PhD - The sensorimotor systems of the brain - INTUITIVE Network - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

During active exploration. the brain can enter different states. To investigate the principal by which the internal brain states affect the neocortical brain representation of the haptic events, the applicant will use fixed sets of artifical spatiotemporal tactile afferent activation patterns or mechanical haptic stimulation across spontaneously or experimentally induced changes in the brain states to explore the related decoding. Furthermore, the principles of sensory augmentation, and its dependence on the brain state, will be explored.

Work duties

Objective: To investigate effects of varying internal brain states on neocortical brain representation of haptic events. The analysis will be made with in vivo whole cell patch clamp recording in anesthetized animals and modelling of population level representations in the brain in vivo.

Expected results: Brain circuitry mechanisms for interpretation of haptic input features in neocortical neurons and in integrated brain systems. The understanding will be at a level that can be used to generate bases for the design of new solutions for haptic interfaces.

The applicant will also spend time at Human Robotics at Imperial College London to learn about the biomimetic signal processing, and at University of Osnabrück to study principles of sensory augmentation, and it's dependence of brain state.

Qualifications

Requirements:

- Previous analysis of sensorimotor systems at Master level.

- The Applicant should not have resided in Sweden for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediatly before the recruitment date ( and not have carried out their main activity ( work, studies etc,)in Sweden.

- The applicant should be -at the date of recruitment- an early stage researcher ( i.e. in the first four years of his/her research career and not have a doctoral degree).

Merits:

- Previous experience of in vivo neurophysiological studies of indvidual neurons or in depth analysis of data generated in such studies.

Other information

The applicant in expected to spend approximately 10 weeks abroad (London and Osnabrück ) during the period of the employment.

Eligibility
Students with basic eligibility for third-cycle studies are those who- have completed a second-cycle degree- have completed courses of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or- have acquired largely equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD-studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD-studies shall primarily be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

Type of employment
Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.