Research Experience Scheme

The scheme is open to both undergraduate and Masters students in our Department of Psychology. We do not recruit students from other departments.

The RES is not open to students undertaking postgraduate research degrees (such as a PhD) as you should already have research experience. However, the department may recruit postgraduate research students for paid roles such as Graduate Laboratory Assistants or Graduate Teaching Assistants.

There are a variety of tasks that the academic you are working with may ask you to carry out. This can include assisting in experiments such as collecting, organising and analysing data, or helping design and set up experiments. You may be trained to use equipment such as EEG or tES.

Other work may include carrying out some research in the library, or recruiting and co-ordinating participants for research experiments.

You will need to commit a maximum of five hours per week. These can be arranged with your academic supervisor to be at a time that suits you both.

Placements will normally run for a total of 25 hours and will qualify for a Big Essex Award unit. This time can spread across more than one term depending on the hours per week you are undertaking.

You will only be recruited to one opportunity at a time.

There is no limit on how many you apply for or how often you apply, but if a project receives a high number of applications the academic may prioritise candidates who have not taken part before, as this gives everyone a chance to participate.

Opportunities are advertised throughout the year on a dedicated RES Moodle page. All application information will be provided in the advert.

If you are an incoming first-year student you will be given access to Moodle in Welcome Week, and will then be able to enrol to the RES Moodle page to see advertised projects.

While RES is not considered for your final degree mark, it can still give you a head start in your career.

RES gives you additional experience in managing and carrying out academic research. As a result you may find it useful to reflect on this experience and elaborate on the skills you have developed as part of applications and interviews for jobs or a postgraduate degree.