About the Project
This project aims firstly to develop and validate a novel smartphone application for the assessment of both acute and chronic stress during everyday life. Secondly, the project will utilise this application to investigate associations between stress and eating behaviour. The work will be undertaken over a three year period in a series of studies, based on: reviewing existing measures of stress; development and validation of a smartphone application; and the investigation of eating behaviours in relation to acute and chronic stress.
The work will result in a novel and validated smartphone application for the measurement of stress during everyday life, of potential use and benefit for a range of academic researchers. The validation will also result in increased understanding of the relationships between subjective, implicit and objective measures of stress. Secondly, the work will extend current understanding of the links between stress and eating behaviour, with the aim of increasing understanding, developing future interventions, and improving population health. The work will be of interest to all those with an interest in improved health, both from a stress perspective and from a healthy eating perspective. To improve the societal impact of the project, the work will be undertaken following recruitment of individuals from workplace settings, and may be extended to include individuals with diagnosed stress-related and anxiety disorders (dependent on contacts). A wide variety of health and human resource professionals and professional bodies, and the population as a whole will benefit from increased understanding of stress, the relations between stress and eating behaviour and diet, and the evidence for possible future interventions. The findings of the project could result in an extension of the application for personal use, and for the development of interventions.
Candidates for funded PhD studentship must demonstrate outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 3 years.
Fully-funded studentship candidates must demonstrate outstanding academic potential with preferably a 1st class honours degree and/or a Master’s degree with distinction or equivalent Grade Point Average. An IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum (with a minimum 5.5 in each component) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first language.
Eligibility criteria: Candidates for a PhD Studentship should demonstrate outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 3 years. For fully funded studentship candidates must demonstrate outstanding academic potential with preferably a 1st class honours degree and/or a Master’s degree with distinction or equivalent Grade Point Average. An IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum (with a minimum 5.5 in each component) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first language. In addition to satisfying basic entry criteria, BU will look closely at the qualities, skills and background of each candidate and what they can bring to their chosen research project in order to ensure successful completion.
Additional Eligibility: Honours and/or Masters Degrees must be in an appropriate discipline: Psychology, Nutrition, Public Health, Cognitive Science, Human Computer Interaction or Computing. Prior knowledge of smartphone application development is not required, but some computing experience would be desirable.
The successful candidate must be able to take up the post in Bournemouth on Monday 22nd January, 2018.
Funding Notes
Funded candidates will receive a maintenance grant of £14,000 (unless otherwise specified) per annum, to cover their living expenses and have their fees waved for 36 months. In addition, research costs, including field work and conference attendance, will be met.
Funded Studentships are open to both UK/EU and international students unless otherwise specified.