A fully funded 3-year PhD studentship (awarded jointly by the ESRC and
MRC) is available in the research group led by Dr. Bhismadev
Chakrabarti (http://sites.google.com/site/bhisma). Research in this
group focuses on the individual differences in emotion processing,
using a variety of experimental techniques (e.g. behaviour,
psychophysiology, fMRI). This project will investigate psychological
and genetic variation underlying reward processing.This is of
particular relevance to Autism Spectrum Conditions, which is
associated with atypical processing of certain kinds of rewards. The
project will be cosupervised by Dr.s Tom Johnstone and Claire
WIlliams.

Candidates must hold or expect to gain a very good degree in
neuroscience, experimental psychology, or a related numerate
discipline from a UK university, or an equivalent qualification if
obtained outside the UK.  A background in biology and/or statistics
would be ideal. Experience with computer programming (e.g. Matlab)
would be preferred.

To be eligible for the full-cost award, candidates should have:

a) home (UK/EU) fee status, and

b) (for non-UK citizens only) should have been ordinarily resident in
the UK for at least three years. Candidates whose native language is
not English and who did not undertake their undergraduate course in
English would be expected to demonstrate proficiency in English by
taking the IELTS/TOEFL test.

All candidates are requested to send in a cover letter including names
of two referees and a copy of their CV by 25th June, 2010 to Dr.
Claire Williams ([log in to unmask]; School Director of
Research Students), School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences,
University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AL.
Please mention the following text in the subject line : 'ESRC MRC PhD
Studentship Application 2010'. For any queries about this position,
please write to Dr. Bhismadev Chakrabarti at [log in to unmask]
Shortlisted candidates will be informed by 1st July, and interviewed
in the following week. This position will start in October 2010, and
will last for three years.

The Department of Psychology at Reading (www.reading.ac.uk/pcls) has a
thriving research community with more than 30 academic staff, and over
50 PhD students. It houses the newly built Centre for Integrative
Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN, http://www.reading.ac.uk/cinn),
with a 3T Siemens Trio MRI scanner, with inbuilt eye-tracking and
psychophysiological equipment.