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The history of the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences can be traced back to 1921 with the appointment of Albert Wolters as the University’s first Lecturer in Experimental Psychology.

As one of the first psychology departments in the UK, we have enjoyed a long and distinguished history. Now, one hundred years later, the School is firmly established as a world leader in the delivery of teaching, research and training in psychology and related disciplines. 

To celebrate this milestone we are holding a week of events for students, staff, alumni, our friends in the local community and our colleagues and collaborators around the world, to look forward to what the next 100 years of psychology will bring. 

Find out more about our long history.

Centenary events programme 2021

Monday 21 June – Bringing Diversity to Our Discipline

Supporting diversity and inclusion in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences

12:30–14:30

Professor Patricia Riddell, Professor of Applied Neuroscience at the University of Reading, leads a discussion with students and staff on topics such as decolonising the curriculum, supporting minority groups in our community and widening access to psychology careers.  

This event is open to University of Reading staff and students only.  

 

How can we make psychology more diverse? 

18:00–19:00

Allán Laville, Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Reading, leads a panel discussion with members of the British Psychological Society’s Diversity and Inclusion working group about how we can increase diversity in academic and applied psychology.  

This event is open to all.

Watch a recording of the event

Tuesday 22 June – Albert Wolters Public Lecture

Three ages and three intelligences: Explore, exploit, care

19:00–20:30

Professor Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, delivers her inaugural public lecture as the University of Reading’s Albert Wolters Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2021. 

In her talk, Alison will argue that the evolution of human life history, with its distinctively long, protected human childhood, allows an early period of broad hypothesis search and exploration before the demands of goal-directed exploitation set in, and depends on the equally distinctive period of elderhood, which provides both care and teaching.

She relates this developmental pattern to computational ideas about explore-exploit trade-offs, search and sampling, and to empirical evidence from neuroscience. 

This event is open to all.

Watch a recording of the event

Wednesday 23 June – Doing Science That Can Be Trusted

Psychological science and reproducibility: a talk by Marcus Munafo from the UK Reproducibility Network 

12:30–13:30

Marcus Munafo, Professor of Biological Psychology at the University of Bristol and founder of the UK Reproducibility Network will present the successes and challenges in modern psychological science. 

This event is open to all. 

Watch a recording of the event

Improving Reproducibility in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences 

14:00–15:30 

Dr David Field, Open Research Champion in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, is joined by Reading alumnus Dr Nick Holmes (Nottingham University) to discuss work being done within the School to improve reproducibility, including through our Coding Club, Reproducibilitea, Open Science Champions and the South East England Psychology Replication Syndicate (SERPS).

This event is open to University of Reading staff and students only.

Thursday 24 June – Supporting Wellbeing in the Post COVID-19 World

Pathways to supporting wellbeing: careers for people who care 

16:00–17:30

Aileen Ho, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, interviews a panel of professional psychologists about the career paths they have chosen, why their profession is important for supporting wellbeing and the challenges they’ve experienced along the way. 

This event is open to all.

Watch a recording here

Launch event – Reading Resilience Network

19:00

Join Professor Stella Chan, Charlie Waller Chair in Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment, as we celebrate the launch of the Reading Resilience Network, in collaboration with Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, the Charlie Waller Trust and Health Education England. 

This event is open to all.

Watch a recording here

Friday 25 June – Building our Community Locally and Globally   

Psychology around the world 

11:00

Psychologists across the globe share their thoughts about the impact psychology has had in their region and the priorities that the next generation of psychologists should be working on. Followed by a panel discussion led by Dr Dan Jones, Lecturer in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, on the challenges and benefits of working internationally. 

Watch an exclusive video from the event.

 

Centenary celebration event 

16:00

It would not be fitting for our centenary week to end without a celebration! While it will sadly not be possible to get together in person, PCLS staff and students are invited to gather online at 16:00 on Friday 25th June to bring the week to a close. We will be using the occasion to announce the winners of the Suzannah Stuijfzand memorial prize and the Teresa Young Student and Staff Awards for 2021.

This event is open to University of Reading staff and students only – email pcls@reading.ac.uk to register your interest in attending.

 

The University of Reading Malaysia

The University of Reading Malaysia kicked off their centenary celebrations by hosting an online public talk by Professor Helen Dodd titled "Play as an antidote to anxiety in children and young people"

You can watch a recording of the live event here.

2 July - The Future of Psychology in Malaysia

9.00-10.30 am (GMT)

The discussion of future directions in the development of psychology will include academics and psychology practitioners based in Malaysia, with representatives from UKM, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Sunway University, and Malaysian Society of Clinical Psychology. 

This online event is open to all.

Please click here to join the live event.

An installation of MS Teams client will be required prior to the broadcast. 

5–6 July – Reading Emotions Symposium

Gut, brain, and affect 

Reading Emotions welcomes leading researchers from across the world to discuss how the complex interactions between the resident bacteria in the gut and the host nervous system might be relevant to the study of emotions.

This event is open to all.

 

For more information on any events, or if you are member of staff or student and haven't received your invitation to internal events, please email pcls@reading.ac.uk.