PhD Scholarship Brain Training in Huntington's Disease

Remuneration:This position will be subject to the PhD candidate securing a Monash stipend scholarship which is Annual living allowance based on Monash University's Research Training Program (RTP), stipend of $27,872 per annum (2019 rate – indexed annually)

Announcing an exciting opportunity for a PhD student to work with individuals with Huntington's disease on a cognitive brain training study. Huntington's disease is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that impacts on motor functioning, behavioural-emotional regulation, and cognitive functioning. Because of the importance of normal cognitive functioning for daily life, effective strategies that can preserve cognitive function in patients with Huntington's disease are critical. Computerised cognitive training (popularly known as 'brain training') is a safe and efficacious intervention to improve and maintain cognition in people with brain disorders. This project is the first to investigate whether cognitive training can improve brain function in individuals with Huntington's disease. We will use functional MRI to assess the function of the brain before and after brain training. This novel approach may be beneficial in terms of delaying clinical onset of disease and increasing quality of life. The student will utilise the purpose-built MRI facilities at the Monash Biomedical Imaging centre in Clayton, and have the opportunity to learn a range of techniques, including cognitive training, brain imaging, whole-brain connectome analysis and neuropsychological testing. Funding has already been secured for all the scanning costs related to this.

A prospective PhD student interested in this opportunity must have outstanding undergraduate results, together with a strong first class Honours degree or postgraduate degree in psychology, clinical neuroscience or related disciplines or Masters by Research. The student will be based within the Experimental Neuropsychology Research Unit, with supervision from Professor Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis (Monash University) and co-supervision from Dr Amit Lampit (University of Melbourne).

Email your interest to Professor Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis at nellie. georgiou-karistianis@monash.