The School of Psychology is offering five scholarships of £1,000 to eligible students of any nationality registering on our taught MSc programmes by 1st October 2013. These are awarded on the basis of academic merit and commitment to further postgraduate study.

Value and availability

• The scholarships will be worth £1,000 (for one year of study) towards the costs of tuition fees
• Five awards are available for 2013 entry
• Scholarships are allocated to applicants who meet the general award criteria outlined below on a competitive basis, applications will be ranked by a selection panel.

Criteria

To be eligible for a Scholarship all of the following criteria must be met:

• The student must have achieved an excellent result in their undergraduate degree. Requirements for various countries are shown below, qualifications from other countries will be considered on an individual basis.
  Minimum grade required for scholarship by country (assuming university has good academic reputation)
  • China: Bachelor degree with 85%+ overall
  • Canada: Bachelor degree with 80%+ or 3.5+ GPA out of 4.0
  • India: First Division/Class Bachelor degree
  • Nigeria: First Class Honours Bachelor degree or 4.5+ GPA
  • Saudi Arabia: Bachelor degree with 3.0+ out of 4.0 or 3.6+ out of 5.0
  • Taiwan: Degree with 80%+ overall
  • Tanzania: First Class Honours degree
  • Turkey: Degree with GPA 3.5+ out of 4.0
  • United Kingdom: First Class Honours degree
  • United States of America: GPA of 3.5+ out of 4.0
• The student must also have applied and accepted an unconditional offer on one of these courses on a full-time basis:
  • MSc Cognitive Psychology
  • MSc Developmental Psychology
  • MSc Forensic Psychology
  • MSc Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
  • MSc Research Methods MSc Social & Applied Psychology
• The student must also demonstrate a commitment to PhD study at the University of Kent.

How to apply

Please email a cover letter and CV to psypgadmissions@kent.ac.uk by the deadline below. The subject line should state ‘50th Anniversary Masters Scholarships’.

Note that an offer of a place on a MSc programme does not constitute an offer of funding.

Deadline

5pm GMT on Wednesday 31 July 2013

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship, joint funded by Kent Forensic Psychiatry Service (Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust), and the School of Psychology. The PhD research will inform and support forensic mental health services through developing a risk assessment tool for mentally disordered firesetters.

Because this studentship is joint funded, the successful candidate will assist with graduate teaching at the University as part of their studentship and will hold unique positions both within Kent Forensic Psychiatry Service and within the University. The successful student will not only be a registered student at the University in receipt of a studentship award but they will also be an employee of the University as well as holding honorary employee status within the NHS.

Empirically informed risk assessment is vital for the effective assessment, treatment, and management of people who have offended. In the forensic psychology field, numerous empirically-informed risk assessment tools have been developed to examine risk of sexual offending and risk of violence. However, there is currently no standardised risk assessment tool available that examines risk in relation to firesetting behaviour.

This PhD research will develop the first empirically informed preliminary risk assessment for use with Mentally Disordered Firesetters. The candidate may use a variety of methods in order to develop the risk assessment and will have considerable flexibility to select their chosen approach. However, it is anticipated that the research underpinning the risk assessment measure will be largely quantitative in nature and will focus on both static and dynamic risk factors.

The successful candidate will become part of the vibrant research community within the Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology (CORE-FP) and Kent Forensic Psychiatry Service. They will have access to training and other opportunities offered through the Graduate School at the University of Kent and also Kent Forensic Psychiatry Service. The successful candidate will be supervised by Professor Theresa Gannon and Dr Lona Lockerbie. For more information about being a research student at Kent see our web pages.

Funding

The 3 year studentship is joint funded by Kent Forensic Psychiatry Service and the School of Psychology. This includes Home/EU tuition fees of £3,900 per annum and a maintenance grant of £13,726 per annum, renewable subject to satisfactory performance.

