The Big 5

Photo by Adobe Stock On this episode, Dr Mark Moss reflects on his early career in the discipline of chemistry and what inspired him to retrain to become an academic psychologist. Mark also discusses his philosophy on teaching and research in University settings, while providing insights on some of his challenges and achievements over the […]

On this episode, Sandra Gawel (Research Participation Lead & PhD Researcher) provides guidance for students on how to obtain opportunities to join departmental research teams in the Psychology department at Northumbria University. Sandra also provides an overview on how to get involved in the Volunteer Research Assistant Scheme at Northumbria University and some of the […]

Photo by Adobe Stock On this episode, Dr Andrew McNeill reflects on his 10 years of being part of the Psychology department at Northumbria University. We discuss Andrew’s research that has focused on victimhood, how people express their views on social media and the application of health monitoring systems. Andrew also reflects on his progression […]

Photo by Adobe Stock On this week’s episode, PhD student Dan Rogerson tells us about his research into gender and sexuality in sport. We discuss Trans inclusion in sport as well as analyse trans and female discrimination in sport. Show Notes You can follow Dan on X @daniel_rogerson You can follow the podcast on Instagram […]

On this week’s episode, Lecturer and Scientist Liz Renner tell us about her research into human cognition. We discuss the difference between human and primate cognition and how this results in different cultures between the two groups. Show Notes You can follow Liz on X @lizrrenner You can follow the podcast on Instagram and X […]

On this week’s episode, PhD student Jordan Dawson tells us his research into sexism and hate crimes. We discuss the impact of online sexism and what changes can companies implement to reduce this influx of hatred. Show Notes You can follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter @thebig5_psych You can also get in touch with […]

Photo by Adobe Express On this week’s episode, Dr. Gillian Pepper, Matthew Wright and Dr. Michael Smith tell us about the creation and the judging process of the Northumbria Psychology Sustainability Research Prize. We discuss the impact of the prize and the importance of sustainability. Show Notes You can follow the podcast on Instagram and […]

On this week’s episode, Dr. Glenn Williams, tells us about his research on dialects, also known as langauge variants. We discuss how studying dialects can help us understand how we learn and use second languages. Show notes: If you’d like to follow Glenn’s research, you can check out his website. You can follow the podcast […]

Welcome back for Season 3! On this inaugural episode Dr. Tamlyn Watermeyer tells us about her work on detecting dementia years before symptoms develop using a simple online task. We also learn about how to stave off dementia and keep our brains healthy from birth onward! (Spoiler: Life long learning is key, so listening to […]

On this episode, Millie Dobinson tells us about her experience as an intern at a market research company. She talks about the skills she’s developed and the benefits of students taking part in internships. Show notes: If you’re a student who wants to find out more about internship placements for next year please contact scott.houghton@northumbria.ac.uk […]

On this episode, Georgia Punton tells us about her PhD work on how sleep affects how we are able to control our thoughts. Her work links sleep deprivation and hallucinations and posits that hallucinations may be more likely for everyone when we are sleep deprived. Show notes: To find out more about Georgia’s work you […]

On this episode of The Big 5, Dr. Sarah Allen discusses her research on trauma informed teaching and student support in higher education. We discuss the types of trauma that students have experienced and how it can affect their learning and adaptation to university life. Show notes: For more on Sarah’s work you can visit […]

On this episode, Dr. Santosh Vijaykumar tells us about the sea of health misinformation on the internet and how researchers are working to understand and combat misinformation. We also discuss CHIRP, the Cognitive and Health Infodemics Research Programme, an interdisciplinary research group at Northumbria University studying misinformation from multiple perspectives. Show notes: If you’re in...

On this episode, Dr. Laura Farrugia and Professor Gavin Oxburgh tell us about their work on effective police questioning and the app they are developing to help police officers become better questioners. Show notes: You can find out more about Laura’s work here. You can find out more about Gavin’s work here. Remember you can […]

On this episode Dr. Amanda Rotella tells us about her research on social competition and how we use social signals to choose our friends, romantic partners, and preferred colleagues. We talk about how and why these judgements are useful and why they’re adaptive in a biological market where we have limited resources and choices. Show […]

On this episode we celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month with Richard Rawlings who tells us about his research exploring the ways in which LGBTQ+ people use dating apps to form connections in rural and urban settings. We discuss resilience and how both the city and country offer different challenges and opportunities for queer people to find […]

Dr. Carolina Are is an Innovation Fellow at the Centre for Digital Citizens. The Centre for Digital Citizens is a joint initiative with colleagues at Newcastle and Northumbria University from computing, design, law, and psychology who study how to make the internet a safer place for everyone. Carolina’s work centres on understanding why certain people […]

This week Juli tells us about her work as a student representative and the importance of having students who can advocate for student needs. We also discuss the wonderful opportunities that arise from student rep work. Show notes: You can get in touch with Juli on her LinkedIn page. To find out more about the […]

On this episode of The Big 5 Dr. Harry Clelland tells us about his work on using different types of language to communicate statistics. His work has the potential to inform medical professionals and health communicators about the best way to communicate risk to patients and the public. Show notes: To find out more about […]

On this episode of The Big 5, Dr. Lisa Thomas tells us about her path to becoming a university lecturer and the strong women role models who supported her journey. Show notes: You can stay up to date with Lisa’s research on Twitter @drlthomas If you’re interested in continuing your academic career you can look […]

On this episode, Dominik Polasek tells us about his summer as a visiting research assistant at Harvard University’s Sleep Lab. We also discuss how to get involved in research in the department and find your own international internship. Show notes: If you’d like to learn more about sleep research at Harvard you can check out […]

On this special Halloween episode, Claire Murphy-Morgan tells us about the links between art and psychology, treating eating disorders remotely, and the online communities that are discussing parapsychology. We talk all things parapsychology: ghosts, near-death experiences, and spooky Wikipedia editors. Show notes: If you’d like to keep up with the Remote Healthcare for Eating Disorders [&#8...

On this episode, Anna Maughan tells us about her work on conspiracy theories and how emotions may play a role in who is susceptible to them. We also discuss the possible negative effects of medical conspiracy theories. Show notes: You can follow Anna’s work on Twitter @annafmaughan. You can read one of Anna’s papers on […]

On this episode Connor Leslie tells us about her work on agression detection from both an evolutionary and forensic psychology perspective. Connor discusses the importance of detecting agression for preventing violence. Look out for those aggressive behaviors and try to avoid them on the International Day of Non-violence! #internationaldayofnonviolence Show notes: To follow Connor’s research...

On this episode Charl Emmerson, PhD student at Northumbria, tells us about her research on workplace bullying. Charl will be attending the 13th Internation Association of Workplace Bullying Conference in San Diego, California to share her work with fellow researchers, but you can get a sneak peak in this episode Charl discusses what can cause […]