Department of Psychology, University of Otago

Come and chat to practising psychologists!

The Otago Southland Branch - New Zealand Psychological Society are hosting an event in Archway 2 this Tuesday 17 September from 5:30 - 6:30, followed by pizza in the William James Seminar Room afterwards.

See the post attached for details.

The New Zealand Psychological Society is the largest professional body for psychologists in the country and several of their members are going to come along and speak to students. It is happening TUESDAY NEXT WEEK, so make sure to come along. 🩵💬

A PSA for our Uni students!

A friendly reminder of the awesome services available to you behind OUSA’s purple door on 262 Leith Walk behind the Castle lecture theatres.

The OUSA Student Support Hub is all about making your time at university easier. Whether you’re dealing with course issues or are wondering about special consideration for exams, they’re here to help you manage it all. When things get tight, Student Support has meal plans and even a food bank to get you through it. They’ll even help you through Studylink and IRD processes if you’re not sure how they work.

Their services are covered by your annual fees, so be sure to take advantage of them to make the most of your uni experience!

Finding life a little tough at the moment?

Brightside is a University of Otago mental health and research initiative that offers free online help for all tertiary students. To find out which tools are best for which students they are currently running a research project across the moth, and are looking for tertiary students to take part:

More info here:
www.brightsidenz.info

Ka mau te wehi Jai - It's always exciting to see research from our department featured in the media! Read more about the M**A research Jai and Dr Ryan Ward are doing using the links to the NZ Herald article or the original journal article below 😊

NZ Herald: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nzs-ecstasy-habits-explored-how-are-kiwis-using-mdma/Q7244JL2QBCBLFRNMDY24XM66M/

Original article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20503245241274170

NZ’s ecstasy habits explored: How are Kiwis using M**A? - NZ Herald Researchers have delved into Kiwis’ ecstasy use to find most have positive experiences.

A huge congratulations to Soji Chambers for graduating this weekend with his Psychology degree! 🥳

Check out Soji's incredible journey here.

It’s graduation time! A huge congratulations to all tauira across the Sciences who are graduating this weekend and celebrating with friends and whānau.

Today’s shout-out is to Soji Chambers who is graduating with a Bachelor of Science majoring in psychology with a minor in sociology. It’s been four years since Soji’s family were helping him settle into his first-year college, and this weekend they’re arriving from Tauranga to celebrate what he’s achieved.

Soji says he knows his family found it tough been so far away from home, but that they also wanted him to experience the real world just as they had when they were young. “They’ve always pushed me to be the best in whatever I’m doing, and their support has been integral to my achievements.”

Enjoy your time together and well done for your achievements! Read more about Soji’s journey here:
https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/family-get-together-cause-for-celebration
Department of Psychology, University of Otago

Expand your mind and learn how to understand, explain and predict human behaviour. Gain a unique skillset that opens doors to diverse career pathways. Study Psychology at Otago. www.otago.ac.nz/psychology

Interested in taking your studies overseas? Find out more at Global Opportunities Week! Today at the Main Common Room in the Union Building hear more about exchange options to:
2pm: Scandinavia and Central Europe
3pm: Western Europe
4pm: Canada

For more info: https://www.otago.ac.nz/study/otago-global-student-exchange/global-opportunities-week

Thinking about post-grad? Bring along your questions for our Honours and Masters students!

📅 12th August 2024
⏰ 6:00pm - 7:30pm
🏢 Archway 1 Lecture Theatre

Thinking about applying to study Clinical Psychology at Otago? Make sure you attend this information evening!

📅 5th August 2024
⏰ 6:00pm - 7:30pm
🏢 Archway 1 Lecture Theatre

Why not take your career somewhere amazing? Hear from humanities graduates about the amazing places they have found themselves ☺️

This evening consists of presentations and a networking event (with kai!) so please make sure you register:
https://careerhub.otago.ac.nz/students/events/detail/1605371

📅 30th of July
⏰5-6.30pm
🏢Burns 1

And... Congratulations to our PSYC212 and PSYC323 students who received top-marks this semester! Ka mau te wehi!

