The School of Psychology is home to over 50 research-active staff and since 2007 has hosted over 40 research grants (over £4 million) funded by ESRC, BBSRC, MRC, EPSRC, EU, government departments and others. Its research has been recognised for its high quality, often with outputs classified as being of an international standard.  The School has recently restructured its research activity around three broad themes as follows:

Enhancing Thinking

http://www.surrey.ac.uk/psychology/research/enhancingthinking/

Research on thinking processes has a long tradition in cognitive psychology but much of the impact of our thought processes is on our behaviour in domains that are the subject of other sub-disciplines of psychology. In recognition of this breadth of impact, at Surrey we have formed a research theme, which cuts across traditional psychology sub-discipline boundaries, that is focused on both understanding the fundamentals of thinking and on applying this knowledge to develop ways of enhancing thinking processes at multiple levels of activity (individual, group, organisation, society) and in multiple domains.

Health and Wellbeing

http://www.surrey.ac.uk/psychology/research/healthandwellbeing/

The Health Research Group has a strong focus on both theoretical and applied research particularly in the areas of health, environmental, occupational, clinical and counselling Psychology. It investigates a range of health-related behaviours such as exercise, smoking, diet and communication, focusing on risk perception and consultation.  Current projects focus on food allergy, food labelling, rumination and recovery from work stress, recovery from office based surgery, rehabilitation following bariatric surgery and dietary control.

Brain and Behaviour

http://www.surrey.ac.uk/psychology/research/brainandbehaviour/index.htm

Our researchers working in this area investigate the neural bases of a variety of cognitive functions in healthy humans as well as in patients suffering from mental or neurological disorders. They draw upon a wide range of approaches including psychophysics, cognitive modelling, neuroimaging and neurostimulation. We are currently using novel approaches such as between subjects’ real time fMRl interaction, pattern recognition analyses, as well as using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) to better understand the link between hormones, metabolites and cognitive function.