PhD in Psychology Singapore Management University (SMU)

We equip you with critical knowledge and skills to conduct rigorous psychological research.

We have a group of professors who are top scholars with international reputations. They jointly provide a diverse range of expertise in the research areas mentioned in the box above.

Our programme which emphasises interactive learning and integrative evaluation of diverse perspectives, prepares our graduates for psychology-related careers in academia and industry.

This PhD in Psychology programme equips students with doctoral-level knowledge in content areas in psychology and research methodology, with a focus on areas in experimental, social, personality and organisational psychology.

Students will learn, from both coursework and hands-on research experiences, to link psychological theory, study design, measurement, and data analysis in order to make substantive inferences and evidence-based recommendations to theory and practice that are scientifically defensible. Students in the programme have presented their work at international conferences and published their research in top journals in psychology. Graduates of the programme will be well-prepared for careers in universities, research institutes and industry.

A PhD student will typically focus on coursework in the first one to two years, followed by a Master’s thesis and the dissertation research in subsequent years.

The PhD framework is as follows:

• 6 Foundation Courses (6 Course Units)
• 2 Electives (2 Course Units)
• Empirical Research Project (1 Course Unit)
• Master’s Thesis (12 Course Units)
• 3 Advanced Research Topics (ART) Courses (3 Course Units)
• PhD Dissertation (28 Course Units)