Not sure what to do with your psychology degree?
Make sure you attend this kōrero with Lynley from the Careers Centre😊

📅 24th of July
⏰ 5:30pm
🏢William James Seminar Room

Finding a Graduate Role with your Psychology Degree - Lynley Soper from the Career Centre will be holding a session next week on the 24th of July at 5:30pm in the William James Seminar Room to talk about how to utilise the skills obtained from your psychology degree to find meaningful graduate roles. This session is best designed for students who are NOT intending to go into postgraduate psychology study 💙🩵

Congratulations to our students who received top-marks this semester! Mahi tika ana, koutou!!

Planning your 2024 studies? Check out our Semester 2 paper offerings! Click on the individual images to read more about each paper ☺️

Congratulations to Psychology PhD student, Amber Lim, and Psychology Master's student, Aimee Bartlett, who were Runner Ups at this year's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition! 🥳

Last Friday six amazing tauira competed in the final Sciences heat of this year's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

Judging their presentations were Professor Zhiyi Huang, Associate Professor Katherine Black and Professor Ceridwen Fraser.

The standard was extremely high and the judges had such a tough job that they decided to award two runner-up certificates for our Doctoral and Masters candidates.

The Doctoral winner, taking away a $300 research grant and a place in the grand final on 15 August was Tawfique Rahman from Geography.

The Masters winner was Briar Mills from Human Nutrition.

Doctoral runners-up were Saskia Foreman and Amber Lim, and Masters runners-up were Aimee Bartlett and Lily Heidmann.

Well done everyone!

We are seeking a new Pūkenga/Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

For full details please see: https://otago.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=2401011

Applications close 28 July

Pūkenga/Lecturer in Clinical Psychology Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

Study other minds. Expand yours. 🧠

If you want to study Psychology at Otago, it's not too late to apply for Semester 2, 2024.

For information and to apply, visit the University website: https://www.otago.ac.nz/future-students/semester-two

📚 ✨ Come support Sean, one of our PhD candidates, for his PhD confirmation talk!
📅 Date: Monday 10th June - TODAY!
⏰ Time: 12-12:30pm
📍 Location: William James Seminar room 1.03 or on Zoom!
Meeting ID: 388 513 1131
Password: psychology

Congratulations to Dr Narun Pat who has received one of this year's Health Research Council Explorer Grants to explore ethnicity bias in neuroimaging biomarkers 👩‍🔬

Narun and his team will be looking at ways to reduce this bias by using a combination of AI, genetics, and different types of brain scans 🤖🧬🧠

Kei runga noa atu koe, Narun! 🥳

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/hrc-awards-$3.7-million-to-otago-researchers

"What skills can I gain with a Psychology degree?" 📝

Another one of our most frequently asked questions! Psychology gives our students a broad understanding of human behaviour - why do people behave the way they do? Different papers teach this in different ways - watch this space for a future post about different topic areas taught at Otago 👀

More generally, our Otago Psychology graduates are equipped with a wide range of skills that are highly valued by employers. We looked at the top skills that our recent Psychology graduates rated as skills they developed highly during their Psychology studies and have applied these skills often since. Top of the list was "written communication skills", followed closed by "analytical skills" and "the skills to plan my own work". Other top skills are listed in the infographic attached 🧠

For more information about studying Psychology at Otago, visit www.otago.ac.nz/psychology

Applications close this Sunday (9 June) for our open Kaiāwhina Māori Kaiwhakaako position. This role focuses on supporting the success of tauira Māori in the Department of Psychology. If you know someone who would be great in this role, please make sure they know about it!

Kaiāwhina Māori Kaiwhakaako/Teaching Fellow - Psychology Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

But what can I do with a Psychology degree? 🤯

That's a question that we are often asked by students. The answer is that you can do a lot of different things with a Psychology degree!

We teamed up with the University's Career Development Office to create a handout to help our students decide on possible career areas. We looked at what our Psychology graduates are up to now (based on their LinkedIn profiles), focusing on students who completed an undergraduate or honours degree majoring in Psychology. We then categorised these areas using Holland's Career Theory on different work environments and personality types.

The result was a handy graphic that shows the huge range of job areas that some of our Otago Psychology graduates are working in now. The good news is that depending on what you want to do in your life, there are plenty of jobs out there to suit you!

