PhD Studentships at the MRC CoRE in Restorative Neural Dynamics

The overarching goal of this PhD studentship is to develop, optimise, and implement closed-loop stimulation strategies that can enhance the oscillatory neural activities underpinning memory processing. We can already amplify specific oscillatory patterns by delivering stimulation based on their instantaneous power and phase. However, to fully exploit these approaches, they should be applied during the specific behavioural states (e.g., exploration, rest, sleep) associated with each oscillatory activity. For translation into therapeutic applications, this state-dependent control must be fully automated and resilient to artefacts introduced by the stimulation itself. Where phase-targeted stimulation is used, the optimal phase for achieving a specific outcome parameter will also need to be determined automatically. The student project will focus on integrating these approaches into a unified framework and testing them in behaving rodents, in collaboration with other members of the research team.

The project will take place in the Brain Network Dynamics Unit of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and in the Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Neural Dynamics (MRC CoRE RND). Students will benefit from the extensive interdisciplinary skills training and personalised career development opportunities available within the Unit and the MRC CoRE RND. Students will receive specialised training in their areas of project research (see below) as well as, for example, in the translation and commercialisation of research, best practice in Open Science, and how to effectively involve and engage patients and the public with research.

The studentship holder will receive training in the development and validation of closed-loop algorithms, and their implementation across a range of hardware platforms (e.g. FPGA, embedded processors). You will gain extensive skills in analysing neural data from behaving animals and will have the opportunity to develop expertise in performing high-density recordings in rodents performing cognitive tasks during electrical and/or optogenetic stimulation. As part of the wider team, you will also gain valuable insight into the development of neuromodulation approaches for clinical applications.

This four-year Ph.D. (D.Phil.) studentship offers three years of full-time tuition fees at the Home rate, and four years of non-taxable stipend at the full-time UKRI rate (including any uplifts announced). Both Home students and International students are eligible to receive this funding package. Please see further details about MRC/UKRI studentships and updated guidance regarding Home and International eligibility. Successful offer-holders who have applied by the December deadline may also be considered for other University of Oxford scholarships.

Interested candidates should possess, or expect to receive, a 1st class or upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in computer science, engineering or mathematics. Candidates with equivalent qualifications in biological/physical sciences or medicine and who can also demonstrate considerable programming experience will also be considered. Previous experience in neuroscience research is desirable.

Candidates must contact the lead project supervisor before submitting an application. To find out more about this studentship, the research project, and the application process, please contact Professor Andrew Sharott by email on andrew.sharott@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

To be considered for this studentship, please submit an application for admission to the D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (course code RD_CU1), following the guidance for applications to this course. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, please indicate that you are applying for a studentship and enter the reference code “26NDCN01MRC” into the funding tab.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday UK time on Tuesday 2nd December 2025.

The aim of this PhD project is to determine how modulating abnormal brain rhythms with phase-locked Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) can improve movement and sleep symptoms in people with Parkinson’s. The research will combine real-time brain signal processing with closed-loop stimulation to target beta rhythms during wakefulness and slow-wave activity during sleep. The studentship holder will work with people with Parkinson’s who have already received DBS, develop stimulation protocols using a computer-in-the-loop system, and help build software interfaces for implantable devices. Through collaboration with clinical and engineering teams, the project seeks to advance understanding of how brain rhythms relate to behaviour and how neuromodulation therapies can be better personalised.

The project will take place in the Brain Network Dynamics Unit of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and in the Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Neural Dynamics (MRC CoRE RND). Students will benefit from the extensive interdisciplinary skills training and personalised career development opportunities available within the Unit and the MRC CoRE RND. Students will receive specialised training in their areas of project research (see below) as well as, for example, in the translation and commercialisation of research, best practice in Open Science, and how to effectively involve and engage patients and the public with research.

You will receive advanced training in human neurophysiology, including recording and real-time processing of signals from within and outside the brain. You will gain hands-on experience with closed-loop brain stimulation systems and work directly with people with Parkinson’s, learning clinical research methods, behavioural testing, and sleep quantification. You will also be given opportunities to build skills in time-series analysis, machine learning, and software development for neurotechnology, including designing software interfaces for implantable devices.

This four-year Ph.D. (D.Phil.) studentship offers three years of full-time tuition fees at the Home rate, and four years of non-taxable stipend at the full-time UKRI rate (including any uplifts announced). Both Home students and International students are eligible to receive this funding package. Please see further details about MRC/UKRI studentships and updated guidance regarding Home and International eligibility. Successful offer-holders who have applied by the December deadline may also be considered for other University of Oxford scholarships.

Interested candidates should possess, or expect to receive, a 1st class or upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in a related scientific discipline, e.g. physical sciences, medicine, computer science, engineering or mathematics. Previous experience in neuroscience research is highly desirable.

Candidates must contact the lead project supervisor before submitting an application. To find out more about this studentship, the research project, and the application process, please contact Professor Huiling Tan by email on huiling.tan@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

To be considered for this studentship, please submit an application for admission to the D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (course code RD_CU1), following the guidance for applications to this course. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, please indicate that you are applying for a studentship and enter the reference code “26NDCN01MRC” into the funding tab.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday UK time on Tuesday 2nd December 2025.

