The Psychology Zone ran in November 2023 and was funded by the British Psychological Society.
Psychologists
The activity featured 25 psychologists who are researching human brains, the relationship between sleep and mental health, working in advertising and more.
The Psychology Zone ran in March 2023 and was funded by the British Psychological Society
The activity featured 14 psychologists working in a variety of fields.
Psychologists
14 psychologists created profiles in the Zone.
The Psychology Zone ran from 7 November to 2 December 2022 and was funded by the British Psychological Society.
The activity featured 17 psychologists working across a variety of fields.
Scientists
17 psychologists created profiles in the Zone. See who took part ❯
The winner of the Zone, who was Liz Halstead, won £500 to deliver further engagement activities.
The Psychology Zone ran for 6 weeks, from 7 June to 16 July 2021. It was funded by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
The Zone featured psychologists from across the UK, working in a variety of fields.
Originally intended to run for 4 weeks, the Zone was extended to give teachers and their students more time to engage with it. This was due to the coronavirus pandemic, which was impacting teaching and learning in schools by causing almost 1 in 4 school students in the UK to be absent.
The Psychology Zone was a month-long event in March 2021 funded by the British Psychological Society that featured 25 psychologists from various psychology-related fields, 11 of whom were BPS members.
Nearly 900 students from 18 UK schools participated, with the majority being from underserved or widening participation schools. There were 46 live chats, including ones for school classes, open chats, and A-level student chats, with an average of five psychologists attending each chat.
The Psychology Zone was a part of I’m a Scientist: On Demand, which offered greater flexibility to teachers in response to COVID-19. The British Psychological Society funded the Zone, which involved 41 psychologists from various fields and career stages engaging with 384 students from 17 schools across the UK.
There were 26 live Chat sessions, but there were 10 cancellations. Psychologists answered 217 approved student questions. 80% of active students were from target schools, and 39% were from widening participation schools.
In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other. Continue reading
Read the report: Community Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]
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Read the report: Community Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF][/caption]The Community Zone was a themed zone supported by the British Psychological Society. Continue reading
Read the report: Childhood Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]
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Read the report: Childhood Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF][/caption]The Childhood Zone was a themed zone supported by the British Psychological Society. Continue reading
Read the report: Society Zone Report – November 2019 [PDF] The Society Zone was a themed zone supported by the British Psychological Society. It featured six psychologists: Phil Agnew runs a podcast called Nudge, which looks at behavioural science and consumer psychology. Liam Wignall is researching how people interact with each other in different settings, with a focus on social media. Kohinoor Darda has recently completed a PhD on the neural mechanisms of how we interact and imitate in the social world, but unfortunately had to drop out at the start of the event. Karolina Urbanska is a research associate currently exploring how funny images or videos can affect our feelings and behaviour. Jack Joyce, the winner of this zone, is a conversation analyst exploring how people use language and what that language can tell us about their culture. Debbie Kinsey is studying for a PhD exploring how museums can … Continue reading
Read the report: Health Behaviour Zone Report – November 2019 [PDF] The Health Behaviour Zone was a themed zone supported by the British Psychological Society. It featured four psychologists: Jolel Miah, the winner of this zone, is a PhD student working within the prison service, giving motivation counselling to prisoners to help them make healthier decisions. Emily Mattacola is researching how teenagers think about and behave around their health, and how this is impacted by their relationships with friends. Amber Cronin is an Intelligence Co-ordinator, exploring how people have been treated when they’ve gone to the doctors or hospital or social services. Alex Spiers is a PhD student interested in the mental health of teenagers, and researching the effect of mobile phone use on their mental health.
Read the report: Enquiry Zone Report – November 2019 [PDF] The Enquiry Zone was a themed zone supported by the British Psychological Society. It featured five psychologists: Vassilis Sideropoulos is a research technician, whose project idea explores how visual patterns affect our attention. Pizza Chow is a postdoctoral research fellow, and as the winner will develop her project idea, where students will test the problem-solving ability of their pets or local wildlife. Line Caes is a lecturer in Psychology, who wanted to look at how parents can best help their children when they are in pain. Kareena McAloney-Kocaman is a lecturer in Applied Health Psychology, proposing a project exploring whether we can teach people to be more creative. Carolina Brett is a works in Health Psychology, whose project idea explores what makes us happy.
