3-year PhD Studentship
To commence June 2025
Application submission deadline: Sunday 09 February 2025 (23:59 GMT)
The NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is offering one fully funded 3-year PhD studentship within the Child Mental Health and Neurodevelopmental Disorders research theme. The studentship is jointly funded by the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London.
Are you interested in finding new ways to understand mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions in children and young people? Then this could be the PhD for you! We are seeking a talented and highly motivated individual to undertake a fully funded and innovative 3-year PhD programme to study the neurobiological underpinnings of clinical phenotypes in a large-scale, real-world population (please refer to the project details below). The successful candidate will have strong quantitative training from any science background, a strong desire to generate translatable research that may benefit children and young people, and either previous experience in or a strong desire to learn about statistical and neuroimaging analysis using programming.
About our PhD Studentships
The BRC’s aim is to pioneer multidisciplinary translational research and experimental medicine in the areas of mental health, the mind-body interface, and neuroscience.
To achieve this, we will select the best students and provide them with excellent training, tailored flexibly to their individual needs and interests. We will equip them with the intellectual and technical skills that are needed for the future of translational research and complement this with key transferable skills to ensure that they emerge as well-rounded scientists, prepared for their next career stage.
Our excellent clinical setting will ensure all students benefit from an understanding of the context of their research and produce scientists with a strong translational ethos.
Our Partners
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is the UK’s largest NHS mental health service provider with a long history of involvement in translational research and training in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London.
The IoPPN is the largest academic community in Europe dedicated to the study, treatment and prevention of mental health problems and neurodegenerative disease. It is the world’s leading centre for mental health research in terms of citations of our publications. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework the IoPPN was judged to have a 100% 'outstanding' (4*) world leading research environment. The impact of its research outside academia scored 92% 'outstanding' (4*) and 8% 'very considerable' (3*).
The IoPPN offers excellent opportunities for research training in basic and clinical science across the mental health spectrum including its interface with physical health, precision psychiatry, novel therapeutics and translational informatics. Studying at the IoPPN, you will benefit from world class research and clinical facilities plus internationally recognised supervisors.
We continuously strive to be an inclusive, culturally aware and culturally competent organisation that respects the differences of our community by providing an environment that both acknowledges and celebrates diversity and embraces inclusion.
Important: Before applying for this studentship, please read the information provided under the headings below.
The application deadline is 23:59 GMT on Sunday 09 February 2025.
Interviews are planned to take place during the week commencing 10 March 2025. Day and times to be confirmed.
Supervisors
Professor Gráinne McAlonan
Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
Email: Grainne.McAlonan@kcl.ac.uk
Website: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/grainne.mcalonan
Dr Charlotte Pretzsch,
Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
Email: Charlotte.Pretzsch@kcl.ac.uk
Website: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/charlotte.m.pretzsch
Dr Ashwin Venkataraman
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
Brain Health Clinic, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Email: Ash.Venkataraman@kcl.ac.uk
Website: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/ashwin-venkataraman
Professor Christine Ecker
Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
Email: Christine.Ecker@kcl.ac.uk
Website: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/christine-ecker
Project Description
Background: Treatment of neurological, psychiatric, and mental health conditions frequently involves a trial-and-error process. During this process, patients are often subjected to a wealth of negative/unwanted side effects; and ineffective medication can negatively affect quality of life and incur significant costs to medical services and society as a whole. Consequently, increasing efforts are directed towards the identification of biological markers (biomarkers) that may predict/indicate an individual’s response to a given intervention. For example, we have carried out a range of studies examining the brain’s response to drug challenge of key neurosignalling systems involved in neuropsychiatric conditions (e.g., GABA, 5-HT, Cannabinoids, μ-opioid). However, these efforts are hampered by the significant neurobiological heterogeneity within and across conditions. Hence, before we can establish biomarkers and link them to efficient treatment strategies, we need to characterise individuals’ neurobiological heterogeneity. This is now possible due to the development of novel and innovative imaging-genetics approaches that enable us to study typical and altered brain maturation; and link this to biological pathways.
In this project, you will have the opportunity to learn and apply these novel approaches to study real-world populations of young adults with a range of neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions. Specifically, you will learn how to analyse brain structure and brain structural development using various neuroanatomical features. You will also link variation in these features to various molecular processes, cell-types, and drug pathways using state-of-the-art imaging-transcriptomics methodology; and to clinical profiles.
Novelty: Previous studies examining neuroanatomy and its relationship to biological pathways and clinical profiles have often been limited to predominantly white, middle class, male, homogeneous participants. In the proposed study, you will examine neurobiological and clinical phenotypes in an ethnically diverse population with high social deprivation and a wealth of different diagnoses. Thus, this study may provide novel insights into a previously highly underexamined, real-world population.
Aim: Leverage neuroimaging-transcriptomics approaches to characterise neurobiological profiles in a real-world population; and link these profiles to clinical features, including treatment response.
Methods and project plan: In this project, you will have expedited access to a world-wide unique, large and clinically diverse dataset of >2000 individuals (ages 6-30 years): SLaM Image Bank. This sample is an exceptionally rich real-world cohort that includes both high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging and clinical data. SLaM Image Bank reflects the diversity of the population of South London, including ethnically diverse and deprived populations with multiple neuropsychiatric and systemic co-morbidities.
Year 1
- Complete compulsory and bespoke training, including in neuroimaging analysis
- Collate data, quality checks, management of missing data values
- Characterize individuals’ neuroanatomy (imaging-derived phenotypes) accounting for individual variability (e.g., in age, sex, etc.)
