PhD Studentship in Auditory Neuroscience - Unravelling the Neurobiological Basis of Tinnitus by Studying its Initial Onset and Subsequent Chronification

Number of awards:

1

Start date and duration:

1 October 2021 for 3 years.

Overview:

We require a talented, passionate person for this PhD project that stands to make a major impact. Tinnitus is a common, incompletely understood and poorly-treated brain condition, and a fascinating insight into the fundamental processes responsible for conscious perception.

The project focuses on the crucial but under-studied time period just after tinnitus begins. Although human studies of chronic tinnitus rarely find reproducible alterations in brain activity, our recent pilot data from people with new-onset tinnitus found elevated spontaneous and sound-driven activity soon after tinnitus onset, which diminishes over subsequent months, thus highlighting the importance of this initial time window.

This project is an exciting opportunity to robustly characterise the changes in brain activity and sound processing occurring at tinnitus onset, and measure them over time. The results will not only be highly informative about the acute tinnitus state, but also reveal mechanisms underlying tinnitus in general, identifying further investigative, diagnostic and treatment avenues.

The student will develop a wide range of skills, with the potential to progress to advanced computational modelling of EEG data, and be in a strong position for a leading career in auditory, tinnitus and/or wider neuroscience research.

Sponsor:

RNID

Name of supervisor(s):

Supervisors: Dr William Sedley, Dr Phillip Gander, Professor Tim Griffiths

Mentor: Dr Kai Alter

Eligibility Criteria:

At least a 2:1 honours degree or international equivalent, in a subject relating to the behavioural sciences, including: psychology, biology or neuroscience.

Alternatively, a 2:1 honours degree or equivalent in mathematics, physics, computer science or engineering that has given you experience in computational modelling that you wish to apply to neuroscience.

The following English Language requirements: IELTS 6.5 overall (with a minimum of 5.5 in all other sub-skills).

Prior experience with Matlab or similar coding environments is not essential, but would be highly beneficial. Good people skills are also very important.

How to apply:

We strongly advise e-mailing william.sedley@newcastle.ac.uk, before applying using the procedure below.

You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system. To do this please ‘Create a new account’.

Only mandatory fields need to be completed, including:

• Programme code 8300F* in programme of study section
• ‘PhD in the Faculty of Medical Sciences – Neuroscience' as programme of study
• Studentship code TC019 in the studentship/partnership reference field
• A covering letter and CV. The covering letter must state the title of the studentship, the studentship reference code and state how your interests and experience relate to the project
• Degree transcripts and certificates and, if English is not your first language, a copy of your English language qualifications.

* The online application system only allows one application with programme code 8300F. If applying for TWO or more projects using that code then you must email pgadmissions@ncl.ac.uk with the following information:

• Your application number (from first submitted application)
• Second studentship code and corresponding title
• A two page covering letter for the second project.

Contact:

For further information please william.sedley@newcastle.ac.uk Dr William Sedley.