Brunel Psychology
@brunelpsy.bsky.social
We are a vibrant research-intensive Division with expertise in cognitive and clinical neuroscience, culture and evolution, developmental, and social psychology based in Brunel University of London 🎓🧠🧬🧪
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
1/ 🩸 New Research by former CCE Tristin Agtarap and CCE member Julieta Baker 📣👏
A new paper in *Sexuality Research & Social Policy* explores how menstrual product choices and menstrual-care practices shape empowerment, autonomy and connection to the body
A new paper in *Sexuality Research & Social Policy* explores how menstrual product choices and menstrual-care practices shape empowerment, autonomy and connection to the body
Empowered Choices: Exploring the Interplay of Menstruation, Menstrual Products, and Well-being
link.springer.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:44 PM
1/ 🩸 New Research by former CCE Tristin Agtarap and CCE member Julieta Baker 📣👏
A new paper in *Sexuality Research & Social Policy* explores how menstrual product choices and menstrual-care practices shape empowerment, autonomy and connection to the body
A new paper in *Sexuality Research & Social Policy* explores how menstrual product choices and menstrual-care practices shape empowerment, autonomy and connection to the body
📚 Brunel Psychology is thrilled to highlight the brilliant work of our colleagues @neuronerdsb.bsky.social and Dr Pauldy Otermans who contributed to a chapter “Co-produce belonging activities with staff and students”
👉 www.routledge.com/Student-Belo...
👉 www.routledge.com/Student-Belo...
Student Belonging in Action: Practical Case Studies to Foster a Sense of Belonging Across the Higher Education Student Journey
Higher Education institutions are under growing pressure to attract and retain their students and give them the best chance of success. Research consistently demonstrates that a strong sense of belong...
www.routledge.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:33 PM
📚 Brunel Psychology is thrilled to highlight the brilliant work of our colleagues @neuronerdsb.bsky.social and Dr Pauldy Otermans who contributed to a chapter “Co-produce belonging activities with staff and students”
👉 www.routledge.com/Student-Belo...
👉 www.routledge.com/Student-Belo...
🧠👀 Dr Rachel Bennetts, our expert in face processing at Brunel psychology, shared her thoughts in @theguardian.com on a fascinating new study exploring what makes some people exceptional at recognising faces 😶🌫️
🔗 👇
🔗 👇
AI study gives insights into why super-recognisers excel at identifying faces
Research uses eye-tracking data to examine some people’s extraordinary recognition ability
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:57 PM
🧠👀 Dr Rachel Bennetts, our expert in face processing at Brunel psychology, shared her thoughts in @theguardian.com on a fascinating new study exploring what makes some people exceptional at recognising faces 😶🌫️
🔗 👇
🔗 👇
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🤩 Methods, stats and critical thinking is getting a massive overhaul at @brunelpsy.bsky.social thanks to the hard work of CCE @willgervais.com @replicatedtypo.bsky.social @michealdebarra.bsky.social and @abbeyepage.bsky.social 💪💅
Teaching a fun science & critical thinking course this semester.
Trying out THAMES as a handy mnemonic for what to look for in evaluating science papers & such (obvs not all are as relevant for every paper)...
Trying out THAMES as a handy mnemonic for what to look for in evaluating science papers & such (obvs not all are as relevant for every paper)...
October 13, 2025 at 7:36 AM
🤩 Methods, stats and critical thinking is getting a massive overhaul at @brunelpsy.bsky.social thanks to the hard work of CCE @willgervais.com @replicatedtypo.bsky.social @michealdebarra.bsky.social and @abbeyepage.bsky.social 💪💅
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🧵 1/ Excellent and impactful work from CCE second in command @loraadair.bsky.social published in the New Metro over the weekend about Outcry Witness
It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.
No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.
No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
Home - Healing starts when people bear witness
Outcry Witness is the platform where survivors of sexual violence keep an anonymous record of their experience, always under their control.
outcrywitness.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:55 AM
🧵 1/ Excellent and impactful work from CCE second in command @loraadair.bsky.social published in the New Metro over the weekend about Outcry Witness
It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.
No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.
