Teaching

The taught component of this course is approximately 140 hours. Module content is reviewed every year to ensure contemporary relevance. Currently modules offered include:

Computational Research Skills Training (32 hrs):

• Data Analysis and Scientific Computing: This course is an introduction to R designed for participants with no programming experience and includes programming in R and how to read and write to files, manipulate data and visualise it by creating different plots.

• Core Statistics: 1 and 2 sample tests, both parametric and non-parametric;; 1-way ANOVA, Kruskal Wallace and relevant post-hoc testing; Simple linear regression; 2-way ANOVA; ANCOVA and regression on grouped data; Linear models and interactions; Power analyses.

• Reproducible research skills: Issues surrounding reproducibility; Data organisation and management; Literate programming and version control

• Visual Data Presentation: Background to good data visualisation practices; Advanced plotting techniques; Presentation and discussion of effective visualisation

Improving Scientific Practices (16 hrs): This module will encourage students to think critically about how behavioural research is conducted and how conclusions are drawn; how scientists are incentivised, how they publish and how their beliefs influence the inferences they make; multiple methodological, statistical, and systematic issues that could impair the robustness of scientific claims and new initiatives that are reinventing the foundations of our field.

Mental Health and Well-Being: Definitions, Diagnosis, and Differences (20 hrs): This is an introduction to psychological theoretical frameworks with an integrative, multimodal, perspective as appropriate and adapted to circumstance and context.

Psychological Therapy and Clinical Psychology: Theoretical Frameworks (20 hrs): Students will develop an understanding of formulation and the implementation of psychologically informed interventions, as appropriate to the presenting problem and to the psychological and social circumstances of the client. Therapeutic techniques will be introduced, and processes as applied when working with a range of different individuals in distress.

Governance of Clinical Practice (20 hrs): This module will cover definitions of clinical governance in health and mental health care; development of regulatory frameworks relating to the practice of clinical psychology; organisational and management structures; the digital environment including telepsychology, AI, and cross-border practice. A global and historical perspective will be taken.

Public Mental Health (20 hrs): Covers key clinical and epidemiological concepts that influence mental health epidemiology and public health according to place, time and person; the principles of social determinants of health along the life-course in mental health; how genetics influences mental health and the complexity of gene-environment interactions in psychiatry; life stressors and how they affect negative and positive mental health outcomes; intersectionality of mental health disorders and the problems that most mental health classifications systems present.

Evaluating Practice: Process, Outcomes, and Experience (20 hrs): Covers evidence-based therapy outcome measures in relation to recovery, values and goals and as informed by service user experiences as well as clinical indicators. The importance of self-awareness and working as a reflective practitioner within ethical and professional practice frameworks will be discussed.

One to one supervision	Students will have approximately a half hour every other week of Research Supervision and of Academic Advisory contact throughout the academic year. This is supplemented with informal supervision with the course faculty and with your research lab. An additional approximate 1.5 hours of Clinical Supervision is provided every week during the term in which students are on their Professional Placement.
Seminars & classes	Approx. 40 hours of the taught component of the course will be provided in small seminar groups across the academic year.
Lectures	There are approximately 100 hours per academic year of lectures.
Journal clubs	Student-directed elements (in which students will contribute towards the selection of topic) will include journal club presentations and discussions, each focused around a research paper, controversial topic or state-of-the-art technique. These will be supported by more experienced researchers from the host department, including experienced PhD students, who will act as facilitators to provide guidance, structure and assurance of integrity, accuracy and quality of discussions. A minimum of 10 hours of journal clubs will be available across the academic year.
Literature Reviews	As part of their Extended Research Project, students will be required to complete a literature review of the field (max 5000 words), providing the background to, and context for, the research project.
Posters and Presentations	As an integral part of the research project, students will present their findings with a poster presentation. The presentation will be assessed for presentation of scientific findings including layout of the poster, clarity of data presentation, and overall ability to deliver a clear and engaging oral presentation of the poster.
Taught/Research Balance	Equal Taught/Research

Placements

Students will have the opportunity to work in clinical services in the NHS, Cambridgeshire County Council, and third sector organisations. Placements will include 2day/week over the course of the second or third term. Placement activities will include, for example, undertaking a service-related audit using service data; co-leading group therapy with a registered professional; scoring neuropsychological assessments and helping to prepare assessment reports; compiling developmental histories; and other activities that will enable to student to experience mental health services first hand.

Feedback

Students will receive ongoing feedback from supervisors and advisors. In addition, the principal supervisor will write termly online reports which can be accessed by the student. Students will receive face-to-face supervision throughout each term, with the duration and frequency depending on the nature of the project.

The University of Cambridge publishes an annual Code of Practice which sets out the University’s expectations regarding supervision.

Assessment

Thesis / Dissertation

The Research Project. The research project will begin in October and run for 28 weeks. Students will be based approximately 7 hours per week during term time with the research group in which their research project is embedded. Students are expected to spend approximately 75 hours each term working on their research project.

Students will be given a list of potential projects to choose from during the summer before they commence their studies. They may email up to four researchers with whom they may want to work to discuss and ask questions about the research project they are considering. Students then submit to the course administrator their top four choices and will be informed at the course induction day of their allocated research placement. Students will be given time and support in the first 4 weeks of Michaelmas term to meet with course supervisors and lab-based research leads to discuss potential projects, and to develop a research project outline. They will be required to submit a brief project plan prior to beginning work on the project, for approval by the course leadership team. This will allow the Course Directors to give guidance to students and supervisors on the scale and scope of this project to ensure that it is deliverable within the timeframe and meets the high standards expected. Students will write up their research project as two components:

• A literature review of the field (max 5000 words), providing the background to, and context for, the research project

• The project outcomes: Aims, methods, results, data analysis and discussion (max 5000 words)

Other

Assessment will be through a range of formats which may include coursework, written and oral examinations, posters, presentations and projects.