Louisa Salhi engages with U3A members by Matt Wilson

Community Research Hub

We are a research intensive school with a strategic goal to make our research accessible and relevant to the wider community.

We are committed to involving the public in the different stages of our research. Members of the community work with us to develop project ideas, set research questions, advise on the methods we apply, participate in our studies, and spread the word about our findings.

We have citizen science collaborations where members of the community get involved in undertaking research. We also regularly work with charities and organisations to increase the impact of our research in society. Non-academics on our External Advisory Boards help us link our research more directly to real-world questions.

We enjoy hosting events such as our Science Open Day, Annual Lectures, Café Psychology talks and more formal adult education and continued professional development courses to share the results of our research.

See below for more on what we do and how you can help us.

Psychology Researchers Reconnect with the Community

The School of Psychology hosted an Open Science Day, the first since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

Window of house displaying pictures of rainbows and messages of thanks to keyworkers

Community response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Longitudinal study will track changes in social relationships and cohesion

Report on representations of old age and ageing

Review by Dr Hannah Swift and Ben Steeden reveals widespread negative stereotyping

Research grants to investigate conversation skills in children

Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith and Dr Michael Forrester awarded £38,538 for two studies

Psychological intervention improves air quality in Canterbury

Research by Professor Dominic Abrams, Dr Tim Hopthrow and Dr Fanny Lalot found that using low-cost psychological interventions can improve air quality

We aim to make sure our research is relevant and responds to the issues that are important to our local public and communities.

We collaborate with a range of organisations to develop multi-disciplinary research programmes that span across several fields of study.

Use the tabs below to read about some of our research programmes and the impact that they are having.

Research projects

Improving Personality Assessment Tools Globally

Research by Dr Anna Brown led to the development of novel personality assessment tools that are resistant to response biases and ‘faking good’ by candidates.