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Supervision
A research student will have a principal supervisor, who takes the lead in the supervisory team and a subsidiary supervisor who enhances the effective supervision of the student's work by contributing a second opinion. Other staff members, as part of a research group, may be closely involved with their work and students are encouraged to discuss their research widely with anyone having relevant experience. The Division of Psychology and Language Sciences contains expertise on a wide range of topics, so that students usually have little difficulty in finding someone who can give good advice. Where appropriate, additional supervisory support may be arranged, e.g. if a specialist clinician’s expertise is necessary for the project.
The primary supervisor will aim to ensure that the research project is within the scope of the Department's resources and that it is feasible and manageable within the student’s registration period. S/he will also manage the student’s ongoing progress using the UCL online Research Log system. Each student also has their Thesis Committee with whom issues to do with both research and supervisors can be discussed.
The first step in the application process is to decide on your research topic. You may already have something in mind, but it is essential that before applying, you explore ways in which your own research idea fits in with the research topics offered by our staff. Below is a list of research topics with the staff who are able to supervise a PhD on that topic.
Select one or two potential supervisors whose research interests are related to yours, and send them an email containing:
- a brief CV
- a clear statement that you are interested in studying for a PhD, stating when you would start, and how you would plan to fund the research
- a brief statement of your research question or interest, and how you think the question could be investigated.
Our academic staff are quite happy to receive approaches like this, in order that they can liaise with you to identify a potential research focus of mutual interest.
The potential supervisor should get back to you within a couple of weeks.
| Research Topic | Supervisor Name |
|---|---|
| Cognition in adults with neurological impairment | |
| Conversation Analysis and clinical/institutional interactions | |
| Communication impairment due to neurological problems in adults (including Aphasia, Dementia, Traumatic Brain Injury) | |
| Developmental language disorders and speech disorders; communication impairment due to neurological problems in children | |
| Speech, language and communication interventions for children | |
| Ageing | |
| Deafness and hearing loss in children and adults; | |
| Typical literacy development; Statistical learning, learning biases and the nature of human languages | |
| Typical speech, language and communication development in children |
| Research Topic | Supervisor Name |
|---|---|
| Decision making, consent and mental capacity | |
| Communication interventions for adults; Behaviour change theory and methods applied to speech and language therapy | |
| Progressive neurological conditions; Palliative care | |
| Cognitive mechanisms in typical and atypical development | |
| Atypical speech, language, communication and literacy development in children | |
| Acquired dysarthria and acquired apraxia of speech | |
| Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC); Children with complex special needs | |
| Numeracy in individuals with acquired communication difficulties | |
| Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Social Communication; Joint Attention; Attention and Perception | |
| Bi/multilingualism and English as an additional language (EAL); Second language training studies in adults and children | |
| Dysphagia and swallowing difficulties in children and adults |