Vacancies

Lab culture

Recently, I was involved in a collaborative effort to create a list of '10 simple rules' for creating a supportive lab environment. I endeavour to follow these rules in my role as a PI. You can find the Authors' Accepted Manuscript of this paper here.

Research Assistant (RA)

I currently have no funding for RAs, and do not believe that it is equitable to offer research assistantships that are unfunded or honorary, because I believe this contributes to some of the inequalities in academia. I am, however, always keen to listen to ideas for obtaining funding for RAs, and it might be worth noting schemes such as the BAP summer research internship scheme.

PhD

The funding deadlines for autumn 2023 have now mostly passed. If you are interested in starting your PhD in the lab from Autumn 2024 onwards, please email me!. In particular, I'm looking for students who are a) enthusiastic about mental health research, and b) excited to explore new cognitive neuroscience techniques (Note: coding experience isn't necessary!).

PhD funding

To embark on a PhD most students need external funding (and, indeed, I would always recommend obtaining some). I have no funded positions at the moment, but there are plenty of options listed on the York Psychology Department funding webpage. I'm always happy to talk through funding options with potential students.

Application process

Please check the York Psychology Department funding webpage for the most up-to-date information and deadlines. Here is some information about how the process works at York if you want to be supervised by me:
  1. First, it would be great if you could send me some details of your interests and your research experience. This doesn’t need to be a formal CV, but can be a list of experiences and the corresponding skills you’ve learnt. This might include any research projects you’ve done, the courses you took as an undergraduate/MSc student, and any work experience you have. I recognise that not every undergraduate course offers research experience - so if that’s the case, please just say so, and highlight experiences you have had that use similar skills (such as report-writing, coding, teamwork, time management, data management).
  2. If there’s a good fit between our interests, we have a zoom meeting and discuss potential project options.
  3. If we decide to proceed, we together identify a second supervisor (as I am a new member of staff, all my PhD students will have a second supervisor who is more experienced).
  4. You prepare a draft research proposal (by the end of November).
  5. We work together to refine the proposal, normally by early-mid December.
  6. York requires candidates to be offered a place by the department before they can be entered into any funding competitions. To do this, you need to have passed an interview with other members of staff in the Department by early January (at the latest).
  7. Depending on which funding stream you are applying for, you complete the relevant online forms by the deadline, which is typically in January. Some more details on funding streams are listed on the York Psychology Department funding webpage but I can also talk the options through with you on zoom. Note that if you’re applying for the departmental studentships you are typically required to also apply for the White Rose DTP AQM award. It's also worth noting that relatively few of the options include funding for international students, other than the China Scholarships Council studentships and the ESRC White Rose DTP studentships.
  8. Applicants are often then interviewed in February, with outcomes available in March. Again, note that if you get the AQM award you must accept that in preference to the departmental studentships (this just means that the department can support more PhD students!).
If you have any questions about this process please do reach out.

Postdoc

I currently have funding for a 23-month postdoc - see this post for the job advert!. I would also be very happy to support fellowship applications for a postdoc to be part of the lab - please email me!