• EH14 4AS

    United Kingdom

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

I am interested in supervising PhD projects that take a discursive/rhetorical approach to social psychology, and have a particular interest in the use of discursive methods to analyse the research process (especially experiments) as a topic in its own right.

20042024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research interests

I am a social psychologist with research interests in topics such as obedience; identity & citizenship; and representations of peace & conflict.  My research has been underpinned by rhetorical and discursive approaches to social psychology, and I am increasingly interested in the application of discursive methods to the research process itself.

Biography

I joined Heriot-Watt University in December 2019, having previously been at York St John University from 2005-2019.  I hold a PhD in Psychology (2006), MSc Psychological Research Methods (2002) and BSc (Hons) Psychology (2001), all from Lancaster University.

Roles & Responsibilities

Selected internal roles:

  • 2025 - present:  Associate Executive Dean (Research & Impact), School of Social Sciences
  • 2023 - present:  Chair of the School of Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee
  • 2019 - present:  Director of Doctoral Programmes, School of Social Sciences

Selected external roles:

  • 2020 – present: Member of the Dean of Graduate Studies Network, Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences.
    2020 – present: Member of the Executive Group, Scottish Graduate School of Arts & Humanities.
  • 2020 – 2022: Joint Editor-in-Chief, British Journal of Social Psychology.
  • 2010 – present: Member of the ESRC Peer Review College.
  • In memoriam: Dr Francesco Foroni

    McKeown, S., Khan, S., Gibson, S. & Smith, L. G. E., Jan 2024, In: British Journal of Social Psychology. 63, 1, p. 1-2 2 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalEditorial

    Open Access
  • Analysing your data

    Gibson, S. & Hugh-Jones, S., Nov 2023, Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project. Sullivan, C., Gibson, S. & Riley, S. (eds.). 2nd ed. London: Sage, p. 159-186 28 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

  • Collecting your data

    Gibson, S. & Hugh-Jones, S., Nov 2023, Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project. C. S., Gibson, S. & Riley, S. (eds.). 2nd ed. London: Sage, p. 129-158 30 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

  • Conclusions: Moving on and wrapping up

    Gibson, S., Sullivan, C. & Riley, S., Nov 2023, Doing your qualitative psychology project. Sullivan, C., Gibson, S. & Riley, S. (eds.). 2nd ed. London: Sage, p. 235-246 12 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

  • Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project

    Sullivan, C. (Editor), Gibson, S. (Editor) & Riley, S. (Editor), Nov 2023, 2nd ed. London: Sage. 264 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportBook