Beyond the dyad: Development of task co-representation of multiple co-actors across cultures

Applications are invited for a fully-funded three year PhD to commence in October 2025. 

The PhD will be based in the Faculty of Science and Health within the School of Psychology, Sport and Health Science, and will be supervised by Dr Sophie Milward, Dr Esther Herrmann and Dr Juliane Kaminski.

Candidates applying for this project may be eligible to compete for one of a small number of bursaries available. Successful applicants will receive a bursary to cover tuition fees at the UK/EU rate for three years and a stipend in line with the UKRI rate (£19,237 for 2025/26). Bursary recipients will also receive a contribution of £1,500 per year towards consumables, conference, project or training costs.

Costs for student visa and immigration health surcharge are not covered by this bursary. For further guidance and advice visit our international and EU students ‘Visa FAQs’ page.

The work on this project could involve:

●        Data collection with 4-5 year-old children

●        Travel to Kenya for cross-cultural data collection

●        Novel investigation of joint action in group settings

Project description

Cooperation is so deeply embedded in human psychology that we spontaneously track a partner’s task as well as our own when acting in a pair. This automatic ‘co-representation’ of a partner’s mental representation of their task has been argued to be key to the sophisticated social coordination we see in human adults. However, our day-to-day encounters are not limited to one-to-one interactions. This will be the first study to investigate co-representation in groups, and whether there are limits on the number of partners that can be tracked at once. We will take a developmental perspective, testing 4-5 year-old children, in order to investigate the level of cognitive complexity that is involved in this behaviour.  Further, we will test whether this phenomenon is a human universal, by comparing behaviours across two cultures in the UK and Kenya.  Finally, we will test whether we prioritise the tracking of certain members of a group over others, depending on whether they share our group identity or not. This will provide key information about the limits of our capacity to keep others in mind, and the psychological underpinnings of how we do so.

General admissions criteria

You'll need a good first degree from an internationally recognised university (minimum upper second class or equivalent, depending on your chosen course) or a Master’s degree in an appropriate

subject. In exceptional cases, we may consider equivalent professional experience and/or qualifications. English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.5 with no component score below 6.0.

Specific candidate requirements

The ideal candidates will:

• Demonstrate a passion for developmental psychology and a sensitivity to cultural differences.
• Be willing to travel to Kenya for data collection.
• Have experience with quantitative data collection with human participants.
• Have experience working with children.

How to Apply

Please note that email applications are not accepted. If you have any project-specific questions please contact Dr Sophie Milward (Sophie.milward@port.ac.uk), quoting the project code.

When you are ready to apply, please use the online application form of the respective project on our PhD scholarship website. Make sure you submit a personal statement, proof of your degrees and grades, details of two referees, proof of your English language proficiency and an up-to-date CV.  Our ‘How to Apply’ page offers further guidance on the PhD application process.

If you want to be considered for this funded PhD opportunity you must quote project code PSH50130125 when applying.

Explore more funded opportunities via our South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP) programme.