Program Overview

The BA in Psychology and Computing is a degree in which psychological research, theory, and knowledge is applied to a context of increasing importance to the modern world – the design, development, evaluation, and critical engagement with the technology and systems that increasingly surround us. It is a degree that...

• Provides high-level technical skills training that will be of benefit to psychologists of the future, who will find themselves working with data science, AI, physiological sensing, online behaviour, neuroscience and experimental psychophysics;
• Will enable students to develop a skill set that will be attractive to employers in information technology companies, increasingly bringing psychology research, values, and methods to the forefront in professions of user experience design, user interface design, ergonomics, data science and user research;
• Provides an advanced understanding of how the quality of people's interaction with technology affects how we access, understand and make use of modern systems and services, such as healthcare, financial services, civic participation, and education;
• Provides an advanced understanding of online social behaviour – its impact on health, well-being, discourse and decision-making;
• Encourages critical reflection on digitally-mediated experience, a common aspect of everyday lived experience in many parts of the world;
• And develops understanding and sensibilities to create evidence- and skills-based routes in this world for themselves and others.

The programme draws on core computing and psychology modules and contains a strand of shared modules that explore the intersection between these disciplines and its application to improving lives socially, culturally, and economically. The combination of core Psychology and Computing modules, along with several design-related modules, makes for a unique undergraduate experience. Students are exposed to an interdisciplinary way of thinking and working from day 1 of the degree programme.

The course has recently gained accreditation by the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI). Accreditation means that graduates from this programme will now be able to join the PSI as a graduate member, as long as they achieve a second class honours or above in their final degree classification. Graduates of CK121 will be eligible for entry to any Psychology MA programmes across Ireland that stipulate “graduate membership of PSI” as a requirement, without the need for taking any graduate conversion programme first. Essentially, the course facilitates a similar education and career path for graduates as a standard Psychology or Applied Psychology degree. Accreditation also ensures improved recognition of the qualification internationally.