Dr Joseph Sweetman

I am Senior Lecturer, Year 2 Tutor, and Open Science Champion in Psychology. I'm interested in big questions like: What is our moral sense? How is our moral sense represented in the brain? How does our moral sense develop? How did it evolve? I am also interested in how people think, feel, and act concerning political issues. Having done my PhD at the beginning of psychology's replication/credibility crisis, I believe in the importance of meta-science: replication, open science, (aligned) statistical and scientific inference, meta-theory, and advancements in methods and practices (see Research tab).

I conducted my doctoral research at the School of Psychology (Cardiff University) as part of a 1 + 3 ESRC Studentship. After winning the Hadyn Ellis prize for best PhD dissertation, I went on to take up a fixed-term lecturer position within the school. Having lectured at Cardiff between 2011 and 2013, I took up an Advanced Research Fellowship in Psychology at Exeter between 2013 and 2016 and have been academic staff ever since. I served on the Psychology senior leadership team as Co-Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion from 2019 to 2025. And I have sat on the University of Exeter Race Equality Group since 2014. 

Current PhD funding opportunities

Aspects of the moral mind/brain: Toward a science of morality

This project offers the successful candidate an opportunity to become a leading researcher in one of the most exciting, interdisciplinary areas of the mind/brain sciences. The proposed doctoral research will pursue a psychological and cognitive neuroscience research program to discover: What is our moral sense? How is our moral sense represented in the brain? How is our moral sense learnt? The project will involve developing technical skills in planning, collecting, analysing, and writing up experimental cognitive neuroscience (i.e., EEG/fMRI) and behavioural research.

This doctoral research can be applied for via the University of Exeter PhD Scholarships for Black British Researchers in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Students (Exeter or external) who want to undertake an internship or under/postgraduate research on the moral mind/brain or meta-science are welcome to reach out.