No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🧵 1/ New paper from CCEs @rebeccasear.bsky.social led by @hggaddy.bsky.social with @anthrolog.bsky.social challenging some common assumptions about polygyny (there are many…)
it's open access 🔓 🧪 @brunelpsy.bsky.social
it's open access 🔓 🧪 @brunelpsy.bsky.social
High rates of polygyny do not lock large proportions of men out of the marriage market
www.pnas.org
October 6, 2025 at 1:59 PM
🧵 1/ New paper from CCEs @rebeccasear.bsky.social led by @hggaddy.bsky.social with @anthrolog.bsky.social challenging some common assumptions about polygyny (there are many…)
it's open access 🔓 🧪 @brunelpsy.bsky.social
it's open access 🔓 🧪 @brunelpsy.bsky.social
On 16 September 2025, we were delighted to welcome students from Halliford School to our Psychology campus at Brunel 🤩
If you would like to arrange a visit for your students and discover what our Psychology Department has to offer, please get in touch 🧠
If you would like to arrange a visit for your students and discover what our Psychology Department has to offer, please get in touch 🧠
September 24, 2025 at 7:58 PM
On 16 September 2025, we were delighted to welcome students from Halliford School to our Psychology campus at Brunel 🤩
If you would like to arrange a visit for your students and discover what our Psychology Department has to offer, please get in touch 🧠
If you would like to arrange a visit for your students and discover what our Psychology Department has to offer, please get in touch 🧠
It’s time for the psychology pub quiz. The prize is this amazing Brunel mascot soft toy 🧸 🦖
so high stakes
so high stakes
September 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
It’s time for the psychology pub quiz. The prize is this amazing Brunel mascot soft toy 🧸 🦖
so high stakes
so high stakes
It's the start of welcome week here at Brunel and the new Psychology undergrads are meeting their personal tutors and lecturers 👏 🎓
September 23, 2025 at 10:59 AM
It's the start of welcome week here at Brunel and the new Psychology undergrads are meeting their personal tutors and lecturers 👏 🎓
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🧵 1/ New paper co-authored by Francisco Gomez Jimenez from the CCE and colleagues explores same-sex sexuality within an evolutionary framework published in Archives of Sexual Behavior 🧪
Kin-Directed Altruism and Male Androphilia in Thailand: Investigating the Roles of Femininity and Neuroticism - Archives of Sexual Behavior
The kin selection hypothesis (KSH) proposes that same-sex attracted individuals offset their lowered direct reproduction via kin-directed altruism that increases close genetic relatives’ reproduction,...
link.springer.com
September 19, 2025 at 8:30 PM
🧵 1/ New paper co-authored by Francisco Gomez Jimenez from the CCE and colleagues explores same-sex sexuality within an evolutionary framework published in Archives of Sexual Behavior 🧪
📣 CCN's leader Veena Kumari has been selected for the #REF2029 Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience panel 🥳👏
Main Panel A – Medicine, Health and Life Sciences – REF 2029
2029.ref.ac.uk
September 5, 2025 at 2:09 PM
📣 CCN's leader Veena Kumari has been selected for the #REF2029 Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience panel 🥳👏
@brunelpsy.bsky.social has been super successful in the latest round of British Academy / Leverhulme Trust funding with two awards 🤩💅👏🥳
British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants
The BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards, up to £10,000 in value and tenable for up to 24 months, are provi...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
September 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM
@brunelpsy.bsky.social has been super successful in the latest round of British Academy / Leverhulme Trust funding with two awards 🤩💅👏🥳
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
The recent IARR 2025 mini conference on "Gender, sexuality and relationships" co-led by CCE's Stan Gaines was a great success 🏳️🌈😌🫂
The mini-conference was named for the Gender, Sexuality and Relationships (GSR) theme group within Brunel University of London’s Centre for Culture and Evolution (CCE)
The mini-conference was named for the Gender, Sexuality and Relationships (GSR) theme group within Brunel University of London’s Centre for Culture and Evolution (CCE)
September 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The recent IARR 2025 mini conference on "Gender, sexuality and relationships" co-led by CCE's Stan Gaines was a great success 🏳️🌈😌🫂
The mini-conference was named for the Gender, Sexuality and Relationships (GSR) theme group within Brunel University of London’s Centre for Culture and Evolution (CCE)
The mini-conference was named for the Gender, Sexuality and Relationships (GSR) theme group within Brunel University of London’s Centre for Culture and Evolution (CCE)
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
Annie Wertz plants a flag for plan and learning research!
This week, @anniewertz.bsky.social talks about her ground-breaking work exploring what infants know, and come prepared to learn, about 🌱plants🌿! (Annie gets credit for all plant-based puns in this episode).
youtu.be/bMbDieccEtc
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-67k8k...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
youtu.be/bMbDieccEtc
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-67k8k...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Plants, Infants, and the Evolution of Social Learning with Annie Wertz
YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)
youtu.be
August 28, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Annie Wertz plants a flag for plan and learning research!
