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Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme for the Ecological study of the Brain (3 Years) MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) trains students in the interdisciplinary study of interactions between human brain function, behaviour and real-world environments. We bring together supervisors from psychology, neuroscience, geography, engineering, architecture, education, and computer sciences, sharing the vision that we can achieve a step-change in both our understanding of how humans function in the environment and how to change the environment to best suit human endeavours.

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

£6,035

£3,015

Overseas tuition fees (2024/25)

£34,400

£17,200

Duration

3 calendar years

5 calendar years

Programme starts

September 2024

Applications accepted

All applicants: 16 Oct 2023 – 12 Jan 2024

Applications closed

Entry requirements

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.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

Understanding how humans operate in the real-world, the ecological niche in which the brain has evolved, is critical to explaining the richness of human experiences. Most scientific knowledge about brain and behaviour, however, comes from laboratory studies focusing on a single domain (e.g., language processing) and sacrifice real-world context to achieve experimental control (e.g., recognition of isolated words rather than face-to-face communication). At the other end of the spectrum, scholars studying real-world phenomena often sacrifice experimental control in order to conduct studies in naturalistic settings. Laboratory experiments, however, often have limited external validity, while naturalistic approaches are descriptive, and therefore do not address causal relationships between brain, behaviour and the environment.

To explain the inherent richness of human experiences, a radical change in approach to brain and behavioural research is needed that enables future leaders to harness and further develop new methods and technologies - part of the digital revolution - to measure behaviour and brain activity in the wild (e.g., wearable devices and wireless electroencephalography), to bring real- world complexity into the lab (e.g., virtual and augmented reality, large-scale modifiable real- world facilities) and to analyse the wealth of data these methods produce (e.g., blind signal source separation, graph- theoretic analysis).

ECOLOGICAL BRAIN proposes to deliver such a change, moving from established patterns of working within single disciplines to an integrative science approach that brings together psychology, neuroscience, education, geography, computer science, engineering and architecture to bridge the gap between basic scientific discovery, and the application of this knowledge.

Who this course is for

If you are fascinated by the interdisciplinary study of the interactions between human brain function, behaviour and real-world environments, this Doctoral Training Programme may be the right fit for you. Students enrolled in the ECOLOGICAL BRAIN DTP work using cutting-edge technologies (e.g., VR, mobile recording), facilities (e.g., malleable environments such as PEARL and 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.

This programme would be suitable for people with an interest in psychology, neuroscience, education, geography, computer science, engineering and/or architecture, who are keen to bridge the gap between basic scientific discovery and the application of this knowledge. The programme is suited for those that have a passion for devising inventive ways to bring the world to the lab, or the lab to the world.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

The great benefit of this DTP is that students gain great experience of different scientific disciplines and styles, through rotation projects, through engaging with interdisciplinary teams of supervisors and also more generally through dedicated training and social activities.

This DTP actively allows students to meet and mix with academics and peers from across the host institutions. This is further augmented by the Ecological Brain DTP network with a tight-knit cohort of accepted students forming each year.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

The aim of this DTP is to allow our students to produce world-leading science in collaboration with world-class scientists, and we believe that ensuring that our students are ready for life after their PhD is just as important. Our DTP specifically supports students to undertake advanced training, visit labs in the UK and overseas, and provides rare opportunities to develop transferable skills that enhance career prospects in and outside academia.

Employability

Ecological Brain students will be highly competitive for academic posts. Having been trained in novel approaches to the scientific study of the brain and behaviour, they will also be competitive outside academia, in jobs dealing with Data Science and applications deriving from knowledge of human behaviour in specific real-world settings.

Networking

Ecological Brain students take a prominent and active role in the programme, including organising seminars and involving outstanding external guests. Our PhD students give presentations at high-profile national and international meetings and supervisors have a strong history of research relationships with industry, providing abundant networking opportunities.

Teaching and learning

Students will typically audit taught modules usually in research methods and statistics at appropriate doctoral levels, depending on their training needs. The programme also organises mandatory seminars with guest speakers on topics related to the study of the ecological brain.

Each student has an Upgrade Viva at the midpoint of their PhD. For full-time students this is usually around 12 months after initial registration; for part-time students this is usually between 15 and 30 months after initial registration. The purpose of the Upgrade Viva is to assess the student’s progress and ability to complete their PhD programme in a reasonable time frame.