The aim of this PhD studentship is to uncover the mechanisms by which oscillatory brain dynamics support memory in humans. The project will integrate high-density intracranial recordings, closed-loop stimulation, and multivariate analytical frameworks to monitor and manipulate hippocampal and connected neural circuits with high spatiotemporal precision. By leveraging these innovative techniques in human participants, the research will explore how medial temporal lobe oscillations reorganise during memory processes and develop targeted interventions to enhance memory and treat related disorders.

The project will take place in the Brain Network Dynamics Unit of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and in the Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Neural Dynamics (MRC CoRE RND). Students will benefit from the extensive interdisciplinary skills training and personalised career development opportunities available within the Unit and the MRC CoRE RND. Students will receive specialised training in their areas of project research (see below) as well as, for example, in the translation and commercialisation of research, best practice in Open Science, and how to effectively involve and engage patients and the public with research.

The project will build on a collaboration with neurologists and neurosurgeons at the University Hospital of Toulouse, France, where the Dupret laboratory is collaborating with Dr. Leila Reddy to conduct brain-wide intracranial tetrode recordings in human participants engaged in memory and inferential reasoning tasks. The studentship holder will harness cutting-edge methods for identifying, monitoring, and manipulating network oscillations and neuronal ensembles. You will receive advanced training in several of the following techniques: brain network electrophysiology, closed-loop systems, behavioural assays, and advanced data analysis.

This four-year Ph.D. (D.Phil.) studentship offers three years of full-time tuition fees at the Home rate, and four years of non-taxable stipend at the full-time UKRI rate (including any uplifts announced). Both Home students and International students are eligible to receive this funding package. Please see further details about MRC/UKRI studentships and updated guidance regarding Home and International eligibility. Successful offer-holders who have applied by the December deadline may also be considered for other University of Oxford scholarships.

Interested candidates should possess, or expect to receive, a 1st class or upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in a related scientific discipline such as biological or physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, medicine, or computer science. Previous experience in neuroscience research is desirable. The ability to interact in French with human participants is also highly valuable, given the collaborative nature of the project with clinical teams in France.

Candidates must contact the lead project supervisor before submitting an application. To find out more about this studentship, the research project, and the application process, please contact Professor David Dupret by email on david.dupret@bndu.ox.ac.uk.

To be considered for this studentship, please submit an application for admission to the D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (course code RD_CU1), following the guidance for applications to this course. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, please indicate that you are applying for a studentship and enter the reference code “26NDCN01MRC” into the funding tab.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday UK time on Tuesday 2nd December 2025.

The goal of this PhD studentship is to advance our understanding of how activity within cortico-basal ganglia circuits contributes to specific motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s. These insights will inform the development of novel DBS strategies designed to normalise circuit dysfunction underlying individual symptoms. To achieve this, we will collect clinical and neurophysiological data from patients implanted with sensing-enabled DBS devices. Cortical activity, sleep, movement, and gait will be monitored using electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and wearable sensors. Advanced signal processing and machine learning methods will then be applied to identify biomarkers and to design targeted stimulation paradigms, which will be tested with patients.

The project will take place in the Brain Network Dynamics Unit of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and in the Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Neural Dynamics (MRC CoRE RND). Students will benefit from the extensive interdisciplinary skills training and personalised career development opportunities available within the Unit and the MRC CoRE RND. Students will receive specialised training in their areas of project research (see below) as well as, for example, in the translation and commercialisation of research, best practice in Open Science, and how to effectively involve and engage patients and the public with research.

Focusing on the cortico-basal ganglia circuit in Parkinson’s, this studentship offers the opportunity to work with cutting-edge techniques including wireless neural activity streaming from implanted DBS devices, high density EEG, EMG, and wearable sensor recordings. You will gain advanced training in patient facing research and in state-of-the-art analytical approaches spanning signal processing, computational modelling, and machine learning.

This four-year Ph.D. (D.Phil.) studentship offers three years of full-time tuition fees at the Home rate, and four years of non-taxable stipend at the full-time UKRI rate (including any uplifts announced). Both Home students and International students are eligible to receive this funding package. Please see further details about MRC/UKRI studentships and updated guidance regarding Home and International eligibility. Successful offer-holders who have applied by the December deadline may also be considered for other University of Oxford scholarships.

Interested candidates should possess, or expect to receive, a 1st class or upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in a related scientific discipline, e.g. biological or physical sciences, medicine, computer science, engineering, mathematics. Previous experience in neuroscience research is highly desirable.

Candidates must contact the lead project supervisor before submitting an application. To find out more about this studentship, the research project, and the application process, please contact Dr Ashwini Oswal by email on ashwini.oswal@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

To be considered for this studentship, please submit an application for admission to the D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (course code RD_CU1), following the guidance for applications to this course. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, please indicate that you are applying for a studentship and enter the reference code “26NDCN01MRC” into the funding tab.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday UK time on Tuesday 2nd December 2025.

