Subject overview

Programmes

• PhD in Neuroscience
• MPhil in Neuroscience

Our research activities are aimed at understanding the structure, function and development of the nervous system, and the causes of various neurological disorders.

We focus on:

• neurogenerative diseases
• the molecular and cellular mechanisms of learning and memory
• hearing research.

Our research activities are funded by course and project grants from the Wellcome Trust, the MRC and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Projects falling within the range of faculty research interests can be considered.

Research projects are initiated in the first year of study. There is an initial emphasis on learning techniques, and School of Life Sciences Graduate Training Programme methods modules run concurrently with research projects. We encourage collaborative projects between laboratories. This enables you to experience a wide range of techniques and the development of projects that best suit your talents and interests.

Throughout your degree, as part of your intellectual development, you are expected to take part in laboratory meetings and journal clubs and to attend a weekly seminar series. You are also encouraged to attend the broader seminars in the School that cover a wide variety of biological subjects. All students are encouraged to attend and present their work at national and international scientific meetings.

Career development is an important part of our courses. The development of research and transferable skills is supported by the Sussex Postgraduate Skills Programme, which runs a large number of short skills modules, including interview skills, time management, oral presentations and thesis writing.

Recent thesis titles

An in vitro eletrophysiological analysis of associative long-term memory

Comparison of tonotopic gradients of basolateral potassium currents in inner hair cells of gerbils, guinea pigs and mice

Computational modelling of the feeding central pattern generator in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis

Defensive colouration and behaviour in juvenile common cuttlefish

Development of the giant fibre system of Drosophila melanogaster

Effects of protein kinase inhibitors on hair bundle structure

Evolving dynamical system models of path integration

Functional maturation of mouse cochlea inner hair cells

Involvement of PKA and CREB in memory consolidation/reconsolidation after single-trial reward classical conditioning in Lymnaea stagnalis

NOS-related natural antisense transcripts: sequence analysis and characterisation of expansion

The hair cell antigen/ptprq: lipid phosphatase activity, intracellular domain interactors, apical targeting and evidence that it is a proteoglycan

The molecular basis of long-term memory formation

Use of inner ear-specific promoters to ectopically express Math 1 in vivo in the developing mouse cochlea

Using neural networks for the adaptive control of movements: an investigation into the problem of interference in distributed feedforward networks

Visual perception and camouflage of the common cuttlefish

Entry requirements

MPhil in Neuroscience

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Additional admissions information

If you are a non-EEA student you must obtain clearance by the UK Government Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for this degree. Please ensure you allow sufficient time for your university application to be considered and processed in time for you to apply for ATAS clearance and your Tier 4 visa.

PhD in Neuroscience

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Additional admissions information

If you are a non-EEA student you must obtain clearance by the UK Government Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for this degree. Please ensure you allow sufficient time for your university application to be considered and processed in time for you to apply for ATAS clearance and your Tier 4 visa.

Visas and immigration

Find out more about Visas and immigration.

For more information about the admissions process at Sussex

For pre-application enquiries:

Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

For post-application enquiries:

Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk 

Related subjects

• Biochemistry and molecular biology
• Chemistry
• Evolution, behaviour and environment
• Genome damage and stability

Fees and funding

Fees

MPhil in Neuroscience

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

PhD in Neuroscience

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

Funding

The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.

Faculty interests

Professor Paul Benjamin Memory formation and decision-making. Neural and circuit-level analysis of phases of memory. 

Dr Majid Hafezparast, Hafezparast Laboratory Defects in axonal transport have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases including motor neuron disease. We use a number of mouse models and motor neurons differentiated from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the role of defective axonal transport in the pathogenesis of motor neuron disease. 

Professor George Kemenes, Kemenes Laboratory Despite the long evolutionary distance and obvious differences in body design and behaviour, there are remarkable similarities between the molecular mechanisms underlying associative learning in vertebrate and invertebrate animals. 

Dr Sergei Korneev Regulation of gene expression in the brain. Investigating the role of natural antisense transcripts that are expressed in the CNS. 

Professor Corné Kros Physiology of inner ear sensory hair cells. Understanding how hair cells turn sound into electrical signals. 

Dr Mark Maconochie Inner ear development. How the mammalian inner ear is generated from a small patch of ectoderm during development. 

Dr Jeremy Niven The biophysical basis of energy-information trade-offs in the evolution of neural circuits. Vision in insects from biophysics to behaviour. 

Professor Michael O’Shea Cellular and molecular mechanisms in ‘simple’ neuronal networks. Using multi-electrode arrays (MEAs), we investigate the elemental mechanisms underlying decision-making and memory formation in defined neural circuits in the simpler CNS of Lymnaea. 

Professor Guy Richardson FRS, Richardson Laboratory Our work is concerned with understanding how the inner ear works and develops, and with unravelling some of the many causes of deafness and balance disorders. 

Dr Kevin Staras, Staras Laboratory Chemical synapses are the key sites for transmission of information around neuronal networks in the brain. We look at the operational properties of synapses in circuits of hippocampal neurons. The research has major implications for current models of neuron-neuron communication and for understanding forms of plasticity underlying learning and memory.  

Related research centres 

Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR) 

The cross-discipline synergy between computer science and neuroscience holds the key to future developments in robotics and artificial intelligence. It will lead to a better understanding of how the brain works and promises biomedical advances of enormous benefit. The CCNR links physical and biological sciences and places Sussex in a powerful position at the forefront of an emerging and increasingly important interdisciplinary field.

Confocal and Electron Microscopy 

We have state-of-the-art facilities for miscroscopy. Refer to School of Life Sciences: Facilities and resources.

Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science (SCCS) 

Founded in 2010 with a generous donation from the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation, SCCS represents a new and multidisciplinary approach to clinical intervention and diagnosis, based on the science of the complex brain networks that give rise to consciousness.  

Careers and perspectives

Our graduates have gone on to careers in Higher Education and research, and hold roles such as lecturer, research associate and research fellow.

School and contacts