PhD Cognition and Culture

The Institute of Cognition and Culture (ICC) is one of the world's first centres for research in the cognitive science of culture. This is a burgeoning interdisciplinary field in which scholars seek to explain patterns of cultural stability and variation utilising theories and methods of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences.
QUB offers a unique programme of Doctoral research that is based on the recognition of a need to cross traditional disciplinary divisions in the scientific study of cultural phenomena. This training in a wide range of research methods and theoretical approaches equips students for rigorous scientific investigation, enabling them to generate significant discoveries that are of relevance to potentially many diverse fields of academic scholarship on cognition and culture.
The PhD at the Institute of Cognition and Culture (ICC) aims to create a new breed of scholars capable of (i) grasping the discoveries of multiple disciplines - in particular, those connected to the cognitive and evolutionary sciences, (ii) formulating and testing hypotheses through rigorous methodological means, (iii) applying these methods cross-culturally, often in collaboration with other researchers, and (iv) building a well-integrated body of knowledge on a specific topic. The students we seek for this endeavour should demonstrate great analytical skills, creativity and motivation, and a deep interest in the field of cognition and culture.
This world-class academics provide research students with excellent supervision, covering topics including religious beliefs and ritual actions, securlarism and atheism, social cognition and agency. A flourishing programme of events, seminars and research groups complements our postgraduate courses and doctoral supervision.