Research Strategy
Defining Research
A broad definition of 'intellectual inquiry' is applied to research within the Department. Given the emphasis within the Department on professional training, consultancy and knowledge transfer, research is seen as integral and central to enhancing the quality of these activities. As the main focus of the Department is Applied Psychology the impact and dissemination of research is fore grounded. Research is also seen as a specialised field of professional practice in itself and training skilled researchers is also central to our core business.
Current context
The Department is very research active and the following provides a profile of the activities under which research activity occurs.
Programmes
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
Currently we have over 100 Doctorate in Clinical Psychology trainees all of whom have to complete a major research project. The majority of which are supervised through by the programme staff.
PhD in Arts and Health
This is set up as a part-time PhD cohort programme and is associated with the Sidney de Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health and currently has five candidates.
Individual PhDs
We have a small number of research active staff involved in the PhD supervision of individuals attached to other Departments and Faculties. However, as our resources grow this is an area we would envisage expanding.
Knowledge Exchange (KE)
Through the Practice Consultancy and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programmes of activity the Department is very active within KE and these activities bring in significant amounts of income. The boundary between KE and research activities is naturally permeable and our staff group having professional training in both research and applied psychology are ideally placed to further develop this area and exploit any opportunities within this overlap.
Funded Research
The Department has attracted an increasing amount of money through winning research bids and is very active in developing partners in the health and care sectors in addition to links with other Universities take advantage of these opportunities.
Aspirations
Aspiration 1 – to become known for delivering excellent research training at post-graduate level, within and external to the University
Aspiration 2: To expand our activities and outcomes in the 'grey areas' between research and knowledge transfer.
Aspiration 3: To become a more recognised and preferred provider to support our existing networks in meeting their research needs and to partner with when seeking additional research funding.
Aspiration 4: we make good use of our current activities to enhance our research outputs, impact and environment, according to the REF criteria, and in doing so attract increased funding.
Aspiration 5: we develop a departmental infra-structure which attracts and develops research active staff, and allows capacity to invest in research activities, resulting in increased funding.