Sarah Halligan

[Stipend from £21,805 per annum, plus up to £2,000 per year for research costs and training and £300 per year for travel or conference attendance.] PhD studentship at the University of Bath on stress reactivity and mental health in young people. This project examines how young people respond to everyday stress at the physiological, psychological, and behavioural levels, and how those responses may contribute to later mental health difficulties. The research is based within the NIHR Mental Health Research Group at the University of Bath, with links to the University of Exeter and the University of Bristol. The supervisory team includes Professor Pamela Jacobsen, Professor Sarah Halligan, Professor James Betts, and Dr Thomas Upton. The studentship addresses a key challenge in the field: there is no universally accepted gold standard for measuring stress reactivity. The project will explore novel approaches, including ambulatory blood-free cortisol measurement using the wearable U-RHYTHM microdialysis device, alongside other stress reactivity measures and Experience Sampling Methods. This combination is intended to improve understanding of how stress responses are expressed in daily life and how different measurement approaches converge or diverge. The first phase of the PhD will focus on methodological issues, including the feasibility of using U-RHYTHM to measure ambulatory cortisol in at-risk young people aged 16-25. The second phase will move toward small-scale piloting of interventions that may help modify dysregulated stress responses, such as exercise and mindfulness. The overall goal is to inform preventative strategies for reducing vulnerability to mental health difficulties in adolescence and early adulthood. Funding is advertised at from £21,805 per year, with up to £2,000 annually for research costs and training, plus £300 per year for travel or conference attendance. Applicants with an interest in mental health, stress physiology, biomarkers, and intervention research may find this project especially relevant. The deadline is 21 October 2026.