Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry MPhil/PhD, MD(Res)

The SGDP Centre welcomes applications from both home and overseas students. The Centre’s students are diverse in their backgrounds, with about half coming from social science and the other half from biological and related sciences. Our students are supported by a range of funding schemes including the MRC, ESRC, BBSRC DRIVE-health, King’s China Scholarship Council scheme and many others. Our academic faculty members of the Centre are able to supervise students on a traditional 3- or 4-year PhD, as well as those on a 1+3 PhD studentships. 

Students entering directly onto a 3- or 4- year PhD programme may already have research experience and/or be familiar with the interdisciplinary nature of our research areas and have ideas about an appropriate SGDP project and/or research method. They will also often already hold an MSc (or equivalent qualification) relevant to their PhD topic.

Our 1+3 students often undertake the MSc in Developmental Psychology & Psychopathology (DEV-PP) for 1 year before commencing their PhD project. The MSc DEV-PP programme takes a highly interdisciplinary approach to explore how biological, behavioural and cognitive processes, along with family and wider social forces, can affect typical and atypical development. Students are taught by world-leading experts and receive training across multiple research fields: molecular & behavioural genetics, twin modelling, statistical genetics, epigenetics, bioinformatics, social and cognitive psychology, and developmental psychiatry. At the end of the first year, successful students are awarded a Master of Science degree and then progress directly to their PhD studies.

The SGDP Centre is an interdisciplinary department that focuses on how genetics (‘nature’) and the environment (‘nurture’) interact to affect psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and individual differences across development. PhD students are integrated with our collaborative, interdisciplinary teams that span research in the Social, Genetic and Developmental areas across Psychology and Psychiatry. Research programmes include mental health disorders of anorexia and eating disorders, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, depression, and psychosis.

We investigate the social, genetic and developmental contributions to psychiatric disorders and typical behaviour, using tools such as twin studies, molecular (epi)genetics, neuroimaging, EEG, virtual reality and activity tracking through wearable devices. The SGDP Centre leads the twin studies of TEDS and E-Risk which have rich longitudinal data through development, from childhood to adulthood. We use genetic tools to identify the genetic contribution to psychiatric disorders, and run the GLAD study, investigating the genetic links to anxiety and depression. Our social research investigates the impact of trauma, bullying and loneliness on mental health, and genetic contributions to education attainment.

SGDP PhD students finish their PhD with diverse skills and experience, equipping them to stay in academia or follow diverse careers in industry, government and third sector organisations.