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Climate change and adolescents’ brain health

Supervisor :

Prof Isabelle Mareschal

Dr Valdas Noreika

Deadline :

27th January 2027

Funding :

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

Climate change is among the defining threats to human health. Although its impact on physical health is increasingly well documented, its impacts on brain health – mental and cognitive functions – are less well known. Adolescence is a period when most mental health conditions first emerge (Solmi et al., 2022), and when adolescents may engage in risky decision making, and make poor choices. It is also a period of heightened sensitivity in which environmental exposures can have a substantial negative impact. In this project, we will evaluate how climatic exposures (including heat and pollution) affect mental health, and cognition (focusing on decision making, attention) and why and how these effects differ across contexts. 

 

Research Environment 

This PhD will be based in the Centre for Brain and Behaviour at Queen Mary University of London, within the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences (SBBS).

Our Psychology Department is lively and expanding, with regular departmental seminars, student-led journal clubs, and workshops that create plenty of opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and feedback to strengthen your work. Queen Mary also offers excellent training and career development programmes to help you build a broad skill set for your future career.

My group has particular expertise in mental health, cognition and adversity in children and adults - providing an ideal environment for this project. I also have strong research and NGOs collaborations within the UK and abroad, offering further opportunities and connections for the PhD student.

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/staff/isabellemareschal.html

School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences

 

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 Psychology, Neuroscience, Biology, Geography Candidates must also have experience conducting research.

Knowledge of psychology experimental methods (e.g. psychophysics), statistics and mental health 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 Isabelle Mareschal at i.mareschal@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. 

 

Apply Online

 

See Also

 

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