DPhil Studentship – Hormones, Prediction and Psychosis: How Reproductive Transitions Shape Belief Updating in the Brain University of Oxford in United Kingdom

[Wolfson Marriott Graduate Scholarship covering course fees up to the home-fee rate plus a tax-free stipend at the UKRI rate (at least £22,460 annually), with support for research and conference attendance. Overseas-fee applicants must fund the difference in tuition fees.]

DPhil Studentship at the University of Oxford in Psychiatry: Hormones, Prediction and Psychosis: How Reproductive Transitions Shape Belief Updating in the Brain.

This funded doctorate explores why vulnerability to psychosis changes across the menstrual cycle and menopause. The project asks whether fluctuations in sex hormones alter how the brain balances prior expectations against new sensory evidence, a key computation linked to hallucinations and delusions.

You will join the research groups of Rob McCutcheon and Laurence Hunt, with additional supervision from Dr Bodyl Brand. The project sits within Oxford Psychiatry’s growing focus on women’s mental health and is linked to the interdisciplinary Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Cluster at Wolfson College.

Research methods include a novel continuous EEG paradigm, computational modelling, hormone measures, cognitive testing, and clinical assessment. The study will compare participants across the menstrual cycle and between premenopausal and postmenopausal groups, including people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and healthy controls. The aim is to understand how hormonal state affects belief updating and symptom expression, with potential relevance for more personalised, hormone-informed treatment.

Training includes clinical research with people experiencing psychosis, EEG acquisition and analysis, experimental study delivery, computational modelling of learning and decision-making, reproductive endocrinology, sex-informed research design, and reproducible data science in Python. There are also opportunities to develop independent projects in computational neuroscience and reproductive psychiatry.

Applicants should normally hold at least an upper second-class honours degree or equivalent, and/or a relevant Master’s degree in a related field such as neuroscience, psychology, medicine, physics, computer science, or engineering. Strong programming and quantitative skills are expected, along with independent research experience and a willingness to work with clinical populations.

The scholarship covers course fees up to the home-fee rate, provides a tax-free stipend at the UKRI rate (at least £22,460 per year), and supports research and conference attendance. Overseas-fee applicants must fund the difference in tuition fees.

Applications must be submitted through the University of Oxford graduate application portal by 12:00 noon (UK time) on Friday 27 November 2026. The application form, supporting documents including references, and the £20 application fee must all be received by the deadline. Informal enquiries: [email protected].