Position Details
Applications are invited to apply for one fully funded PhD studentship in the Department of Psychology, University of York, under the supervision of Dr Catherine Preston, Dr Daniel Baker and Dr Kirsten McKenzie (University of Lincoln). The position starts on October 2021 and will be fully funded (for UK students) by the Pain Relief Foundation John Miles PhD Studentship.
The Department of Psychology at York is among the world’s top psychology departments, excelling in both teaching and research. We pride ourselves in providing a supportive and vibrant learning environment, which offers our students every opportunity to meet their personal development goals.
Project Background
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating condition characterised by the degeneration of cartilage within the joints, however, recent research suggests that pain in OA has a substantial cortical component, and neural misrepresentation of affected joints has been shown to exacerbate perceived pain. This is evidenced by OA affecting tactile acuity, motor imagery, and the perception of hand size. Additionally, pain levels do not correlate with the extent of structural damage and many patients continue to experience pain even after joint replacement surgery.
Illusion therapies have been effective in reducing pain in other chronic conditions thought to have cortical involvement; mirror therapy (in which a mirror is positioned between the limbs so that the image of the non-affected limb gives the illusion of normal movement and appearance of the affected limb) has been found to reduce pain in both complex regional pain syndrome and phantom limb pain. Building upon these findings, our studies have demonstrated (and replicated) striking analgesic effects using illusion-based re-sizing of painful body-parts in OA. However, to date the mechanisms behind why the illusions work and how they might be used clinically to long term help pain management in OA has not been established.
For further information and recent publications by the supervisors, please see:
https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academicstaff/cp1039/#publications-content
https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academicstaff/daniel/#publications-content
https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/21af0328-d5b7-4f21-a25e-9d736f706c29
PhD position
The PhD candidate will focus on the underlying mechanisms of illusion-based analgesia in hand osteoarthritis (OA). A key goal of the project is to optimize the efficacy and usability of the illusions to establish feasibility of body illusions as a treatment for chronic hand OA pain. The PhD programme will examine the neural mechanisms underlying both immersive multisensory and unimodal (vision only) re-sizing illusions in OA and healthy participants using EEG. Neural signatures of the illusion induction will be related to reported changes in OA pain when experiencing the illusions. Moreover, the project will also examine potential cumulative effects of experiencing visual illusions on levels of OA pain to determine feasibility of such methods for long term pain management.
Requirements
Essential requirements:
- Strong 2.1 BSc (Hons) or equivalent degree in psychology, (cognitive) neuroscience, or a related discipline
- Solid knowledge of statistical methods
- Experience with empirical work in psychology and/or (cognitive) neuroscience
- High motivation and strong interest in the general area of sensory neuroscience, chronic pain and/or body representations.
- Strong writing and communication skills
Desirable requirements:
- Experience of programming in R, Matlab, Python, or a related language
- Experience in running experiments using EEG
- Experience of delivering body illusions
- Experience working with patient groups, e.g. chronic pain
- A commitment to open research practices
Applications
Candidates should initially express their interest by contacting Catherine Preston ([Email Address Removed]) prior to submitting a full application.
If, after contacting Dr Preston, a candidate wishes to pursue an application, please complete the application process on the University of York website via this link
All candidates will need to provide:
· A cover letter indicating how you meet the essential and desirable requirements for the positions.
· An example of independent written work such as a final year research project or essay.
The deadline for applications is 5pm 30th July, 2021 with interviews to be held on 10th August, 2021.
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