Year 2
- Link neuroanatomical information to genomic correlates using imaging-transcriptomics
- Use previously developed approaches and the Allen Human Brain Atlas to ‘decode’ IDPs, i.e., to test association between IDPs and genes involved in specific biological pathways, cell-types etc.
Year 3
- Examine how IDP-gene associations relate to clinical profiles
- Test if IDP enrichment for drug pathways is associated with/predictive of drug response
Planned skills training
- Basic programming skills (R, Matlab, etc.)
- Analysis and quality control of neuroimaging data
- Application of neuroimaging and imaging-transcriptomics approaches
- Academic writing, presentation, and publication skills
- Transferrable skills (e.g., critical thinking, time management etc.)
Expected outputs: The results of your study may help to pave a way for translational and scalable neuroimaging-informed discovery of pharmacological precision-medicine approaches in neurotypical and neurodiverse populations. The project is expected to result in ~3 peer-reviewed publications, and oral/poster presentations at both national and international conferences.
Key publications
- Bridge-building between communities: Imagining the future of biomedical autism research. doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.08.004
- Automated brain image analysis in dementia using artificial intelligence: a roadmap for the development of clinical tools. org/10.31219/osf.io/myuq7
- Patterns of Brain Maturation in Autism and Their Molecular Associations. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.3194
- Interindividual Differences in Cortical Thickness and Their Genomic Underpinnings in Autism Spectrum Disorder. org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.200506
Award
Funding is available for:
- One 3-year PhD studentship to commence June 2025.
The award covers:
- Full Home rate tuition fees;
- A stipend (currently £21,237 per year);
- A contribution towards training, conference attendance and research costs.
Overseas applicants may apply but will need to cover the difference in tuition fees.
Fee status guidance - Home or Overseas?
Determining whether you are classified as home or overseas depends on whether you meet certain criteria. These criteria are set by the Government’s Department for Education. To be classed as a home student, applicants usually fit into one of the following categories, subject to residency requirements being met:
- be a UK national (meeting residency requirements)
- have settled status
- have pre-settled status
- have indefinite leave to remain or enter.
For full details of all the different categories of student who can be classified as home, please read UKCISA guidance, including the explanatory information provided in this PDF guide.
If you do not fit into one of these categories, you are most likely classified as overseas.
For Stage One of the application process please self-identify your fee status as best you can using the guidance and links provided above. If you progress to Stage Two, your fee status will be fully assessed and confirmed by KCL Admissions.
Entry Requirements
The programme is very competitive and applicants must have, or be predicted to obtain at least a 2.1 or equivalent overseas qualification in a relevant science subject.
Students who do not meet the above primary criteria may apply if they satisfy the following conditions:
- A 2.2 BSc degree and a MSc in a relevant subject with Merit or Distinction.
- A 2.1 or higher non-science first degree (BA) and a MSc in a relevant subject with Merit or Distinction.
English Language
Applicants for these studentships must meet the King's College London Band D English language requirements. Any offer you are made will be conditional upon you meeting these requirements prior to enrolment.
Further information is available on the King's College London English language entry requirements page.
Strengthening our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
In line with the NIHR's national strategy we aim to:
- foster an inclusive environment
- engage the talents and energy of diverse people in all areas of our work
- improve the relevance and quality of our research
To do this we will widen access for greater diversity and inclusion of applicants across under-represented groups. This includes, but is not restricted to gender and sexuality, diverse racial and ethnic groups, people from different geographical regions of varied socio-economic backgrounds, people with disabilities or lived experience of mental health issues.
People with lived experience of neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions are actively encouraged to apply.
You will benefit from the wide range of training and support offered by King's College London to its postgraduate research students.
Maudsley BRC students are members of the NIHR Academy and have access to resources and training opportunities provided nationally through the Academy and wider NIHR infrastructure.
Applying to this programme is a three-stage process.
Stage One
To apply for this studentship at Stage One please send the following to Dr Charlotte Pretzsch (Charlotte.Pretzsch@kcl.ac.uk) by
23:59 GMT on Sunday 09 February 2025:
- CV – including both educational and professional history;
- Personal statement – on why you are interested in this project;
- Brief statement (200 words max) outlining prior experience with statistical analysis, neuroimaging analysis, programming, and coding (not essential but desirable);
- Two supporting references - see below.
Academic references – all applications require two supporting references written on the referees' formal institutional headed notepaper. If the applicant is relying on their referees to submit a reference directly to the College, the applicant must ensure that (1) their chosen referees are made aware of the application deadline and (2) that each reference is sent from an institutional email address.
Potential applicants are welcome to email Dr Charlotte Pretzsch (Charlotte.Pretzsch@kcl.ac.uk) for more information regarding the project.
Stage Two
- Successful candidates will be invited to attend a panel interview.
Interviews are planned for week commencing 10 March 2024. Day and times to be confirmed.
Following interviews, candidates will be contacted via email and informed of the outcome of their interview. The successful candidate will be required to complete Stage Three.
Stage Three
- The successful candidate will be asked to submit a Project Approval Form (PAF) and an on-line application via King’s Apply where final checks on academic qualifications, English language requirements and fee status will be made.
Both the PAF and on-line application will need to be submitted by 11 April 2025.
Providing all checks at Stage Three are successful, the candidate will be sent a formal offer letter confiirming their programme of study and funding.
Further Information
For more information about the project, please email Dr Charlotte Pretzsch: Charlotte.Pretzsch@kcl.ac.uk
For questions regarding the studentship or application process, please email maudsley.brc@kcl.ac.uk
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