Research Internships
Each year, there are a number of internship opportunities in the Biology Emotions & Transitions (BEATS) Lab.
Projects and opportunities will be advertised below, as well as on the School of Applied Psychology Facebook page, and the UCCWorks website.
Why apply for a Research Internship?
You will receive training in a range of research skills, including running BioAssays (e.g. testing saliva for hormones), using the BioSignals Lab (e.g testing galvanic skin response), interviewing participants, running experiments, and data extraction and analysis. BEATS Lab meetings are weekly and provide further opportunities to develop knowledge of ‘’real-world ‘research practice.
The time commitment expectation is negotiable, but interns are usually expected to commit two months, part-time to the position. In past years interns have been credited in subsequent scientific communications (publications, conference presentations) and several have presented data (drawn from projects they interned on) as first author at conferences.
If you are interested in undertaking a research internship with BEATS lab please check back soon for upcoming opportunities. In the mean-time, please see below for a small selection of previous projects which were available to students to join.
Bodyweight, Inflammation and Behaviour
This project was conducted as part of a larger study which examined how obesity might influence behaviour via changes in the inflammatory system, stress reactivity and executive function. The project focused on understanding these factors in relation to externalising behaviour such as aggression.
Spit-Pic
This project addressed a pressing question in psychobiological research: when we ask people to collect a sample in their daily life, how can we be certain they collected it on time? This project ran in partnership with two other universities, one in the UK and one in the USA.
Positive Puberty
This project examined how people in late childhood anticipated puberty, addressing questions such as :
Is it possible that changes in the body that happen at puberty are seen as positive and might increase feelings of competence and social capital?
Do boys and girls describe the anticipation and experiment of puberty differently?
Do changes in the body positively associate with changes in self-perceived competencies and self-esteem?
What do pre-pubertal boys and girls think puberty is? What do they think happens?