Fully Funded PhD in Detecting Ruminative Inner Speech from EEG and Ultrasound Tongue Imaging Lancaster University in United Kingdom

Lancaster University is recruiting a fully funded PhD student to work on detecting ruminative inner speech from EEG and ultrasound tongue imaging, starting 1 October 2026.

The project addresses a major gap in silent-speech brain-computer interfaces by moving beyond cued speech production and instead targeting spontaneous inner speech in naturalistic settings. The research will develop a wearable BCI that can detect and emotionally classify inner speech, combining EEG with ultrasound imaging of the tongue.

This PhD sits at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, machine learning, and articulatory phonetics. Supervision is by Bo Yao (Psychology), Professor Hossein Rahmani (Computing), and Dr Sam Kirkham (Linguistics). The student will join the DSAIL doctoral cohort and have access to EEG and ultrasound lab facilities, the HEC GPU cluster, interdisciplinary training, and partnership with OpenBCI on wearable hardware.

Funding is provided through an EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award via the Data Science and AI Institute (DSAIL). The opportunity is open to UK home applicants with a strong quantitative background and demonstrable experience in neuroscience and machine learning.

Deadline: 17 July 2026. Interviews: 4 August 2026. Start date: 1 October 2026.

For full details and application instructions, use the advert link. Informal enquiries are welcome by email.