<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;" class="">Dear colleagues,</span><br class=""><div><p class="MsoCommentText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">I hope my email finds you well. I would be grateful if you could circulate the message below to potential interested candidates.</span></p><p class="MsoCommentText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="" style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;">***</span></p><p class="MsoCommentText" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">We have two research projects in vision and cognition to choose from for one PhD scholarship at Liverpool Hope University (UK). <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoCommentText" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">A synopsis for each of these two projects is reported below. This PhD position includes a part-time demonstrator/teaching role. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;" class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">Interested candidates for these projects are expected to have:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 38.25pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Symbol;">·<span class="" style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(51, 49, 50); background-color: white;">Excellent written and oral communication skills in English (for international students IELTS 6.5 written and spoken English).</span><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 38.25pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Symbol;">·<span class="" style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(51, 49, 50); background-color: white;">Good background in vision and cognition</span><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 38.25pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Symbol;">·<span class="" style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">Sound knowledge of research design and statistics.<b class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(51, 49, 50); background-color: white;">Programming skills (e.g., R or Matlab or Python) and previous experience with eye-tracking or VR techniques would be advantageous. </span><b class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><div style="text-align: justify;" class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoCommentText" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">Potential candidates are recommended to email Dr Letizia Palumbo (</span><a href="mailto:palumbl@hope.ac.uk" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">palumbl@hope.ac.uk</span></a><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">) to discuss the research proposal before applying.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">Further details about the post and how to apply can be found in the link below </span><b class=""><u class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">(deadline to apply: 15<sup class="">th</sup> May 2022)</span></u></b><u class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;">:</span></u><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/COO738/doctoral-studentship-inclusive-of-a-part-time-demonstrator-role-psychology" target="_blank" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: white;">https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/COO738/doctoral-studentship-inclusive-of-a-part-time-demonstrator-role-psychology</span></a><b class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><div style="text-align: justify;" class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><h4 class="" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><u class=""><strong class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(18, 62, 90); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm; font-weight: normal;">Project 1: </span></strong><em class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(18, 62, 90); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm; font-weight: normal;">Visual exploration of interior design in digital and virtual environments</span></em></u><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(18, 62, 90); font-weight: normal;"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></h4><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><strong class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Synopsis: </span></strong><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);">The day-to-day experience has been dramatically changed during COVID-19 pandemic including the increasing amount of time which we spend indoors. Research investigating the quality of aesthetic experience of interior space, and the conditions that may enhance or impoverish it in relation to individual differences is virtually non-existent. Our previous research at Liverpool Hope University has required ground-breaking technological and empirical advances to measure aesthetic experience in laboratory setting and efficacy through the proxy measure of eye-movements while walking through an art gallery. We can extend our methods to examine issues in relation to aesthetic experience of interior space that have, to date, never been examined. First, through the integration of eye-movement with virtual reality and other physiological measures (i.e., GSR and accelerometer), we aim to test whether properties of the environment may impact on how we process and experience interiors. Second, an understanding of these issues is required to explore individual differences. Especially, we are interested in how the structure and the properties of interior spaces may improve the experience a clinical population such as high functioning autism. Beside its theoretical value, in terms of real-world impact the proposed project contributes to the development of guidelines for interior designers.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);">Primary Supervisor: Dr Letizia Palumbo<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);">Co-Supervisors: Dr Tobiasz Trawinski, Dr Neil Harrison<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;" class=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><h4 class="" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><u class=""><strong class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(18, 62, 90); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm; font-weight: normal;">Project 2: </span></strong><em class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(18, 62, 90); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm; font-weight: normal;">Embodied mechanisms underpinning cognitive and emotional appraisal of tourist destinations</span></em></u><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(18, 62, 90); font-weight: normal;"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></h4><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><strong class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Synopsis:</span></strong><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);">Research evidence suggests that anticipation of a trip leads to significant psychological benefits of excitement and pleasure even before the holiday has begun (Gilbert & Abdullah, 2002). Hedonic responses elicited by browsing photos of potential tourist destinations often trigger an intention to visit that destination in the future. While the impact of naturalistic environments, cultural heritage, architecture or atmosphere, have been investigated in relation to hedonic responses (Harrison & Clark, 2020; Palumbo et al., 2020; Vartanian et al., 2021) and tourist destination choices (Szubert et al., 2021), other psychological mechanisms underpinning preferences for tourist destinations have been neglected. This project aims to investigate whether cognitive and emotional appraisals of tourist destination images may stem from a mechanism by which the observer is encouraged in embodying the tourist destination “as if” they were present in the observed place. This will be examined combining eye tracking, approach/avoidance tasks and physiological measures (GSR, accelerometer) in real and virtual environment. By examining sensory-motor and emotional experiences associated with the visual exploration of a place, this project will inform well-being and tourism stakeholders of what makes a destination attractive, hence contributing to relaunch the tourist sector greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);">Primary Supervisor: Dr Letizia Palumbo <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="" style="text-align: justify; background-color: white;"><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 49, 50);">Co-Supervisor: Dr Neil Harrison</span></p></div><br class=""></body></html>