places available per year across PPL and Experimental Psychology (approx.)
Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics (PPL)
Why Pembroke?
The joint honours PPL course allows students to follow a bipartite degree (Psychology with either Philosophy or Linguistics). These disciplines are closely interrelated, so studying a combination of them allows students to explore different aspects of each subject, resulting in a very varied and dynamic course.
At Pembroke we place strong emphasis on joint honours degrees, and PPL is a fine example of a subject where tutors from a number of different yet overlapping disciplines will work closely together to deliver the best possible academic experience to the students.
We have two tutorial fellows in Psychology; Professor Hannah Smithson, whose research focuses on the retinal and cortical processing that underlies human vision, and Dr Rebekah White, whose research interests lie in the field of Cognitive Psychology, and who is also the College’s welfare and wellbeing co-ordinator. We have the same number of tutorial fellows in Philosophy: Professor Guy Kahane, the subject’s leader at Pembroke whose primary research focus is on theoretical and applied ethics and human morality, and Professor James Read, whose research interests lie primarily in the philosophy of physics, and the foundations of space-time theories. Dr Holly Kennard is our lead tutor in Linguistics, and her research interests lie in phonology and morphophonology.
What Extra Activities do we offer?
During term, the whole psychology community meets once a week for lunch. These informal lunches facilitate the sharing of information from practical discussions about the course and life in Oxford, through to conversations about exciting psychological discoveries. Furthermore, the philosophy team organise a talk from a prominent philosopher once per term and there is a reading group which meets regularly.
Could you become a PPL Student at Pembroke?
It is highly recommended for candidates to have studied one or more science subjects (including Psychology) or Maths at A-level or equivalent. For courses including Linguistics it is helpful for candidates to have also studied English Language or another language. Other than that, PPL students come from backgrounds in both the arts and the sciences. Offers of places are based on A*AA at A-Level or an equivalent qualification.
The selection process involves an interview at Pembroke as well as at a second college for shortlisted candidates, providing an opportunity to talk about the subject. Candidates are not expected to demonstrate detailed pre-existing knowledge of PPL. As in most colleges, however, they are likely to be asked to think about the experimental problems often encountered in psychology and other disciplines.
Have you considered our joint honours courses?
These disciplines can be studied as part of other joint courses, such as Maths & Philosophy, Modern Languages & Linguistics, Philosophy & Theology, PPE (Philosophy, Politics & Economics), and Physics & Philosophy. Psychology can also be studied as single-honors Experimental Psychology.
Pembroke PPL students are eligible for £100 of funding in their first year and another £100 in their final year towards the cost of books for their course for personal use. This is claimed from the librarian.
The Rokos Internship Scheme provides full funding for academic summer internships.
Pembroke non-finalist STEM students are eligible for up to £1,000 funding for summer internships, allowing them to gain hands-on research experience. The award covers all academic and living expenses, including accommodation.
Below are some reports from Psychology students who have used this award over the last few years:
Lara Clarke (2020, PPL)
Thanks to funding from the Rokos Award, Lara had the opportunity to run a pair of experiments over eight weeks investigating how people manage their emotions through sharing them with other people.
She shares: "Being involved from start to finish taught me so much. Among other things, I learned how to get ethical approval for experiments with humans, build digital experiments and recruit people to take part online, and worked on coding skills to help me analyse the data we collected. I’ll be using all of these skills in my third year research project, and hopefully my future career.
I particularly enjoyed learning how to share my work with different audiences. Along the way, I helped write and edit a paper, presented my research in a lab meeting, have been invited to speak at another lab group in 2023 about this work, and I’m about to do a talk about psychological research at the University of Oxford for a local school."
Meet Our Academics
places available per year across PPL and Experimental Psychology (approx.)
Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics (PPL)
Why Pembroke?
The joint honours PPL course allows students to follow a bipartite degree (Psychology with either Philosophy or Linguistics). These disciplines are closely interrelated, so studying a combination of them allows students to explore different aspects of each subject, resulting in a very varied and dynamic course.
At Pembroke we place strong emphasis on joint honours degrees, and PPL is a fine example of a subject where tutors from a number of different yet overlapping disciplines will work closely together to deliver the best possible academic experience to the students.
We have two tutorial fellows in Psychology; Professor Hannah Smithson, whose research focuses on the retinal and cortical processing that underlies human vision, and Dr Rebekah White, whose research interests lie in the field of Cognitive Psychology, and who is also the College’s welfare and wellbeing co-ordinator. We have the same number of tutorial fellows in Philosophy: Professor Guy Kahane, the subject’s leader at Pembroke whose primary research focus is on theoretical and applied ethics and human morality, and Professor James Read, whose research interests lie primarily in the philosophy of physics, and the foundations of space-time theories. Dr Holly Kennard is our lead tutor in Linguistics, and her research interests lie in phonology and morphophonology.
What Extra Activities do we offer?
During term, the whole psychology community meets once a week for lunch. These informal lunches facilitate the sharing of information from practical discussions about the course and life in Oxford, through to conversations about exciting psychological discoveries. Furthermore, the philosophy team organise a talk from a prominent philosopher once per term and there is a reading group which meets regularly.
Could you become a PPL Student at Pembroke?
It is highly recommended for candidates to have studied one or more science subjects (including Psychology) or Maths at A-level or equivalent. For courses including Linguistics it is helpful for candidates to have also studied English Language or another language. Other than that, PPL students come from backgrounds in both the arts and the sciences. Offers of places are based on A*AA at A-Level or an equivalent qualification.
The selection process involves an interview at Pembroke as well as at a second college for shortlisted candidates, providing an opportunity to talk about the subject. Candidates are not expected to demonstrate detailed pre-existing knowledge of PPL. As in most colleges, however, they are likely to be asked to think about the experimental problems often encountered in psychology and other disciplines.
Have you considered our joint honours courses?
These disciplines can be studied as part of other joint courses, such as Maths & Philosophy, Modern Languages & Linguistics, Philosophy & Theology, PPE (Philosophy, Politics & Economics), and Physics & Philosophy. Psychology can also be studied as single-honors Experimental Psychology.
Pembroke PPL students are eligible for £100 of funding in their first year and another £100 in their final year towards the cost of books for their course for personal use. This is claimed from the librarian.
The Rokos Internship Scheme provides full funding for academic summer internships.
Pembroke non-finalist STEM students are eligible for up to £1,000 funding for summer internships, allowing them to gain hands-on research experience. The award covers all academic and living expenses, including accommodation.
Below are some reports from Psychology students who have used this award over the last few years:
Lara Clarke (2020, PPL)
Thanks to funding from the Rokos Award, Lara had the opportunity to run a pair of experiments over eight weeks investigating how people manage their emotions through sharing them with other people.
She shares: "Being involved from start to finish taught me so much. Among other things, I learned how to get ethical approval for experiments with humans, build digital experiments and recruit people to take part online, and worked on coding skills to help me analyse the data we collected. I’ll be using all of these skills in my third year research project, and hopefully my future career.
I particularly enjoyed learning how to share my work with different audiences. Along the way, I helped write and edit a paper, presented my research in a lab meeting, have been invited to speak at another lab group in 2023 about this work, and I’m about to do a talk about psychological research at the University of Oxford for a local school."