20 July 2007

The target start date is 1 October 2007

A PhD position is available in the Division of Psychology at Newcastle University under the supervision of Dr. Quoc Vuong. The Division of Psychology is one of the premier Psychology groupings in the UK, having scored the highest ratings in both research (RAE 2001: 5*) and teaching (QAA Subject Review 24/24 points). The successful candidate will join the Systems Neuroscience and Human Perception and Cognition Groups within a lively and very friendly environment. The broad goal of the project is to investigate the neural mechanisms involved in learning shape and motion cues for visual object recognition, but the specific project will depend on the interests and experience of the successful applicant. The project combines human psychophysics and functional brain imaging. Candidates should have a strong interest in vision and its neural bases, and experience in psychophysics or fMRI is desirable. Some programming experience (e.g., Matlab, C) will be beneficial.

The studentship, which is financed by Newcastle University, is open to UK applicants with a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours Degree (or Masters degree in an appropriate discipline), and EU applicants with an equivalent level of academic qualification. The position will be supported for 3 years, including a stipend starting at £12,300 per annum, as well as tuition fees for a home/EU student of approximately £3,170 per annum. Non-EU applicants are eligible to apply, but will need to self-fund the difference between EU and International Student Fees. Please send by email or post a CV, at least 2 academic references, and a cover letter stating how your interests and experience relate to the project. For non-native English speakers, please also include a copy of your English qualifications if possible.