Profile: The Department of Psychology was founded in 1989, and started receiving PhD Candidates in 1991 and undergraduate students, through university-entry exams, in 1992. Since then, the Department has been following a steady upward trend, becoming administratively autonomous in 1995. Today, it is staffed with 18 faculty members, 5 lab teaching staff members and administrative secretarial staff. In its 25-year history, the Department of Psychology has contributed towards establishing the scientific identity of Psychology on a national level, while it continues to assist in renewing and preserving demanding criteria for the expression and exercise of the science of Psychology, ensuring a balanced and comprehensive undergraduate curriculum, with a distinct character.  The Department is described by its three-fold belief that psychological phenomena 1) are understood in a systematic and valid research manner, 2) are the object of intervention, based on a documented and educational method, and 3) both understanding and intervening in them requires that they are viewed through an interpersonal, communal and social framework. The Department of Psychology is marked by vigour, scientific competence and innovation, and follows the scientist-practitioner model, which is based on three pillars – theory, research and practice – and is reflected in the undergraduate curriculum.

The Department of Psychology is split into the following divisions:

  • Division of Educational and Cognitive Psychology
  • Division of Social Theory and Research
  • Division of Social Psychology
  • Division of Clinical Psychology

The faculty members participate in all these Department divisions, depending on their field of study and scientific interests. The divisions specify and supervise the subjects taught and sustain the corresponding research interests, ensuring that the undergraduate curricula fittingly represent the knowledge and research fields of Psychology.

The following Labs operate in the framework of the Department’s subject fields:

  • Applied Psychology Lab
  • Experimental & Applied Behavioural Analysis Lab
  • Positive Psychology Lab
  • Psychopathology & Health Psychology Lab
  • Experimental Social Psychology Lab
  • Social & Political Psychology Lab
  • Virtual Reality, Internet Research & Education Lab

As the members of the Department’s teaching and research staff have pursued undergraduate and postgraduate studies in countries such as France, Switzerland, Greece, the USA, the UK, Italy and Canada, they are able to raise awareness among students on the political/ideological foundation of the theories of Psychology, as they developed and are still developing through the cognitive boundaries of specific socio-political systems and eras.

Aim of the Department: The policy and aim of the Department have been shaped through a deep sense of responsibility and challenge. The Department of Psychology aims 1) to provide quality higher education, 2) further develop and promote the science of Psychology and 3) develop a creative work and research environment for the Department staff. The Department of Psychology meets these educational, research and broader social aims through:

  • providing well-rounded theoretical training to the Department students in all core branches of the science of Psychology (Developmental, Cognitive, Clinical, Social, Experimental Psychology & Neuroscience),
  • getting the students to become familiar with and practice the key rules and methods of scientific research for recording, understanding and interpreting human behaviour,
  • advancing research (promoting theoretical and applied research in the field of Psychology, operating labs with the active participation of Department students, fostering technical know-how, etc.),
  • promoting the international and outward-looking potential of the Department (forging international synergies and cooperation protocols with social organisations for the integration of the Department graduates in the labour market),
  • ensuring the commitment – as a strategic choice of the management and a responsibility – of the Department faculty members, teaching staff, lab staff and administrative staff to the continuous improvement of teaching, research and services rendered,
  • harmonising the operation of the Department to the national legislation, so as to undertake all the quality assurance initiatives and obligations (External Evaluation Team – OMEA, Quality Assurance Unit – MODIP, Quality Assurance Authority – ADIP).

Career prospects: The capstone of the curriculum and a condition for obtaining the degree is Work Placement, which can be carried out at various organisations, such as in-hospital psychiatric departments, neuropsychology clinics, counselling centres, day centres, prevention, dependency and psychosocial rehabilitation centres, schools, special schools, child psychology or child psychiatry services, municipal social services, etc. At these units, the Department students gain valuable experience in practising Psychology, under the double supervision of the organisation’s psychologist(s) and their university professors. The graduates of the Panteion University Department of Psychology can receive a licence to practice after submitting an application to their local Prefecture. The licence to practice enables the holder to legally practice the profession of General Psychologist in the areas of Education, Welfare, Health, Administration of Justice and Communication, as well as at political and economic organisations of Greece. However, postgraduate training is necessary to acquire a speciality in other branches of Psychology.

Apart from the undergraduate studies, the Panteion University Department of Psychology offers free-of-charge postgraduate study programmes on “Social Psychology of Conflicts” and “Psychology”.  Specifically, the first postgraduate programme leads to a Master’s Degree in Social Psychology of Conflicts and the second to a Master’s Degree in Psychology, with three specialities: Positive Psychology, Identities & Interpersonal Relationships and Applied Cognitive & Developmental Psychology.