Entry requirements

Essential:

• A British Psychological Society accredited undergraduate honours psychology degree, at minimum 2.1 (or suitable alternative).
• A clear Enhanced Criminal Record Bureau check.
• Experience of using quantitative analysis.
• Experience of working with offender populations in secure settings.
• Knowledge of Forensic Psychology and Mental Health/Disorders.
• Ability to engage positively with a range of agencies and audiences.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Desirable:

• Successful completion of a postgraduate degree in a relevant subject (e.g., forensic or clinical psychology, mental health nursing).
• A high degree of competence with using multivariate statistics.
• Experience of qualitative research methods (eg, Grounded Theory).
• Experience of teaching (eg, seminar leadership).

Note

This studentship is open to all postgraduate research applicants. UK, EU and overseas fee paying students are invited to apply. Overseas students would have to make up the difference between the Home and Overseas tuition fees.

Current Kent PhD students are not eligible to apply.

How to apply

Informal enquiries can be made to both Professor Theresa Gannon (T.A.Gannon@Kent.ac.uk) and Dr Lona Lockerbie (Lona.Lockerbie@kmpt.nhs.uk). Please cc in both individuals to your enquiry and use the subject line ‘KFPS scholarship’.

To apply, please complete all of the following steps:

1. Complete an online application for a PhD place (choose PhD, Forensic Psychology) including a research proposal of no more than 1,000 words outlining how you would develop a risk assessment tool for mentally disordered firesetters. See general guidance on how to prepare a proposal (not specific to this particular project).
2. Send by email with subject line: KFPS Studentship to: psypgadmissions@kent.ac.uk
   • An up to date CV, with particular emphasis on demonstrating skills.
   • A covering letter explaining why you are interested in the studentship, why you want to do a PhD, and why you are suitable for this project (specifically addressing the essential and desirable criteria.

Finally, you should make sure that your references have been received by the deadline below in order to ensure that your application has been completed in full.

Deadline

5pm GMT on Monday 13th May 2013
Interviews: Wednesday 22 May 2013
Start date: Monday 30 September 2013

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are both registered PhD students and employees of the University.

The Medway GTA will undertake teaching work at Medway campus (including lectures, seminars, supervision, marking and module administration). They will be supervised by a member of Psychology academic staff at the Canterbury campus.

In return, they will receive a scholarship covering tuition fees at the Home/EU rate plus a combined maintenance grant and salary, equivalent to the maintenance grant offered by the UK Research Councils (£13,726 in 2013-14).

The scholarship will initially be offered for one year, renewable for a maximum of three years - subject to satisfactory academic performance.

The awardee will be expected to use the Campus Shuttle to travel between Medway and Canterbury campuses, but reasonable travel expenses can also be covered in consultation with the School.

Criteria

• Candidates must hold a good Honours degree (First or 2i) and either have or be studying for a Master’s degree (Distinction or Merit) in Psychology. Non-British qualifications will be judged individually; we will generally require an overall result in the top two grading categories.
• Open to all postgraduate research applicants. UK, EU and overseas fee paying students are invited to apply (overseas students would have to make up the difference between the Home and Overseas tuition fees).

How to apply

1. Apply online for a PhD place in the School of Psychology at the University of Kent including:
   • The name of the proposed supervisor (this should be agreed with the relevant staff member prior to submission);
   • a transcript of degree marks to date and certificate, if completed;
   • a research proposal of up to 1,000 words including brief references;
   • a teaching statement up to 1,000 words indicating your approach to teaching and why you think you would be suited to teaching;
   • the names and email addresses of two academic referees (these must also be received by the deadline below).
2. Send an email to psypgadmissions@kent.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Medway GTA Scholarship 2013’, attaching your CV and a covering letter that states why you should be awarded a scholarship.

Deadline

17:00 GMT on Friday 17 May 2013.

Interviews will be held on Friday 31 May 2013. Unfortunately we are unable to cover travel costs but will arrange telephone/Skype interviews where appropriate.