Rebecca is highly commended by our School & the Undergraduate Awards

“My name is Rebecca McClements and I am now a Psychology Graduate of Queen’s University Belfast. I studied a BSc in Psychology and loved every year of it.

In my final year I submitted one of my highest performing essays at Queen’s to the Undergraduate Awards, on the off chance that something may come of it.  The Undergraduate Awards is the world’s largest international academic awards programme recognising excellent research and original work across all academic fields. This year, 5,514 papers were submitted, from 244 institutions in 121 nationalities; I am so privileged to say that my paper, “The Role of Segregated Schooling in the development of Social Identity in Northern Ireland and Basque”, performed in the top 10% of all submissions in the Psychology category.

These awards are so important to me, especially now as I pursue a Masters at King’s College London in Forensic Mental Health Research, and continue growing in the academic world. Being “Highly Commended” will certainly aid my career progression should I decide to pursue a PhD or a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, as it demonstrates my strong academic background nurtured by Queen’s.

I give credit where credit is due, as my supervisors and lecturers at Queen’s could not have been better help in improving my academic and writing skills. I wrote this highly commended essay for the module “Youth and Political Violence”, and thus I cannot thank the module lead lecturer Dr Laura Taylor enough for all of her help in creating this piece of work. Without Laura, I would not have performed so well in these awards, so I am incredibly grateful for all of her input”.

Speaking about this year’s Winners and Highly Commended Entrants, CEO of The Undergraduate Awards Louise Hodgson said; “This is a huge achievement for Queen's University Belfast and its students. UA received the highest number of submissions to date with only the best papers making it through the judging process - the competition was extremely tough and the Judges were astounded at the high quality of undergraduate research in the programme this year. Congratulations to this year’s successful entrants”.