Available
Project number:
2025_75
Start date:
October 2025
Project themes:
Main supervisor:
Reader in Behavioural Neuroscience and Mental Health
Co-supervisor:
Dr Thomas Spencer, Senior Lecturer in Early Intervention in Psychosis
Additional Information:
Using online gamified testing to identify early psychosis
Background
Predictive processing models suggest that the positive symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations and delusions, result from abnormal belief-updating processes. Belief-updating serves as a crucial indicator of altered dopamine function, a key factor in the development of psychosis. This can be assessed using behavioural tasks amenable to computational modelling, thus allowing for a mechanistic description of observed deficits. Belief-updating can be assessed online in the form of a computer game, enabling affordable, large-scale testing in a comfortable setting for participants, making it a promising prognostic marker to determine who is most at risk to develop psychosis.
Novelty & Importance
Identification of such a prognostic marker could help target preventative interventions more effectively to those most at risk.
Using gamified online assessments, our research group has collected belief-updating data from approximately 100 individuals at risk of psychosis. We are currently conducting follow-up interviews to assess clinical outcomes, with data collection scheduled for completion at the start of this PhD project. Combined, these datasets will form the basis of the PhD research.
Aims & Objectives
• Assess whether large-scale online assessment replicates preliminary laboratory-based findings of altered belief-updating in people at risk of psychosis.
• Use a transdiagnostic approach to distinguish which deficits are psychosis-specific and which are shared with the risk for other illnesses (e.g., depression, anxiety), and how the observed deficits vary with psychosis-risk factors.
• Determine whether the observed alterations are predictive of clinical outcomes
We are now accepting applications for 1 October 2025
How to apply
Candidates should possess or be expected to achieve a 1st or upper 2nd class degree in a relevant subject including the biosciences, computer science, mathematics, statistics, data science, chemistry, physics, and be enthusiastic about combining their expertise with other disciplines in the field of healthcare.
Important information for International Students:
It is the responsibility of the student to apply for their Student Visa. Please note that the EPSRC DRIVE-Health studentship does not cover the visa application fees or the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) required for access to the National Health Service. The IHS is mandatory for anyone entering the UK on a Student Visa and is currently £776 per year for each year of study. Further detail can be found under the International Students tab below.
Next Steps
- Applications submitted by the closing date of Thursday 30 January 2025 will be considered by the CDT. We will contact shortlisted applicants with information about this part of the recruitment process.
- Candidates will be invited to attend an interview. Interviews are projected to take place in March 2025.
- Project selection will be through a panel interview chaired by either Professor Richard Dobson and Professor Vasa Curcin (CDT Directors) followed by informal discussion with prospective supervisors.
- If you have any questions related to the specific project you are applying for, please contact the main supervisor of the project directly.
For any other questions about the recruitment process, please email us at
