PhD Fellowship in the Department of Psychology - Dr Matthew Mak
PhD fellowship in Cognitive Psychology and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick (Language and Learning Group)
Supervisor: Dr Matthew Mak
This PhD fellowship offers the exciting opportunity for research on the intersection between cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, specifically how humans’ memory and language may be shaped and supported by AI. This field of research is highly multidisciplinary and integrates insights from cognitive psychology, linguistics, education, and computer science. Proposals that rely on a combination of big data and behavioural methods are welcome.
The PhD student will join the Language and Learning Group. This group consists of many senior academics interested in language acquisition/processing and memory (Prof Sotaro Kita, Prof Thomas Hills, Dr Olga Fehrer, Dr Adriano Lameira, Dr Michelle McGillion, Dr Suzanne Aussems, Dr Alice Chan, Dr Alex Clarke, Dr James Adelman, Dr Chiara Gambi), PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers. The Department of Psychology houses an eye-tracker, an fNIRS, and an EEG system, which the student may use for their research.
Requirements: We are looking for candidates with an interest in cognitive psychology, and particularly in memory, language, and artificial intelligence, who are able to think critically, integrate different perspectives, and come up with new ideas, and who are persistent in finding solutions to challenges.
Strong skills in behavioural research, corpus analysis, open science, and R/Python programming are highly valued. Applicants should, as a minimum, have an Upper Second Class undergraduate degree in Psychology or a related field, but preferably a First Class undergraduate degree or a Master’s distinction in Psychology or a related field, for example Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, or Computer Science. To apply, we require 3 core documents for all applications to include i) your CV (2 pages maximum), ii) a cover letter (2 pages maximum) detailing why you are a suitable candidate, any relevant background or research experience, and a description of your research interests together with iii) your research proposal.
Applicants without an existing PhD application with us should apply online through the Doctoral College online form: https://warwick.ac.uk/pgapply
Applicants who already have an existing PhD application with us should instead complete the online form: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/psych/fellowships/applications
For questions regarding this PhD project, please contact Dr Matthew Mak (matthew.mak@warwick.ac.uk).
Applicants are strongly encouraged to read this paper before submitting an application
Mak, M. H. C., & Walasek, L. (2025). Style, Sentiment, and Quality of Undergraduate Writing in the AI Era: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis of 4,820 Authentic Empirical Reports. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 9(October), 100507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100507
Other publications:
Mak, M. H. C., Ball, L. V, O’Hagan, A., Walsh, C. R., & Gaskell, M. G. (2025). Involvement of episodic memory in language comprehension: Naturalistic comprehension pushes unrelated words closer in semantic space for at least 12 h. Cognition, 258(February), 106086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106086
Mak, M. H. C., O’Hagan, A., Horner, A. J., & Gaskell, M. G. (2023). A registered report testing the effect of sleep on Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory: greater lure and veridical recall but fewer intrusions after sleep. Royal Society Open Science, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220595
Mak, M. H. C., Hsiao, Y., & Nation, K. (2021). Anchoring and contextual variation in the early stages of incidental word learning during reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 118(October 2020), 104203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104203
Closing date - Sunday 15th March 2026 by 23:59pm