PHD SCHOLARSHIP IN NEUROSCIENCE/PSYCHOLOGY

Fully-funded PhD Studentship

Multimodal Brain Imaging in the Cognitive and Emotional Control of Behaviour

Swansea University - College of Human and Health Sciences

Swansea University's College of Human and Health Sciences invite applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship in Psychology.

About the project:
How do we control our behaviour so that we do not reflexively respond when we don't want to? Why are some people better at staying calm than others? Why do people differ from each other in these basic mechanisms? Can we gain access to their neural and neurochemical backgrounds to understand the biological basis of their behaviour?

Swansea University is looking to fill a PhD studentship which will examine some of the above questions relating to key issues in the study of emotional experience and impulsivity. The project will investigate the effect that internally and externally generated emotions have on an individuals' level of inhibitory control, and how individual differences, from personality type to genetic factors, play a role in this. It is expected that the student who undertakes this project will have the opportunity to make use of behavioural testing, personality and intelligence screening, and functional imaging (fMRI/EEG), MR spectroscopy or genetic imaging methods. Although the primary focus will be on healthy individuals, there would be scope for the student to become involved in the testing of clinical populations.

The student will be based at Swansea University which has recently opened an imaging centre comprising a 3T Siemens MRI scanner at the Institute of Life Sciences, situated on campus. Psychology at Swansea has strong links with Cardiff and Bangor Universities through the Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Candidate eligibility:
UK / EU and International students are welcome to apply but only UK/EU fees will be paid.

Applicants must have a very good first degree in psychology or neuroscience, and ideally a Master's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience or Functional Neuroimaging.

Given the range of technically demanding techniques that will be used, previous experience using programming packages (e.g. Matlab, Python, Psychtoolbox, etc.), and a demonstrable interest in the proposed neuroscience approaches, would be advantageous.

While preference will be given to those that have experience in either EEG or fMRI methods, training in the use of these methodologies can be provided.

Studentship value:
The studentship covers full UK/EU fees, plus a stipend of £14,000 p.a.

An additional £800 will be available for research expenses such as conferences.

How to apply:
For further information please contact Dr. Stephen Johnston [s.j.johnston@swansea.ac.uk] or Dr. Frederic Boy [f.a.boy@swansea.ac.uk].

Application closing date:  

The closing date for applications is 31^st July 2012.