Every year our MSc students, along with thousands of others across the country, spend hours designing studies, collecting data and writing up their findings. Usually, they manage to find something interesting and innovative, but rarely do these studies see the light of day. They generally fester in a bottom drawer, or are consigned to the depths of a university Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), and the new knowledge generated gets forgotten about.

We decided this year that we would try something different. We asked our students to submit, alongside their dissertations, a short blog. We want to publish the best ones here, so that others can find out about some of the fascinating studies that our students have conducted, and can use their information to help them understand the world a little better. The studies might also help to provide some ideas if you are starting to think about what to explore and how to design your own research project.

You will see that the projects are quite varied. We encourage our students to focus on topics that are of personal interest to them, and so end up with a wide range of subject areas. Organisational psychology touches on so many areas that it’s easy for students to hook onto something that they can become personally invested in, and I hope as you read through these, that you can see some of the passion come through.

Julia Yates, PhD, CPsychol.

Programme Director, MSc Organisational Psychology

City, University of London