To view the full handout, visit www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/students/careers. For more career advice, contact the Career Development Centre at www.otago.ac.nz/careers

The IMAGE Otago team were talking brains, anxiety and breathing at Kia Aroha College in Tamaki Makaurau this week! Pictured here are Dr Olivia Harrison and Master's student, Ella McLeod-Edwards.

, IMAGE Otago Research Group

What are your comfort foods? 🍔🍟🍭

Researchers from the Social Cognition Lab - University of Otago, in the psychology department, and from Sensory Research Otago in the Food Science department are interested in finding out what makes comfort foods so comforting - if you are interested in participating please fill out the survey here: https://redcap.link/comfort_foods
or email [email protected] for more information

We had such a great time today chatting to all the families who have come to the University of Otago for our Tertiary Open Days events! And we're all set to do it again tomorrow! 🥳

Come and find us over at the Sciences at University of Otago Expo at the St David Lecture Theatre Complex where we have a range of activities for you to try out. We also have a booth at the Humanities Expo at the Link in the ISB. Both Expos are open between 9am - 3pm tomorrow 📚

For those who would rather chat to us in a quieter space, we also have a low sensory booth open in the Department of Psychology, University of Otago at 93 Union St from 10am - 1pm 🙉

Finally, don't forget to pop along to Dr Brent Alsop's very popular talk at St David Lecture Theatre from 1-1:50pm about "What is Psychology?" Sources tell us that this talk was absolutely packed today, so make sure you get in early tomorrow! 🏃🏃‍♀️

For those who have been unable to make it to Otago for our Open Days in person this year, we have also made our Tertiary Open Days hand-outs available on our website: https://www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/students/prospective-students -open-days

See you all soon! 🤓

Dr Marea Colombo is a person who wears many hats in our department! She coordinates and teaches the popular PSYC329 (Cultural Psychology) paper, runs the whānau labs (an opt-in lab for Māori and Pacific students) for PSYC111 and PSYC112, and is also the Pacific Student Advisor in the department.

Last month, Marea travelled to India after winning the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi-New Zealand Centre (IITD-NZC) Fellowship, the first person from the University of Otago to do so. Otago is 'a place of many firsts', after all!

Read more about her trip and what she learnt while in India in this insightful interview with Marea:

Finding inspiration in India | University of Otago Dr Marea Colombo has always known a lot can be learnt from indigenous communities, and a recent trip to India where she worked with historically marginalised communities has reinforced that.

📚 ✨ Come support two of our PhD candidates as they share their research!

📅 Date: Monday 27th May
⏰ Time: 12pm
📍 Location: William James Seminar room 1.03 or on Zoom!

Meeting ID: 388 513 1131
Password: psychology

We are searching for a new Kaiāwhina Māori Kaiwhakaako. This is a permanent, full-time role (0.8-1.0 FTE negotiable) focused on supporting the success of tauira Māori in the Department of Psychology.

For more information and to apply, please visit:
https://otago.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=2400826

Māori Centre / Te Huka Mātauraka
Sciences at University of Otago

Kaiāwhina Māori Kaiwhakaako/Teaching Fellow - Psychology Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

🎓Congratulations to all our May 2024 graduates! 🎓
An incredible achievement! 💙💛
Most of our Psychology majors are graduating in tomorrow afternoon’s ceremony - if you aren’t able to attend in person but want to catch the ceremony, the livestream link is below:
�https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/events/livestreaming-of-the-may-2024-graduation-ceremonies

The Aotearoa Drug Use Motivations Survey is currently underway! This study is run by a team at the University of Otago, and is led by Dr Rose Crossin from the Department of Population Health (Christchurch).

The project aims to find out what people who use drugs (including legal drugs like alcohol and ni****ne) think motivates drug use. It also aims to compare how different groups of people rate the importance of different motivations. The online survey is anonymous and should not take more than 15-20mins to complete. The full information sheet can be seen on the front page of the survey.

To participate, we require that you: currently live in NZ (and have done so for 1 year or more), are aged 18+ years old, speak fluent English, and have drug use experience (includes alcohol and ni****ne) in the past 12 months.

The survey is hosted by REDCap and data is securely stored on their servers. The study was approved by the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee (Ref: 23/113).

Link: https://redcap.link/ju6iq7hu

If you have any questions or would like further information, please reach out to [email protected]