[visionlist] Funded PhD at Cardiff University in collaboration with UCL and University of Wisconsin-Madison on Brain Complexity and Consciousness

[Chen Song]

*PhD Project: Brain Complexity and Consciousness*

*Application Deadline: Feb 23, 2018*

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship to work with Dr. Chen Song
<https://www.braincomplexity.com/> and Prof. Derek Jones
<http://psych.cf.ac.uk/contactsandpeople/jonesd27.php> at Cardiff
University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), one of Europe’s largest
brain research centres, in collaboration with Prof. Geraint Rees
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraint_Rees> at University College London
and Prof. Giulio Tononi <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Tononi> at
University of Wisconsin-Madison. This PhD studentship offers an excellent
opportunity for candidates interested in the broad area of brain imaging,
neuroscience, and/or consciousness research, to conduct research on the
following topics:

   - *Brain complexity* - how different brain regions differ structurally,
   how their structural differences underpin their functional differences,
   whether the empirically-observed function of a brain region is what the
   structure of this brain region is theoretically optimal for;
   - *Mapping between brain complexity and consciousness* - how different
   individuals differ in their brain structure, how the inter-individual
   differences in brain structure affect brain function, and lead to
   inter-individual differences in perception and cognition;
   - *Brain plasticity* - how learning and sleep interact to change brain
   structure and function, whether different mechanisms of brain plasticity
   may be at play during wake versus sleep, and whether the contrast between
   the two may hold key to our intelligence and consciousness.

See some of our recent work on these topics at: Schwarzkopf et al. Nature
Neuroscience 2010 <https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2706>; Song et al.
Journal of Neuroscience 2011
<http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/26/9472.long>; Song et al. Journal of
Neuroscience 2013 <http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/48/18781.long>; Song
et al. Nature Communications 2013
<https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3201>; Tononi et al. Neuron 2014
<http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(13)01186-0>; Song et al.
Neuron 2015 <http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(14)01150-7>; Tononi
et al. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2016
<https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2016.44>; Song et al. Journal of
Neuroscience 2017 <http://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/37/8929.long>; or a
summary at: http://www.braincomplexity.com/research.


The successful applicant will be able to use the *£44M cutting-edge brain
imaging facilities at CUBRIC* to acquire multi-modal brain measures
(structural, metabolic, electrical, chemical), and link the empirical data
to theories on brain complexity and consciousness (integrated information
theory), sleep and cognition (synaptic homeostasis hypothesis). As one of
Europe’s largest brain research centres, CUBRIC hosts:

   - one of the only three Connectom MRI scanners in the world, specially
   designed for measuring brain microstructure and connectomics;
   - one 7T MRI scanner, two 3T MRI scanners, one MEG scanner, three EEG
   labs, five TMS labs;
   - six sleep study bedrooms built to clinical standard.

The studentship is open to UK/EU/international students; it covers the full
tuition fee (at UK/EU level) and an annual stipend of £14,553. Please
contact Dr. Chen Song at SongC5 at cardiff.ac.uk for any enquiries, or see
application details at http://psych.cf.ac.uk/degre
eprogrammes/postgraduate/research/docs/school_song.pdf.
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