A*STAR Research Attachment Programme 2015

A*STAR Institutes, Singapore

Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences

Investigating the influence of acute and chronic pain on the perception of time

Dr Luke Jones & Professor Stuart Derbyshire

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore together with the University of Manchester is offering the opportunity to experience outstanding international PhD training in emerging areas of bioscience and medical research priority.

The A*STAR Research Attachment Programme (ARAP) enables students to spend two years in Manchester and two years in Singapore at a prestigious A*STAR Research Institute. Successful candidates will work with distinguished and renowned supervisors from A*STAR and Manchester, in vibrant research-intensive environments.

Prior research demonstrates that pain causes measurable time distortion in both clinical and non-clinical populations). It has been shown that increases in time estimation can correlate with the clinical estimate of pain severity, and that successfully treated patients estimates of time return towards normal. The attentional gate model (AGM) of time perception predicts that pain will cause individuals to overestimate the passage of time and pilot studies in our (A*STAR) laboratory have demonstrated overestimation in normal controls.

This PhD would involve developing methods to examine the influence of pain on time perception that are suitable for use with fMRI. The first year would be spent in Manchester working with Dr Luke Jones and Professor Sonja Kotz, where the successful candidate will receive training in methods used in the investigation of time perception and use of computer modelling to explore data collected from these methods. They will then devise and pilot the methods to be used in the fMRI phase of testing, which would be conducted in the Clinical Imaging Research Centre (CIRC) at the National University of Singapore, with Dr Stuart Derbyshire where they will spend years 2 and 3.

They will then return to Manchester for the fourth and final year to write up the thesis and prepare journal articles, plus the last phase of the project would be to apply the findings to the possible investigation of distortions of time perception in chronic pain patients.

This 4-year full-time studentship provides full support for UK/EU tuition fees, training costs and an annual minimum tax-free stipend at RCUK rates (currently £13, 863). The project is due to commence October 2015 and is open to UK/EU nationals only due to the nature of the funding.

Applicants should hold (or expect to obtain) a minimum upper-second honours degree (or equivalent) in a related medical, biological, physics or psychological science. A Masters degree in a similar discipline would be beneficial as would previous experience of some of the techniques referenced above.

Details on the application process and further information on the A*STAR-Manchester scheme can be found on our website:

www.singaporeastar.manchester.ac.uk/

Interested individuals are strongly recommended to contact Dr Jones prior to submitting an application to establish suitability for the project as well as gain further information on the planned research (luke.jones<στο>manchester.ac.uk).

www.psych-sci.manchester.ac.uk/staff/LukeJones

Applications should be submitted online by 5pm, Friday 23 January 2015. Interviews will be held in Manchester during February 2015.