PhD Studentship: Psychology Doctoral Research Studentship - Tools for Reproducible Research OR Joint Action with Artificial Agents (2023)

This PhD project will be supervised by Dr Lincoln Colling and at least one other academic from the University of Sussex (to be decided once the research proposal is confirmed). Applicants should prepare a proposal around one of the two topics described below.

1. Tools for reproducible research

Worries about the replication crisis have lead to an open-science revolution in Psychology and Neuroscience. As part of this, there has been an increased focus on practices such as data and code sharing. Sharing data and code from psychology studies, in a form that allows independent researchers to replicate the results of published studies, is, however, very difficult and outside the skill-set of many psychology researchers. This PhD will look to uncover the exact nature of the current shortcomings with the aim of developing tools and practises to help researchers improve data and code sharing. The ideal candidate will have a background in programming (R, Python, Javascript, Matlab or similar) and a desire to develop those skills further.

References:

Crüwell, S., Apthorp, D., Baker, B. J., Colling, L. J., et al (in press) What’s in a Badge? A computational reproducibility investigation of the open data badge policy in one issue of psychological science. Psychological Science. 10.31234/osf.io/729qt

Colling, L. J. & Szűcs, D. (2021). Statistical reform and the replication crisis, Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 12, 121-147, 10.1007/s13164-018-0421-4 

Colling, L. J., et al. (2020). Registered replication report on Fischer, Castel, Dodd, and Pratt (2003), Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. 3(2) 143-162. 10.1177/2515245920903079

1. Joint action with artificial agents

When we perform a task with another person, like dancing or playing a piano duet, we are able to coordinate the timing of our actions with exquisite precision. It’s likely that we do this by generating predictions of our co-actors actions using our own actions as a model. But how do these mechanisms fair when we co-act with artificial agents like robots and virtual avatars? And are our abilities to co-act with artificial agents impacted by whether we view them as more or less human? During this PhD you will examine the mechanisms that support joint action specifically in the context of artificial agents using a range of techniques including behavioural experiments and Electroencephalography.

References:

Colling, L. J. (2018). Planning together and playing together. In M. Cappuccio (Ed.), Handbook of Embodied Cognition and Sports Psychology. (pp. 413–441). MIT press. 

Eligibility

• Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a First or a high Upper Second Class Honours undergraduate degree, or equivalent qualification, and/or a Merit (an average of 60% overall) in a Master’s degree in Psychology or other relevant discipline.
• The University of Sussex believes that the diversity of its staff and student community is fundamental to creative thinking, pedagogic innovation, intellectual challenge, and the interdisciplinary approach to research and learning. As such, we welcome applications from all, regardless of personal characteristics or background.  

For more information, please read the full advert, as well as our Psychology PhD FAQS and our Prospectus. Please submit your application online for 'PhD in Psychology' for entry in September 2023. 

Timetable

Deadline: Monday 16 January 2023 (23:59 GMT)

Interviews (on Zoom): February 2023

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