Developing cerebellar stimulation for gait problems found in the spinocerebellar ataxias

About the Project

Location: UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, 33 Queen Square

Supervisor - Dr Simon Farmer, Dr Timothy West, Prof Sven Bestmann

A fully funded position is available to study full-time for a PhD registered at UCL. This work is funded by private charitable donation from neurological patients. The PhD will be focussed on developing cerebellar stimulation for gait problems found in the spinocerebellar ataxias. Students will investigate the neurophysiological, behavioural and computational underpinnings of upper and lower limb dysmetria, and gait control in health and disease, with a combination of cutting-edge neuroimaging (optically pumped magnetoencephalography; OP-MEG), electromyography/kinematic, and dynamical system’s approaches. Electrical brain stimulation (transcranial alternating current stimulation/temporal interference stimulation) will be used to target associated cerebellar processes with the goal of relieving symptoms of ataxic gait.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Bachelor's degree (2:1 or higher) in a relevant discipline (e.g. Neuroscience, Biomedical Engineering).
• Relevant research experience in one of the following fields: human motor control, ambulatory neuroimaging, clinical neuroscience, dynamical systems, or invasive/non-invasive brain stimulation.
• Evidenced proficiency in technical skills such as neural data processing and analysis, brain decoding, motion capture systems, experimental design.
• Excellent written communication skills with early track record contributing and writing scientific papers, ready to adapt to the demands of writing a PhD thesis.
• Excellent oral communications skills with proven ability to deliver research presentations to technical audiences.

Desirable criteria

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline such as Clinical Neuroscience, Neuroimaging, Human Brain Stimulation etc.
• Strong programming skills (e.g., Matlab, Python) and quantitative skills (e.g., neuroinformatics, machine learning, dynamical systems, probability theory).
• Experience working between clinical and research-based teams, including experience working with neurological patients.

Application process

Deadline: 23:59 GMT, 04th June 2026.

Please submit applications to timothy.west.10@ucl.ac.uk (cc’ s.farmer@ucl.ac.uk) in the following format:

1. A CV or biographical sketch (2 pages maximum)
2. Personal statement (600 words maximum) outlining (i) why you are applying for this project, (ii) what makes you the ideal candidate, (iii) what training experience you have had to date.
3. Name and contact details for at least one person who could be approached as a referee.