The overall goal of this PhD studentship is to design and implement a new TUS protocol to enhance memory. To achieve this, we will draw inspiration from well characterised endogenous neural activity dynamics in the hippocampus that support memory processing. We will combine TUS delivery with Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR), which involves pairing new learning with specific auditory cues that are then played again during periods of rest or sleep. Together, the new TUS protocol will facilitate endogenous dynamics in the hippocampus, while the TMR will constrain the content of memory reactivation within these endogenous dynamics, to bias the brain to strengthen specific memories relevant for learning. After validating the new TUS/TMR protocol using behavioural measures, we will use ultra-high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to establish the neural consequences of this protocol. We will use machine learning to quantify the effect of hippocampal TUS/TMR on hippocampal memory reactivation (an index for memory ‘replay’). We will further use a next-generation TUS device to directly combine TUS/TMR with MRI.

The project will take place in the Brain Network Dynamics Unit of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and in the Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Neural Dynamics (MRC CoRE RND). Students will benefit from the extensive interdisciplinary skills training and personalised career development opportunities available within the Unit and the MRC CoRE RND. Students will receive specialised training in their areas of project research (see below) as well as, for example, in the translation and commercialisation of research, best practice in Open Science, and how to effectively involve and engage patients and the public with research.

The studentship holder will be trained and develop expertise in cutting-edge methods in humans, including application of TUS, TMR, and ultra-high field MRI, including functional MRI and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. You will use Python/Matlab for data analysis with advanced statistical methods, including application of machine learning.

This four-year Ph.D. (D.Phil.) studentship offers three years of full-time tuition fees at the Home rate, and four years of non-taxable stipend at the full-time UKRI rate (including any uplifts announced). Both Home students and International students are eligible to receive this funding package. Please see further details about MRC/UKRI studentships and updated guidance regarding Home and International eligibility. Successful offer-holders who have applied by the December deadline may also be considered for other University of Oxford scholarships.

Interested candidates should possess, or expect to receive, a 1st class or upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in a related scientific discipline, e.g. biological or physical sciences, medicine, computer science, engineering, mathematics. Previous experience in neuroscience research is highly desirable.

Candidates must contact the lead project supervisor before submitting an application. To find out more about this studentship, the research project, and the application process, please contact Associate Professor Helen Barron by email on helen.barron@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

To be considered for this studentship, please submit an application for admission to the D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (course code RD_CU1), following the guidance for applications to this course. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, please indicate that you are applying for a studentship and enter the reference code “26NDCN01MRC” into the funding tab.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday UK time on Tuesday 2nd December 2025.

The overall goal of this PhD studentship is to investigate the underlying mechanisms by which TMR enhances memory and then leverage this knowledge to develop and optimise a TMR protocol suitable for translational use in humans. To achieve this, we will use a cross-species approach to implement a closed-loop TMR protocol. This closed-loop TMR protocol will involve delivering auditory stimulation during sleep when we detect hippocampal neuronal oscillations critical for memory strengthening. Using multi-channel electrophysiology in the hippocampus and related brain circuits in mice, we will then define the circuit mechanisms of closed-loop TMR to further optimise the approach and technology. The final two years of the project will involve translating research discoveries into humans by implementing the closed-loop TMR protocol on a custom-made headband allowing electroencephalography (EEG). Using this approach, we aim to demonstrate effective ‘at-home’ delivery of closed-loop TMR to enhance memory.

Students will benefit from the extensive interdisciplinary skills training and personalised career development opportunities available within the MRC CoRE in Restorative Neural Dynamics. Students will receive specialised training in their areas of project research (see below) as well as, for example, in the translation and commercialisation of research, best practice in Open Science, and how to effectively involve and engage patients and the public with research.

The studentship holder will be trained in the use of cutting-edge methods across mice and humans. You will gain expertise in multi-unit electrophysiology, optogenetic manipulations, and behavioural testing in mice. You will gain expertise in EEG and behavioural quantification in humans. You will also gain experience in using Python/Matlab for cross-species data analysis with advanced statistical methods, including application of machine learning.

This four-year Ph.D. (D.Phil.) studentship offers three years of full-time tuition fees at the Home rate, and four years of non-taxable stipend at the full-time UKRI rate (including any uplifts announced). Both Home students and International students are eligible to receive this funding package. Please see further details about MRC/UKRI studentships and updated guidance regarding Home and International eligibility. Successful offer-holders who have applied by the December deadline may also be considered for other University of Oxford scholarships.

Interested candidates should possess, or expect to receive, a 1st class or upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) in a related scientific discipline, e.g. biological or physical sciences, medicine, computer science, engineering, mathematics. Previous experience in neuroscience research is highly desirable.

Candidates must contact the lead project supervisor before submitting an application. To find out more about this studentship, the research project, and the application process, please contact Associate Professor Helen Barron by email on helen.barron@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

To be considered for this studentship, please submit an application for admission to the D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (course code RD_CU1), following the guidance for applications to this course. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, please indicate that you are applying for a studentship and enter the reference code “26NDCN01MRC” into the funding tab.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday UK time on Tuesday 2nd December 2025.