Read the report: Mental Health Zone Report – June 2019 [PDF] The Mental Health Zone was a themed zone supported by The British Psychological Society with six psychologists: Rob Dempsey, the winner of this zone, is researching how our perceptions of our social environment impact our mental and physical health. Olly Clabburn is looking at stress for social workers and ways that it might be reduced. Nicola Johnstone designs research studies to understand how emotions develop as people grow up. Jasmin Moon supports adults whose job is causing a mental health problem or making their mental health worse. Dennis Relojo-Howell runs a mental health blog, website and open access journal to address the stigma around mental health. Caroline Brett is interested in what influences how we rate our wellbeing, whether it be our personal characteristics or our circumstances.
Read the report: Influence Zone Report – June 2019 [PDF] The Influence Zone was a themed zone supported by The British Psychological Society and included six psychologists: Laura Fisk is a clinical psychologist at a GP surgery helping people with their mental health problems. Kathryn Atherton uses research on human behaviour to come up with solutions to problems in society. Ian Cookson’s research looks at how we can understand transport choices, particularly cycling, using the social identity approach. Chris Fullwood is studying how people communicate and manage impressions in the online world. Bogdana Huma teaches social psychology, with a focus on social influence and persuasion in real-life sales encounters. Alex Lloyd, the winning psychologist, is trying to answer questions about when and why teenagers take risks.
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The Relationships Zone was a themed psychology zone supported by The British Psychological Society. In the zone were six psychologists:
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The Perception Zone was a themed zone for sixth form students, supported by the British Psychological Society. There were six psychologists in the zone:
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The Memory Zone was a themed zone funded by The British Psychological Society and featured six psychologists:
This zone received a higher than average number of questions in ASK compared with other I’m a Scientist zones this November. Most of the students had clearly taken time to read the psychologists’ profiles to ask specific questions about their research area or career history. Continue reading
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The Childhood Zone was a themed zone supported by The British Psychological Society. It featured six psychologists:
Being a sixth-form zone, the questions were often linked to university and degree choices. Students asked about specific areas of psychology and sometimes asked for links to studies. Popular topics included ‘Nature vs Nurture’, sexuality and social media. Continue reading
Read the full report The Society Zone was a themed psychology zone, funded by the British Psychological Society, with six psychologists taking part. Stephen is a PhD student looking at the biases that people tell themselves, and how to encourage happiness from rational thoughts Maria is interested in how words are organised and divided into categories in our brains John is a lecturer and forensic psychologist working in a secure hospital to treat mentally unwell offenders Daniel, the winner in this zone, researches why some people believe in conspiracy theories Claire is studying language for her PhD, specifically the way we talk about alcoholism and drinking Amy is a lecturer interested in the differences in how Autistic and Neuro-typical people see the world This zone was very on topic with students engaging really well with the theme. They could easily relate a lot of the psychologists’ research to their own … Continue reading
Read the full report The Wellbeing Zone had five psychologists and was supported by The British Psychological Society. Viren is a social psychologist studying body image, how we feel and think about our bodies, and how we can develop a more positive view Sam, the winner of the Wellbeing Zone, is a PhD student researching self-control and how this can cause people to drink more, or less, alcohol Noel lectures in sport and exercise psychology and is interested in how a person’s thoughts while exercising influences their performance Amy is a biomedical scientist who uses rats to investigate the relationship between happy moods and how often we eat Abby is a health psychologist looking to find the most effective ways to help people quit smoking A sixth member of the zone unfortunately had to drop out early in the first week due to personal circumstances and will be included in … Continue reading
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an online activity where school students get to meet and interact with scientists.
It’s a competition between scientists, where the students are the judges.
Students challenge the scientists over intense, fast-paced, online live Chats. Then they Ask the scientists all the questions they want to, and Vote for their favourite scientist to win a prize of £500 to communicate their work with the public.