###Doctoral Training Programme, University of Nottingham.
Supervisors:
Sue Francis, Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre
Denis Schluppeck, School of Psychology
We are looking to recruit a highly motivated PhD student to study “Somatotopic maps and their renormalisation in patients”. The project will combine state-of-the art anatomical and functional MRI at 7 T and advanced data analysis methods. In particular, we aim to measure (a) the topographic organization of human somatosensory cortex (at the scale of a millimetre), (b) the relationship of these maps to columnar and laminar structures (which are fractions of a millimetre), and (c) how these structures are re-organized over time (plastically) in the brains of patients with sensory loss.
Our group has recently been awarded a £690,000 collaborative MRC grant to develop this work using 7 T MRI, so the student will be able to benefit from our clinical and non-clinical collaborations at Nottingham, Liverpool, Gothenburg, Aix-Marseille, and North Carolina.
Candidates should hold a degree in a relevant field such as neuroscience, psychology, physiology, physics, computer science or a related discipline. We are looking for a highly motivated individual with a general interest in sensory perception, attention and/or decision making. Candidates should have excellent quantitative skills, including a background in computing (preferably Matlab or C/C++), as well as mathematical and technical skills. Experience with neuroimaging, in particular acquisition and analysis of functional MRI data, is a plus.
This is a 3-year funded position available from the 1st of September 2015 and the person appointed will be expected to start no later than 1st October 2015. Standard Research Council stipend rates will apply (£14,210 in 2015/16).
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Susan Francis, [Email: susan.francis@nottingham.ac.uk] or Dr Denis Schluppeck [Email: denis.schluppeck@nottingham.ac.uk].
Further details about the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre and the School of Psychology are available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/psychology and http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/spmic/