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
taking a social/relational perspective on resilience in recovery - super proud of this work and so grateful to our participants 🫶
🧵 1/ New Paper from CCE’s Julieta Baker and @loraadair.bsky.social and colleagues from @brunelpsy.bsky.social , Henry Ford Health and Tina's Haven on the “The sociocultural ecology of resilience” in SSM - Qualitative Research in Health 📣🤩
The sociocultural ecology of resilience: A comparative study among women in the United Kingdom
Resilience is often framed as an internal, individual process. However, this perspective overlooks the complex relationship between individuals and th…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 29, 2025 at 9:04 AM
taking a social/relational perspective on resilience in recovery - super proud of this work and so grateful to our participants 🫶
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
At Brunel I was teaching stats to first-year psychology students in the same building (!) where Alex from Clockwork Orange was "rehabilitated". The joke was writing itself, and I had the feeling nobody was getting it...
Thinking about the fact that in 1976 an audience instantly got the joke about a nearly 40 year movie (by that point) because as a culture we had a working familiarity with older pop culture
Trying to think if a sketch show today could do an effective joke based on a detail from a film made in 1988
Trying to think if a sketch show today could do an effective joke based on a detail from a film made in 1988
"I saw it in the window and I just couldn't resist it."
Starlett O'Hara (Carol Burnett) shows off her curtain couture in "Went with the Wind!" on The Carol Burnett Show, 1976
Starlett O'Hara (Carol Burnett) shows off her curtain couture in "Went with the Wind!" on The Carol Burnett Show, 1976
August 29, 2025 at 9:36 AM
At Brunel I was teaching stats to first-year psychology students in the same building (!) where Alex from Clockwork Orange was "rehabilitated". The joke was writing itself, and I had the feeling nobody was getting it...
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
Race Isn’t Biological — So Why Do So Many Still Think It Is?
@kevinlala.bsky.social and @kztwyman.bsky.social blog about their recent paper in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
@kevinlala.bsky.social and @kztwyman.bsky.social blog about their recent paper in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
August 31, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Race Isn’t Biological — So Why Do So Many Still Think It Is?
@kevinlala.bsky.social and @kztwyman.bsky.social blog about their recent paper in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
@kevinlala.bsky.social and @kztwyman.bsky.social blog about their recent paper in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🚨 GRANT APPLICATION 🚨
Do not forget to apply for the workshop/event grant from EHBEA in case you are organising a scientific event 😉
DEADLINE: September 11th, 2025
Do not forget to apply for the workshop/event grant from EHBEA in case you are organising a scientific event 😉
DEADLINE: September 11th, 2025
🚨GRANT APPLICATION🚨
Call for the WORKSHOP/EVENT GRANT from EHBEA is officially open!
If you are interested in organising a scientific workshop or an outreach event please check the link and apply!
DEADLINE: September 11th, 2025
www.cambridge.org/core/members...
Call for the WORKSHOP/EVENT GRANT from EHBEA is officially open!
If you are interested in organising a scientific workshop or an outreach event please check the link and apply!
DEADLINE: September 11th, 2025
www.cambridge.org/core/members...
