Clinical, Social and Intercultural Psychology

The overarching goal of the PhD program is to train high-level researchers in psychological sciences, by promoting a scientific top-notch, evidence-based, approach. PhD students will be trained to work effectively as researchers, college and university instructors, and to become professional research psychologists in basic science and applied domains. The program is centered on providing general skills that can be applied across diverse fields of research with particular emphasis on Clinical and experimental psychology, Human life-span development, Neuropsychology and cognitive psychology, Social, cultural and group psychology, Neuroimaging and computational neuroscience, Evolution of mind and cognitive functions, Language and psycholinguistics, Consumer choice & behavioural economics, Dynamical psychology, Mathematical psychology and statistical applications to psychology.

Methodological courses are aimed at providing students with state-of-art knowledge about models suited for the analyses of complex behaviors (e.g., Bayesian models, linear models, log-linear models, mixed effect models with random factors, multiple regression, exploratory factor analysis, structural equation models), as well as on how to handle and to analyze complex signals (e.g., brain activity). Programming courses focus on specific software needed to acquire data and conduct statistical analyses (e.g., MATLAB, R). Practical and soft skills courses focus on developing strategies for effective presentation of scientific data, and on learning how to plan research programs, how to write scientific articles and grant proposals, and how to review others' scientific work. Discussion on the ethics of research in psychology is also promoted.