Engaging with the local community through outreach activities is an important part of the work we do here at NTU Psychology. We aim to inspire and engage members of the public to be part of our NTU Psychology community, whether this be as students, staff, researchers, or partners.
Outreach work with schools and colleges
On-campus taster sessions
Aimed at school and college students who have an interest in learning more about NTU Psychology, these involve a tour of our psychology facilities in the Taylor Building such as our driving simulator, our Virtual Reality Lab, our Movement Lab and EEG equipment.
Students see demonstrations and hear about how these facilities are used in our research. Within these taster sessions, students will also have taster seminars in small groups, where they learn about the different sub-disciplines of Psychology.
There is strong element of Applied Psychology (e.g. Forensic and Clinical) within the department, which the students have the opportunity to learn about in these sessions.
Visits to colleges and schools
If schools or colleges in the local area are hosting events for their students, such as careers events or specialist talks, NTU Psychology can visit and participate in these events.
We have a range of psychologists with different expertise at NTU Psychology, and like to share our knowledge and research with schools and colleges.
We sincerely thank the Psychology department at Nottingham Trent University for the fantastic support given to our A level students during the 2022-2023 academic year. Post-Covid, we found that a number of students needed additional support and targeted interventions.
Through collaborative work with the Psychology department, innovative workshop sessions were put in place for Psychology students as well as revision strategies around Memory Techniques and Linguistics that benefitted the whole year group. The quality of the delivery and content of the sessions was exceptionally high.
A school that NTU Psychology visited
Expert Speaker Series: Twilight Talks
Twice a year, we hold a special evening event in which a selection of our expert academics here at NTU Psychology share insights into their latest research.
These Twilight Talks are aimed at post-16 students, post-16 teachers, and parents can come along too!
Student Research Conference
This is an opportunity for students to come to the NTU Psychology department and present a report they have conducted as part of their studies (e.g. A Level, BTEC) either of an empirical nature or research on a specific area of study.
Students present in small groups to an audience of academic staff who provide feedback on the design and execution of these research projects.
This event allows students to experience the NTU research culture and gain feedback on their projects, which further develops their skills and confidence in presenting psychological research.
Community engagement events
NTU Psychology take part in local community engagement events to showcase our research and work to the general public. For example, we have been in attendance at the Festival of Science and Curiosity, and Science in the Park.
If you visit these events, come along and say hi to our NTU Psychology lecturers and researchers. We like to enthuse young scientists at these events to think about a career in psychological science.
"I enjoyed using the goggles and trying to get the beanbag into a box whilst seeing everything upside down."
"I have enjoyed finding out what our brain really sees."
"The experiments were awesome, good job."
"Great experiments for all the family especially my son who has Autism."
Feedback from our community events
Globally connected research and teaching
The coverage of global and comparative content features in a large proportion of the course and module provision at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and is also a feature of the work carried out by our postgraduate research students.
NTU Psychology staff members have also engaged in a wide range of globally connected research and teaching activities, which have included hosting visiting scholars and participating in collaborative research. These have been funded through schemes such as the Erasmus+ KA2 programme (e.g. the TKCOM project led by Dr Lucy Betts involving partnerships with those from Spain, Portugal and China; and Dr Daria Kuss’s work with collaborators from Romania, Cyprus, Lithuania, and Greece).
Other examples of international collaborations include Dr Mark Torrance’s work on a Norwegian government-funded project called ‘DigiHand’ and Dr Matthew Belmonte’s international collaborations with partners in India and Europe (the latter trough Horizon 2020 funding). Maria Karanika-Murray has also been part of a large European collaboration funded by the European Commission for a project entitled, “WORKAGE – Active Ageing through Work Ability”.
With a Department of our size, there are extensive international research collaborations and projects and our staff are continually presenting work at a range of academic and practitioner-focused conferences across the globe.
Get in touch
If you're interested in getting involved in any of the above, or have an idea about how NTU Psychology could work with you, contact Dr Jenny Mackay at jennifer.mackay@ntu.ac.uk.