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Developmental Neuroscience and Mental Health MPhil/PhD

London, King's Cross (Anna Freud Centre) and Yale University (USA)

This is the programme information for 2025 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, Developmental Neuroscience and Mental Health MPhil/PhD (2024), click here

UK students International students

Study mode

Full-time

UK tuition fees (2025/26)

See Fees Note

Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)

See Fees Note

Duration

4 calendar years

Programme starts

September 2025

Applications accepted

All applicants: 14 Oct 2024 – 13 Jan 2025

Applications closed

Entry requirements

Applicants must offer one of the following: i) an upper second-class Honours degree or a Master’s degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant subject; ii) a registrable qualification appropriate to the programme to be followed awarded by a UK university; or a qualification of an equivalent standard appropriate to the programme to be followed awarded by a university (or educational institution of university rank) outside the UK; or iii) a Master's degree from a UK University in a subject appropriate to the programme to be followed; iv) a professional or other qualification obtained by written examinations and approved by UCL as an appropriate entrance qualification for the MPhil or PhD degree in question.

The English language level for this programme is: To be confirmed

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

For this programme, please contact our UCL Graduate Admissions team.

About this degree

The programme provides students with a PhD track in which they can conduct collaborative research between two laboratories, one at UCL, the other at Yale. Students are registered with UCL and will work towards receiving a PhD in Developmental Neuroscience and Mental Health from UCL in four years or less.

The programme offers some flexibility, with the schedule for each student dictated by the demands of their research, and students will spend approximately the same amount of time in their UCL and Yale labs.

Who this course is for

This programme is for students interested in understanding mechanisms related to mental health problems and how this can be leveraged to improve diagnosis, prevention or intervention in developmental populations. Students typically aim for a career in research going on to postdoctoral positions. Some might go on to do Clinical Doctorates pursuing a clinical career.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

For the first two years the programme is based at UCL's Division for Psychology and Language Sciences and Anna Freud in London, a world-renowned centre for research, training and clinical practice in the field of child mental health. Distinctive features include teaching by highly experienced clinicians and researchers working in the field of child mental health; the opportunity to develop clinical skills for working with children; practical training in conducting research in clinical settings.

Students on this programme will spend Years Three and Four with a mentor and secondary supervisor at Yale's Child Study Centre, a world-leading centre for research on developmental psychopathology and partner institution of UCL and Anna Freud. Students will be able to benefit from a highly collaborative international research context.

At both UCL and Yale, students will work closely with one or more supervisors and in some cases, be part of a group (Lab or Centre) which will support them to develop each stage of their research; have access to specialist research seminars across all UCL and Yale departments; and join a vibrant and active community of doctoral students.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

Graduates of this programme are expected to go on to areas including further academia, research, clinical work, or further professional training e.g. doctoral training / DClinPsy.

Employability

We expect psychology doctoral graduates to progress to a range of career paths in: academia (both as university teachers and researchers); local and national government contexts supporting work related to education and psychology in the fields of policy and planning; school leadership; public sector research or clinical professions.

Networking

All three institutions involved in this programme offer regular seminar series on a wide range of topics and each of the centres have separate specialist seminars. Doctoral students participate in active student seminar groups and we also hold specific support working seminars for doctoral students to enhance presentation skills before upgrades and vivas. Opportunities for networking are ample and supported.

Teaching and learning

PhD research involves a wide variety of teaching and learning methods, but ultimately your self-directed research activities will be key. You can expect to be supported in developing research skills by your supervisory team, as well as a Thesis Committee who will guide you through the PhD.

•   MPhil/PhD upgrade process (written submission of Research Proposal, Literature Review and Methodology and short viva)
•   Written thesis (100,000 words)
•   Viva Voce

Contact hours will be specific to the context of individual research environments within which the PhD will be taking place. Usually, this involves weekly meetings in groups and one-to-one with the supervisor. The rest of the time will be spent undertaking independent work under supervision.

A typical full-time PhD student is expected to spend an average of approximately 36.5 hours per week working on their PhD, although this will vary, with some periods of more intensive research.

Research areas and structure

Research environment

The research environment is situated within UCL’s Division of Psychology and Language Sciences (PALS), Anna Freud, a leading UK child mental health charity and the Child Study Centre at Yale. As such it brings together two of the world’s leading research universities, with an outstanding track record of research across these domains in partnership with. Both PALS and the Child Study Centre have a faculty of leading developmental psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists and experts specialising in mental health in developmental populations. PALS has access to a wide range of different neuroimaging facilities (BUCNI’s 1.5 and 3T brain imaging scanners; EEG at PALS and Anna Freud) and state of the art lab set-ups for behavioural testing. There is a wide network of researchers with infrastructure of recruiting developmental populations and contacts and recruitment facilities for specialist developmental populations. The Child Study Centre boasts equally well-developed research facilities.

: Year 1 – Begin initial stages of research at UCL and develop research idea
Year 2 – Begin collaborative lab project and complete MPhil/PhD upgrade
Year 3 – Travel to Yale and continue collaborative lab project
Year 4 – Complete and submit research project; PhD Viva at UCL

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time
Tuition fees (2025/26)	See Fees Note
Tuition fees (2025/26)	See Fees Note

Fees for this programme are available on request from the department.

Additional costs

In addition, please note that if you study abroad during your programme at UCL, this is likely to incur additional costs. Studying abroad may cost between £200–£1,000 per month depending on where you choose to study. The cost of studying abroad can be difficult to predict as it will depend on your priorities and choices. There is more information available on the UCL Study Abroad website.

Costs will vary depending if a student is self-funded or on a funded stipendship.

Please check with the department for details (UCL-YalePhD@annafreud.org).

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Along with the applications the candidates are required to submit a research proposal (no longer than 750 words) which should include sections on theoretical background as well as proposed methods. The candidates should consider the fit with the broader remit of the programme but without a specific supervisor in mind.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students.