Current Funding Opportunities for Postgraduate Research
Howard Morton Trust Studentship - closing date 30 August 2013
The above fully funded studentship to support research in relation to depression is to be held within the Department of Psychology starting 1 October 2013. The following project outlines are available for this competitive studentship:
Project 1: Can compassion meditation training reduce self-disgust, shame, and improve symptoms of depression
Supervisors: Drs Andrew Thompson, Anastasia Lavda and Prof Paul Overton
Contact: a.r.thompson@sheffield.ac.uk
Disgust is a powerful emotion with clear evolutionary origins and there is emerging evidence that there may be a causal relationship between appearance based aspects of self-disgust and depression with self-disgust paying a mediating role between cognitive processing and symptoms of depression (Overton et al., 2008; Powell et al., 2013). Self-disgust is conceptually closely related to the construct of body-shame and both constructs may account for the increased risk of depression in individuals living with an altered appearance (Gilbert & Miles, 2002; Thompson & Kent, 2001). Whilst there is some evidence that compassion focussed therapy and compassion focussed self-help has the potential to successfully reduce symptoms of depression (e.g. Kelly et al., 2009), research in this area is in its infancy and has failed to examine the efficacy of such approaches in addressing self-disgust. The proposed project would seek to begin to address this gap. The usability of a range of existing techniques developed to teach self-compassion or self-soothing would be examined using mixed methods (e.g. focus group, single case methods, think aloud interviewing). The results of this primary stage of the research would facilitate the choice/development of techniques to be used in a feasibility trial of self-help with a population with clinical levels of depression. It is envisaged that the data provided by the feasibility trial would also enable questions about the relationship between self-disgust, body shame, and depression to be addressed.
Project 2: The revolting self: exploring the role of self-disgust in clinical depression
Supervisor: Prof Paul Overton
Contact: p.g.overton@sheffield.ac.uk
Until recently, literature on the role of disgust in depression has been contradictory and confusing. However, over the past few years our work has shown that – rather than general disgust sensitivity or propensity - disgust directed towards the self (‘self-disgust’) has a functional role in the genesis of depression, by mediating the relationship between dysfunctional thoughts and depressive symptoms. However, thus far our work has focused on non-clinical samples and hence in the present project we aim to extend this work to a clinically depressed population. We already have links with a private clinic in Germany that is currently providing us with patient data and we will seek to augment this with data from the UK. The project will focus on examining the role of self-disgust in clinical depression and looking at the impact that therapeutic interventions have on both self-disgust and depressive symptoms. The work undertaken during the project will further our understanding of an important causative factor in depression and thereby point the way towards new therapeutic interventions.
Overton PG, Markland FE, Taggart HS, Bagshaw GL, Simpson J. (2008) Self-disgust mediates the relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive symptomatology. Emotion 8:379-85.
Powell PA, Simpson J, Overton PG. (2013) When disgust leads to dysphoria: A three-wave longitudinal study assessing the temporal relationship between self-disgust and depressive symptoms. Cogn Emot. 27:900-13.
Project 3: Understanding therapist drift: patient, therapist and relationship factors
Supervisors: Profs Glenn Waller and Gillian Hardy
Contact: g.waller@sheffield.ac.uk or g.hardy@sheffield.ac.uk
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is successful to helping to reduce depressive symptoms for many people. However, some people do not improve and/or drop out of therapy (between 30-50%). It is not clear how much such outcomes are influenced by factors that are inherent in the therapy itself. There is evidence in other disorders that therapists tend to ‘drift’ in their use of CBT techniques, so that they do not offer the evidence-based, manualised treatment recommended for depression. This study will investigate factors that lead to this drift, and factors that moderate the relationship between therapist drift and therapy outcome. Possible therapist factors (experience and responsiveness), patient factors (such as motivation) and interactive factors (e.g., therapeutic relationship) will be studied, using practice-based data from Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.
Funding: The Trust provides a fee bursary and financial support at the basic Research Council rate (£13,726 per annum in 2013-14), plus support for Research Training (£500 per annum).
Eligibility: Students with a high 2(1) or first class undergraduate degree in Psychology (or equivalent) are invited to apply for this studentship. Our standard English requirement is a minimum IELTS 7.0 (with no less than 6 in each part). Overseas students are eligible to apply but must be able to demonstrate their ability to meet the difference between the UK and overseas tuition fee.
Enquiries and applications
- Candidates are encouraged to contact the named supervisor directly prior to any application and should specify the project area of interest in their application.
- General informal enquiries to Professor Gillian Hardy are welcome:
Email: g.hardy@sheffield.ac.uk
Tel: 0114 2226568 - To apply - please see the following page for details of how to apply:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/apply - For enquiries regarding the application process please contact:
Angela Young
Postgraduate Secretary
Department of Psychology
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TP
Email: a.young@sheffield.ac.uk
Tel: 0114 2226564
Closing date for applications is the 30 August 2013. Interviews will be held during the week beginning 9 September 2013.
PhD Studentships in 2013
The deadline for our general funding round for our PhD studentships as now passed.
Applications are very much welcomed if you have your own source of funding. Please see here for details of how to apply.
