Dr Joseph Sweetman

I am a senior lecturer, co-director for equality, diversity and inclusion, and year 2 tutor in the department of psychology. Broadly speaking, my research interests focus on the moral and political mind/brain and reflective thought in the mind/brain sciences. I'm interested in questions like: How do people make their judgments about what is right and what is wrong? How do people think, feel, and act in relation to political issues? Having done my PhD at the beginning of psychology's replication crisis, I am also particularly interested in reflective thought concerning the mind/brain sciences (sometimes called "meta-science", I don't think it's really science about science, or "beyond" science, so I preffer the term reflective thought). Specifically, I'm interested in questions around replication, open science, statistical and scientific inference, and meta-theory in the mind/brain sciences (see Research tab).

I welcome enquires from those wanting to undertake undergraduate or postgraduate research on the moral mind/brain and/or reflective thought in the mind/brain sciences.

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 programme of psychological and cognitive neuroscience research to better understand: 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 the planning, collection, analysis, and write-up of 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

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 2011-2013 I took up a proleptic Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Research Fellowship in Psychology at Exeter between 2013-2016. I have now returned to academic staff as a Senior lecturer here at Exeter.