About the programme
The ECOLOGICAL BRAIN DTP brings together supervisors from several disciplines including psychology, neuroscience, architecture, computer science, engineering, education and geography sharing the view that to explain the richness of human experiences it is critical to understand how humans operate in the real-world. The DTP aims to equip the next generation of scientists in harnessing and further developing new methods and technologies - part of the digital revolution - to measure behaviour and brain activity in the wild, to bring real-world complexity into the lab and to analyse the wealth of data these methods produce.
The ECOLOGICAL BRAIN DTP is a 4-year PhD programme. Applications to our programme are invited annually. You do not need to have studied at UCL previously to apply, and the programme will provide a fully funded research studentship to allow talented scientists to thrive in the high quality research environment at UCL. Students enrolled in the ECOLOGICAL BRAIN DTP work using cutting-edge technologies (e.g., VR, mobile recording), facilities (e.g., malleable environments such as PAMELA where the complexity of the real-world can be reproduced in the lab, or our scanning facilities at BUCNI) and methods for data analysis.
Four year training.
Year 1
Students undertake 3 rotations in their first year before choosing their PhD project. There is a pool of projects (which will be updated annually) to choose from and students have time in induction to meet with potential supervisors and decide on what they would like to do.
Years 2-4
Students select a primary and one or more secondary PhD supervisors and write a short project proposal prior to starting their PhD, for which they will be based in the home department of their primary supervisor.
Students should note that the list provided below is only exemplary.
Click here to download the example.
More and different projects will be available later.
Applications are now invited for a September 2020 start. All applicants must complete the standard UCL application form which can be found here: application form
For more information, including application guidelines, please click here.
The funding is available for the UK and EU students.
International students are not eligible for funding, however, we welcome applications from overseas candidates who are either self-funding or in receipt of an alternative funding source.
Applicants must hold, or be expected to achieve, a first or high upper second-class undergraduate honours degree (e.g. BA, BSc) or a Master’s degree (e.g. MRes, MSc), or the overseas equivalent, in a relevant subject.
All students whose first language is not English must be able to provide recent evidence that their spoken and written command of the English language is adequate for the programme according to UCL requirements. Applicants must achieve the level of ‘good’.
Please note that clinical subjects (e.g. psychiatric patient groups) can’t be studied in this PhD.
ecologicalbrain@ucl.ac.uk
The Ecological Brain HQ, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP
