Studentship: Improving understanding of non-invasive brain stimulation in neuro typical and neuro diverse groups

Updated: over 1 year ago
Location: Nottingham, ENGLAND
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 10 Aug 2022

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) has the ability to both measure and modulate the brain. It has huge potential as both a research and therapeutic tool, and yet there is still a large amount to learn about these techniques and how they work. This three year PhD program is an opportunity to advance current understanding and optimisation of NIBS techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), median nerve stimulation (MNS) and transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS). The program of work is flexible and could include some of the following options:

  • Exploring how MNS can be optimised as a therapeutic treatment.
  • Investigating differences in response to TMS in healthy adults and clinical groups such as people with Tourette Syndrome to improve knowledge of clinical conditions.  
  • Measuring how/if hormonal cycles influence responses to TMS, interpreting what this suggests about neuro metabolite changes and the consequent implications for research/treatment. 
  • Using TMS as a measurement tool to investigate tFUS, including how stimulation of sub-cortical structures influences linked cortical regions. 

The Details:

The studentship is funded by the Faculty of Science and will provide a stipend to cover living costs (approximately £15,875) and cover Home University fees (estimated at £4,587) for the duration of the project and thesis writing (36 months).

The starting date is from 1st October 2022

Requirements:

Candidates should have a Bachelor’s degree (minimum 2:1 or equivalent) or a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field such as Psychology, Neuroscience, Physiology, Computer Science or a related discipline.

Essential: The successful candidate will be highly motivated with strong written and verbal communication skills and should have some experience with data analysis, quantitative methods, or programming.

Desirable: Experience with collecting and/or processing physiological data; programing experience using Matlab or Python; experience running studies with diverse populations including children/adolescents.  

Informal enquiries can be directed to Katherine Dyke ([email protected] )

How to apply:

All applications are to be made directly to the University, selecting PhD Psychology (36 months duration) as the course. Please apply at:

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/how-to-apply/apply-online.aspx .

In the research proposal section please only include “Katherine Dyke advertised PhD position” in the title. You are required to upload the following documents to your application:

  • C.V.
  • Personal statement (maximum 1 page) about why the candidate is interested in pursuing a PhD in psychology/neuroscience, any relevant research experience, and a brief outline for an experiment or study the candidate would be interested in conducting.
  • Either two references (in a non-editable format such as pdf, on headed paper and signed by the referee) or the details (email addresses) of two referees that we can contact. One of the references must be academic.

If you have any questions about the application process through MyNottingham, please contact [email protected] for further advice.