Psychology with Placement Year

Cover the breadth of psychology and apply your knowledge and skills with a year-long work placement. Study topics from social, health and clinical psychology, to cognitive and developmental psychology, neuroscience and psychological research methods.

Gain the skills and experience to understand human behaviour and the brain processes behind it with this British Psychological Society accredited course.

Our four-year Psychology with Placement Year BSc allows you to study across the breadth of the subject before putting your new knowledge into practice during a year-long work placement. From your very first week at Sheffield, you’ll start to cover five key areas:
- Cognitive psychology

- Developmental psychology

- Neuroscience and clinical psychology

- Social and health psychology

- Research methods

Within these five areas, you'll get the chance to explore important topics with real world relevance such as addictions, eating disorders and depression. You'll run your own experiments and learn from some of the UK’s top psychology researchers, too.

In the first year of your degree, you'll study fundamental psychology topics, including how memory works, how we interact with others and our environment, and the biology behind human behaviour.

In second year, you go even deeper into these core subjects. For example, you’ll learn about eating disorders, how children learn, and why people struggle to follow through with their intentions.

Your advanced research methods training that runs alongside this will teach you how to use professional statistical analysis software, and how to take ethical considerations into account when designing research projects. This will give you an excellent foundation of subject knowledge and the technical skills you’ll need, ready to specialise in the topics you’re most passionate about in your third year.

Alongside your studies, during your second year you’ll embark on your placement hunt. A placement is a great opportunity to test out a career path that you're considering, whether that's within the field of psychology or applying your transferable skills in industry. Our students have previously completed their placements with organisations including the NHS, Prison and Probation Services, and local schools, in roles including assistant psychologist and HR business development.

When you return to Sheffield for your final year, you’ll have a huge range of optional modules to choose from. Topics range from criminal psychology and the psychology of sleep, to clinical psychology, the psychology of eating behaviour, and weight management. You can focus on the areas within psychology (and beyond) that interest you the most, to support your career goals.

The biggest part of your course is the in-depth research project which students often report to be the best part of their degree. You’ll work with an expert in an area of psychology that you’re interested in and do a genuine piece of research, designing, conducting, and analysing your project over six months.

Examples of recent student research projects include:
- Semi-structured interviews exploring online dating during the Covid pandemic

- The effect of the framing of alcohol problems on stigma and problem recognition

- Neurovascular coupling in a preclinical model of Alzheimers disease

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and makes you eligible for graduate membership. This is the first step to becoming a chartered psychologist. It's necessary for courses in clinical, health and occupational psychology.

Why study this course?
- British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited course: BPS accreditation makes you eligible for graduate membership.

- Gain practical experience: Spend a full year on a work placement and test out a career path you're considering.

- Top 20 in the UK for psychology: According to The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025.