Executive Dean’s PhD Studentship in Turning attention to turning: How does attention allocation impact older adults’ ability to safely turn when walking?

The College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Brunel University London is offering a fully-funded Dean’s PhD studentship to investigate how attention allocation influences risk of falling in older adults.

Falls during turning are a leading cause of avoidable injury. Falls-prevention typically focuses on addressing specific physiological risk factors, such as strength loss. However, to improve their efficacy, interventions should also target psychological risk factors to address deficits in movement planning and control. This PhD project will involve experimental work to investigate (i) how attention allocation contributes to maladaptive turning strategies in older adults, and (ii) explore underlying inefficiencies in cortical and visual processing. This project will ultimately inform the development of interventions targeting specific deficits to address high-risk turning behaviours.

Based in and funded by the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, this studentship offers a full-time annual London rate stipend estimated at £20,551 plus Home/EU tuition fees, for a maximum of 36 months.

The start date will be 1 October 2023.

Overview

The PhD studentship will involve studying gaze behaviour and cortical activity during complex gait tasks in community-dwelling older adults. The project also aims to co-design an evidence-based intervention that targets mechanisms contributing to high-risk turning. This will be done in close collaboration with academic and clinical partners and with older adults, to ensure its feasibility and acceptability for use in health care settings.

The successful candidate will be supervised and trained by an expert interdisciplinary team of supervisors.

For informal discussions, please contact Dr Elmar Kal (principal supervisor; elmar.kal@brunel.ac.uk) or Dr Adam Cocks (second supervisor; adam.cocks2@brunel.ac.uk).

Eligibility

Candidates should have an undergraduate degree (first or upper second class) or equivalent qualification in (Sports) Psychology, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Movement Science, Neuroscience or a related field. An MSc qualification in a relevant area would be desirable. Knowledge of quantitative research in areas relating to movement performance is essential. Research or professional experience with older adults and/or clinical populations would be desirable.

Applicants who have not been awarded a degree by a University in the UK will be expected to demonstrate English language skills to IELTS 7.0 (minimum 6.5 in any section).

How to apply

If you wish to apply, please e-mail the following to chmls-pgr-officestaff@brunel.ac.uk by 7^th of June 2023:

An up-to-date CV
A single-page A4, single-spaced, personal statement describing why you are a suitable candidate (i.e., outlining your qualifications and skills)
One example of your academic writing (e.g., an essay, a section from a dissertation)
A summary of your teaching experience or your willingness to support teaching activities
Names and contact details for two academic referees
A copy of your highest degree certificate and transcript
A copy of your English language qualification, where applicable

Short-listed applicants will be required to attend an interview week commencing 28 June 2023.

For further information about how to apply, please contact the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences Postgraduate Research Office on chmls-pgr-officestaff@brunel.ac.uk.

Meet the Supervisor(s)

Elmar Kal - I have a BSc (2011) and MSc (2012; cum laude) in Movement Science, both from the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in The Netherlands. For my PhD project I was employed at a specialist rehabilitation centre (Heliomare) in the Netherlands, studying the impact of implicit learning interventions on the rehabilitation of balance and gait in people after stroke. I successfully defended my thesis in November 2018. I joined Brunel in 2019. My research is focused on better understanding the cognitive and psychological processes that underpin motor control and learning, and to use this knowledge to improve motor functioning in aging and neurological populations (stroke, Parkinson’s). Two main themes in my research are: (1) The use of motor learning principles in (re-)learning of balance and gait tasks in different clinical populations. This includes the use of weight-shifting strategies to reduce freezing of gait in people with PD, as well as the use of implicit motor learning techniques as part of Physical Education of children. (2) The role of anxiety and associated changes in attention in unexplained dizziness in older adults.This includes the use of virtual reality to study the effects of standing at a (virtual) height on fear of falling, associated discrepancies in perceived (self-reported) and actual (sway on force platform) balance, and potential neural and muscular control changes that could help explain such discrepancies - and provide options for interventions. In terms of approach, I combine basic science (assessments of brain activity (using fNIRS, EEG), kine(ma)tics of movement (using force plates, 3D movement analysis), and muscular control (EMG)) with clinically applied research (e.g., using clinical outcomes and assessment methods). I have experience with a host of the methodological approaches (systematic reviews, observational studies, experimental studies, RCTs, validation studies) which gives me flexibility in studying these topics.