Investigating The Combined Impact Of Behavioural And Neurodevelopmental Conditions On Education
Supervisor :
27th January 2027
Queen Mary University of London has partnered with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to offer a joint scholarship programme to enable Chinese students to study for a PhD programme at Queen Mary. Under the scheme, Queen Mary will provide scholarships to cover all tuition fees, whilst the CSC will provide living expenses and one return flight ticket to successful applicants.
Applicants must:
- Be applying for CSC funding.
- Be a citizen and permanent resident of the People’s Republic of China and hold a Chinese passport.
- Satisfy all eligibility criteria set out by the CSC and must refer to the CSC website for full details.
- Apply to QMUL by 27th January 2027. Late applications will not be considered.
- Submit ALL required documentation, including evidence of their English Language ability ahead of the CSC application deadline.
CSC application rules differ slightly for domestic applicants (students applying from China) and overseas applicants (students applying from overseas). Therefore, ALL applicants are advised to see the CSC website for full details on eligibility and conditions on the scholarship.
Project Overview
Neurodevelopmental Conditions (NDC) and Disruptive Behaviour Conditions (DBC) are significant health concerns, affecting approximately 15% and 8% of youths, respectively, across the world. NDC are characterized by challenges in cognition, communication, and psychomotor skills, while DBC are typified by underlying features of impulsivity, aggressiveness, and pathological rule breaking. More children than ever before are being identified with NDC and DBC, but their educational requirements are not being met. To achieve a deeper understanding of NDC and DBC and of their impact on education, it is fundamental to look beyond individual conditions to consider genetic and environmental transdiagnostic risk factors and their interplay. This project, which is part of a larger ongoing research strand, aims to bridge these gaps in our knowledge by investigating the combined impact of NDC and DBC on educational outcomes, considering both genetic and environmental risk and their interplay. We aim to pinpoint protective environments that can narrow the educational gap between children with different neurodivergent and behavioural profiles, a gap that is likely amplified when multiple disorders co-occur.
Research Environment
The successful candidate will join Dr. Margherita Malanchini’s research laboratory, the Cognition, Development, and Education (CoDE) lab and will benefit from the many research and training activities organized by the lab. For example, the successful candidate will join the Cognition and Neurodevelopment in Youth (CANDY) research group at QMUL, a joint initiative across several labs (including co-supervisors Dr. Michelini and Dr. Agnew-Blais) at QMUL focused on child development. The successful candidate will also join the CoDE Network group at King’s College London, a joint initiative across three research laboratories (PIs: Malanchini, Rimfeld, and Plomin) focused on individual differences, genomics and gene-environment interplay. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to present their work at international conferences and workshops and attend specific training nationally and internationally.
Find out more about the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences on our website.
Entry Requirements
We are looking for candidates to have or expecting to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree and a Master’s degree in an area relevant to the project such as Developmental Psychology, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Bioinformatics, Biomedical Sciences and related disciplines.
Knowledge of Neurodevelopmental and behavioural conditions, Child Development, Structural Equation Modelling, Statistical Genetics, and Longitudinal Research Methods would be highly advantageous but are not required.
You must meet the IELTS requirements for your course and upload evidence before CSC’s application deadline, ideally by 17th March 2027. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible, where your IELTS test must still be valid when you enrol for the programme.
Find out more about our entry requirements here.
How to Apply
Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by 27th January 2027 for consideration. Please identify yourself as a ‘CSC Scholar’ in the funding section of the application.
Applicants are required to submit the following documents:
- Your CV
- Personal Statement
- Evidence of English Language e.g.) IELTS Certificate
- Copies of academic transcripts and degree certificates
- References
Find out more about our application process on our SBBS website.
Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Dr. Margherita Malanchini AT m.malanchini@qmul.ac.uk. Admissions-related queries can be sent to sbbs-phd-admissions@qmul.ac.uk
Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the supervisor. If you are successful in your QMUL application, then you will be issued an QMUL Offer Letter, conditional on securing a CSC scholarship along with academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements.
Once applicants have obtained their QMUL Offer Letter, they should then apply to CSC for the scholarship with the support of the supervisor.
For further information, please go to the QMUL China Scholarship Council webpage.
See Also