When Dr Nicole Sugden graduates with a PhD from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst on Thursday this week it will cap more than a decade of dedicated study.

"I absolutely loved studying at Charles Sturt University, and when you count my undergraduate Honours degree and now my PhD, I have been studying here for 11 years," Dr Sugden said.

"The PhD was certainly challenging at times, but I really enjoy the process of studying and learning new things. I really want to thank my brilliant PhD supervisors Associate Professor Michael Kiernan and Dr Matthew Thomas in the School of Psychology for their support and encouragement."

Dr Sugden (pictured) is from Orange, and is now an associate lecturer in the School of Psychology in Bathurst. She currently teaches Foundations of Psychology for the Health and Human Services at CSU in Orange, and Biopsychology by online mode and at CSU in Bathurst in 2016.

Her PhD research investigated the emerging field of prospective memory.

"Prospective memory is the type of memory you use to remember to do something in the future," she said. "For example, to attend appointments, to remember to take medication, or to remember to pay bills.

"Prospective memory failures are common and a normal part of daily life, however in some clinical cases such as in dementia and brain injury these failures become frequent and can have serious consequences; for example, forgetting to turn off appliances.

"Therefore, in my research I developed a scale to assess concerns people have about their prospective memory ability."

It is hoped that the scale can be used in clinical settings to assess memory issues particularly in individuals with mild cognitive impairment, dementia and brain injury. Dr Sugden's research also investigated age differences in prospective memory concerns, and the relationship between prospective memory concerns and various personality traits.

Dr Sugden plans to continue to teach as well as work on future research projects. In the short-term she is working on publishing journal articles based on her PhD research findings.