SeNSS Collaborative Studentship - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Auditory Verbal Hallucinations - what should it be doing and how will we know when that’s happened? (2019)

What you get

A stipend of £14.777 p.a. UK/EU. PhD fees and research and training costs are also covered for 3 years.

This studentship is a 3 year SeNSS Collaborative Studentship funded by ESRC http://senss-dtp.ac.uk/applying-for-a-senss-collaborative-studentship/

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

Psychosis is a severe and distressing mental health condition that has serious consequences for patients and society. Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVH; also known as voice hearing experiences) are a core symptom of psychosis. The existing ‘gold standard’ psychological treatment for psychosis and AVH is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Despite evidence for its effectiveness, there is a lack of consensus about how to measure the outcomes of CBT for AVH. This can cause confusion for patients and clinicians and can impede informed choice and clinical decision-making.

This studentship will aim to clarify the outcomes for CBT of AVH through four interlocking objectives that will explore existing knowledge, patient and clinical perspectives and a large novel dataset. This PhD would particularly suit someone with an interest in pursuing a clinical academic career.

The project will also benefit from consultation by Dr Simon McCarthy Jones (Steering Committee Member, International Consortium on Hallucinations Research) who has an international reputation for his work on understandings of AVH.

Applicants: essential and/or desirable attributes/skills Applicants who have experience working in NHS services would have an advantage.

Eligibility

Open to Home/EU students that meet the Research Council UK residential eligibility criteria.  Further details can be found here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/doctoral/funding-support/south-east-network-social-sciences 

Number of scholarships available

1

Deadline

How to apply

This studentship may be taken as either a 1+3 year award (a one-year MSc followed by a three-year PhD), a +3 award (a three-year PhD).  Please see the following page for the list of eligible Masters courses: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/doctoral/funding-support/south-east-network-social-sciences

It may be taken full-time or part-time.

You will first need to make an application to the University of Sussex using our postgraduate application system. 

Your application should include the name of the primary supervisor (Prof. David Fowler).  In the funding section of your application form, please state you are applying for the SeNSS Collaborative studentship.

Your application should include:

• A research proposal that outlines your knowledge of the research area, hypotheses that could be addressed in your PhD, and an outline of potential methods.
• An up-to-date CV
• Current degree transcript(s) with full details of performance on all completed courses
• Two academic references

Applicants will also have to complete a SeNSS funding application via the Fluidreview system administered by SeNSS.  The School of Psychology will give applicants details of this process once the Sussex application has been submitted at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply

Funding partners

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Contact us

For queries with respect to the application process please send an email to the 'Postgraduate coordinator' (psychologyphd-enquiries@sussex.ac.uk).

To discuss the details of this PhD project further, please contact Professor David Fowler. (D.Fowler@sussex.ac.uk)

Timetable

The deadline for applications to Sussex is 23.59 GMT on 8th February 2019.