Congratulations to Year 14 keen psychologists Amber McLoughlin, Ciara Carmichael and Joanna Greenaway who were recently selected as winners for their presentation on ‘The perception and reality of student helpfulness’ at the A Level Conference held by the Northern Ireland branch of the British Psychology Society (NIBPS).  They were prepared for the event by their teacher, Mrs Lisa Duke.  As well as having the opportunity to present their research the students were also being judged by representatives from the host universities.  All presenters received a specially cast medal and the first and second placed groups were presented with trophies and were invited to present at the NIBPS 2016 Annual Conference in March 2016. All three are applying for undergraduate psychology.

NIBPS held its annual A Level Psychology Conference on December 4th at Ulster University, Coleraine.  This event, the brainchild of committee member John Dennison, an A Level Psychology teacher and Dr Barbara McConnell, NIBPS Secretary is hosted jointly between NIBPS and the 3 Northern Ireland Universities – Ulster University, The Open University and Queen’s University Belfast.  Eleven groups presented to an audience of over 100.  Prof Melanie Giles, Head of the School of Psychology at Ulster University opened the conference and welcomed the delegates and presenters, empathising with them regarding the task of presenting for the first time to their peers. The keynote address was delivered by Bill Flack PhD, a US-UK Fullbright Scholar from Bucknell University, Pennsylvania.  Bill’s topic was ‘Sexual assault Among University Students in the US and Europe: What do we know and what can we do about it’?  This subject has been aired a lot in the media recently both nationally and locally and Bill pitched his talk perfectly for our young audience.

The second placed group was from Omagh Academy and the title of their presentation was ‘Do I like maths because I’m a boy or am I a boy because I like maths’ (Clare-Ann Nelson, Emily Campbell and Callum O’Donnell) and they were prepared by their teacher Mr Steven Arbuthnot. The NIBPS committee wished to express its gratitude to all of the teachers who worked with them and their students in preparation for the event and those who brought their students along for the experience and promised to participate next year.  The event has grown over the past two years and we look forward to next year’s being hosted by The Open University at a Belfast location. The inaugural conference was hosted last year by Queen’s University Belfast.