At the end of their PhD, each student must submit a written thesis of not more than 100,000 words, followed by a viva voce examination with two examiners, one who is internal to UCL and another who is external.

A typical full-time PhD student will spend approximately 36.5 hours per week working on their PhD. The contact time that a student spends with their supervisory team, thesis committee members and training courses vary from student to student depending on need throughout their PhD. Part-time student hours are pro-rata.

Research areas and structure

Research environment

ECOLOGICAL BRAIN is an interdisciplinary programme that works towards an integrative science approach that brings together psychology, neuroscience, education, geography, computer science, engineering and architecture to bridge the gap between basic scientific discovery and the application of this knowledge.

There are seven research departments involved and also a number of research centres/institutes. We currently have a pool of 41 supervisors across the participating Faculties. Supervisors cover a broad range of areas including:

basic behavioural brain sciences (sensory systems, cognitive science and neuroscience);
applied sciences (education, human-computer interaction, built environment);
methodological advances (computational modelling, data science, VR development). Criteria for supervisors’ selection are research excellence, commitment to high quality training and alignment with our scientific goals. The Executive Team monitor the supervisor pool annually, assessing overall balance and number.

As of 2021 the supervisors came from the following research departments/centres: Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Planning (4), Birkbeck/UCL Centre for Neuroimaging (1), Clinical, Education & Health Psychology (1), Computer Science (5), Dept of Civil, Environ & Geomatic Engineering (1), Ear Institute (1), Experimental Psychology (13), Wellcome Centre for Neuroimaging (2), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (2), IoE (3), IoN (5), Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (1), UCLIC (2).

To encourage interdisciplinary thinking each student will have a supervisory team (thesis committee), with at least one subsidiary supervisor from a different faculty than their primary supervisor. Students are encouraged to participate in thesis competitions and poster conferences.

PhD programme (3 year full-time) for students with a strong interdisciplinary background and clear research proposal.

Progress through the first year to submission of a final PhD thesis follows the existing University regulations.

Year One: Full time research. The student registers for a PhD with UCL. They are expected (now and throughout their PhD) to attend national/international conferences (conference attendance is supported by Faculties). End of Year One: Preparation of an ‘upgrade report’ of ~10,000 words including literature review, description of the first PhD year’s work on the main project and proposals for further research. The students give an oral presentation before they are examined orally by two assessors, one of whom is not part of the Supervisory Team. The assessors provide a report to the Supervisors on the outcome of the assessment. UCL then approves the student to continue in their PhD.

Year Two: Full-time research.

Year Three: The student continues their full-time research and prepare their thesis for submission. The final viva follows standard UCL procedures. Student work and supervisor meetings are logged and monitored (by DTP and Faculty) using UCL’s compulsory on-line Research Student Log. This includes sections for regularly updated research plans, identifying targets, recording achievements, assessing skills needs and pinpointing gaps in training.

PhD programme (five years part-time) for students with a strong interdisciplinary background and clear research proposal.

Progress through the first year to submission of a final PhD thesis follows the existing University regulations.

Years One and Two: Part-time research. The student registers for a PhD with UCL. They are expected (now and throughout their PhD) to attend national/international conferences (conference attendance is supported by Faculties). 15/30 months: Preparation of an ‘upgrade report’ of ~10,000 words including literature review, description of the PhD first two year’s work on the main project and proposals for further research. The students give an oral presentation before they are examined orally by two assessors, one of whom is not part of the Supervisory Team. The assessors provide a report to the Supervisors on the outcome of the assessment. UCL then approves the student to continue in their PhD.

Years Three/Four: Part-time research.

Years Four/Five: The student continues their part-time research and prepare their thesis for submission at the end of Year Five.

The final viva follows standard UCL procedures. Student work and supervisor meetings are logged and monitored (by DTP and Faculty) using UCL’s compulsory on-line Research Student Log. This includes sections for regularly updated research plans, identifying targets, recording achievements, assessing skills needs and pinpointing gaps in training.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2024/25)	£6,035	£3,015
Tuition fees (2024/25)	£34,400	£17,200

Additional costs

There are no additional costs for this programme.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

To apply for the three-year programme in the Ecological Study of the Brain, you will need to contact a supervisor and submit a PhD project proposal.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

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