs in areas within PhD (ClinPsych) degrees and others are conducting social/ organizational research.

Equipment and research space

The Research School of Psychology has a large, dedicated social psychology research laboratory that is equipped for running most forms of research including computer-mediated communication. The Department employs a full-time postdoctoral research officer in social psychology whose duties include managing the laboratory.

Teaching opportunities and the Graduate Teaching Program

Casual employment as tutors is available during semester. Interested students have the opportunity to complete training in teaching through the Graduate Teaching Program.

Other local facilities

Unlike other Australian universities the ANU is primarily a research institution. The Research School of Psychology is part of the College of Medicine, Biology and the Environment. It hosts a variety of research schools and centres some of which carry out research that is relevant for social psychology. Library facilities are excellent and the National Library is just across the lake.

Visitors and overseas contacts

Along with regular visitors by established scholars, the Research School of Psychology has hosted visiting students from the University of Munster, The University of Amsterdam, The Free University of Amsterdam, and the Catholic University of Louvain. A number of students from ANU have attended the Summer School of the European Association for Experimental Social Psychology in recent years. These interchanges allow students to develop long-term contacts with overseas scholars.

More Information

To find out more about graduate study at the ANU see the Graduate School page or the our graduate study page. You should note that there are no tuition fees for Australian or New Zealand citizens conducting research degrees and that a variety of (competitive) scholarships are available.