Awards
Welcome to Membership Services
www.cambridge.org
September 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
🚨 GRANT APPLICATION 🚨
Do not forget to apply for the workshop/event grant from EHBEA in case you are organising a scientific event 😉
DEADLINE: September 11th, 2025
Do not forget to apply for the workshop/event grant from EHBEA in case you are organising a scientific event 😉
DEADLINE: September 11th, 2025
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
This blog is continually relevant and an important read 📕 👀
🧵 1/ Eugenics isn’t ancient history
@rebeccasear.bsky.social from @brunelpsy.bsky.social traces how the 19th-century idea of “improving” humanity through selective breeding keeps mutating - and why it never stopped threatening human rights 👇
@rebeccasear.bsky.social from @brunelpsy.bsky.social traces how the 19th-century idea of “improving” humanity through selective breeding keeps mutating - and why it never stopped threatening human rights 👇
The 21st Century Resurgence of Eugenics
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
September 3, 2025 at 6:35 AM
This blog is continually relevant and an important read 📕 👀
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
Coincidentally, was talking about eugenics again yesterday at the #BSPS2025 conference. Dermot Grenham and Alice Reid organised a very interesting session on similarities in public concern about low fertility in the 1920s and 2020s
September 3, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Coincidentally, was talking about eugenics again yesterday at the #BSPS2025 conference. Dermot Grenham and Alice Reid organised a very interesting session on similarities in public concern about low fertility in the 1920s and 2020s
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
Exciting news for the evolutionary behavioural sciences ❤️🐒🧪 co-led with CCE's Director @rebeccasear.bsky.social
CCE at @brunelpsy.bsky.social is an unique blend of cultural evolution, psychology, anthropology, cross-cultural studies, human behavioural ecology and demography - so this is EXCITING
CCE at @brunelpsy.bsky.social is an unique blend of cultural evolution, psychology, anthropology, cross-cultural studies, human behavioural ecology and demography - so this is EXCITING
The conversations Siobhan has initiated have been great so far 😊 hopefully funding will really help us move the evolutionary behavioural sciences forward in a productive direction
And super duper immensely excited to share that we received funding to continue conversations on the past, present, and future of evolutionary behavioral sciences! w/ @anthrofuentes.bsky.social, @rebeccasear.bsky.social, @sarahalami.bsky.social
August 28, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Exciting news for the evolutionary behavioural sciences ❤️🐒🧪 co-led with CCE's Director @rebeccasear.bsky.social
CCE at @brunelpsy.bsky.social is an unique blend of cultural evolution, psychology, anthropology, cross-cultural studies, human behavioural ecology and demography - so this is EXCITING
CCE at @brunelpsy.bsky.social is an unique blend of cultural evolution, psychology, anthropology, cross-cultural studies, human behavioural ecology and demography - so this is EXCITING
🧵 1/ New research alert 🚀
Pauldy Otermans, @neuronerdsb.bsky.social , Aditya, Seon, Cooper & Roomi published “How do adults with neurodevelopmental disorders prefer information being presented?” in Educational Media International
Takehome message - personalisation matters. 🧩
Pauldy Otermans, @neuronerdsb.bsky.social , Aditya, Seon, Cooper & Roomi published “How do adults with neurodevelopmental disorders prefer information being presented?” in Educational Media International
Takehome message - personalisation matters. 🧩
How do adults with neurodevelopmental disorders prefer information being presented?
Neurodiverse children do not always benefit from a typical learning environment and therefore may be at a disadvantage when learning alongside their peers. Many of these children have different pre...
www.tandfonline.com
August 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
🧵 1/ New research alert 🚀
Pauldy Otermans, @neuronerdsb.bsky.social , Aditya, Seon, Cooper & Roomi published “How do adults with neurodevelopmental disorders prefer information being presented?” in Educational Media International
Takehome message - personalisation matters. 🧩
Pauldy Otermans, @neuronerdsb.bsky.social , Aditya, Seon, Cooper & Roomi published “How do adults with neurodevelopmental disorders prefer information being presented?” in Educational Media International
Takehome message - personalisation matters. 🧩
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🧵 1/ 📢 New CCE pre-print on open-ended technological evolution by @replicatedtypo.bsky.social and @matcharbonneau.bsky.social 👇
@brunelpsy.bsky.social #ehbea #culturalevolution
@brunelpsy.bsky.social #ehbea #culturalevolution
August 15, 2025 at 7:38 PM
🧵 1/ 📢 New CCE pre-print on open-ended technological evolution by @replicatedtypo.bsky.social and @matcharbonneau.bsky.social 👇
@brunelpsy.bsky.social #ehbea #culturalevolution
@brunelpsy.bsky.social #ehbea #culturalevolution
Reposted by Brunel Psychology
🚨🚨 New preprint 📜 with Mathieu Charbonneau (@matcharbonneau.bsky.social): Modelling the emergence of open-ended technological evolution (arxiv.org/abs/2508.04828). Feedback welcomed! #Evolution #Technology #Culture #OpenEnded #TechnologicalEvolution #CulturalEvolution 🧵: 1/29
Modelling the emergence of open-ended technological evolution
Humans stand alone in terms of their potential to collectively and cumulatively improve technologies in an open-ended manner. This open-endedness provides societies with the ability to continually exp...
arxiv.org
August 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM
🚨🚨 New preprint 📜 with Mathieu Charbonneau (@matcharbonneau.bsky.social): Modelling the emergence of open-ended technological evolution (arxiv.org/abs/2508.04828). Feedback welcomed! #Evolution #Technology #Culture #OpenEnded #TechnologicalEvolution #CulturalEvolution 🧵: 1/29