[Adta] More excellent PhD opportunities in the area of the Embodied Self

[Sabine Koch]

Dear colleagues,

there are more opporunities for PhDs in contexts where DMT knowledge can 
be usefully applied (see below).
Please pass this information on to interested students and colleagues.

Best regards,
Sabine Koch
**************************

We invite applications for 15 positions from highly motivated graduates 
coming from the neurosci­ences, medicine, psychology and philosophy. 
Qualified women are especially encouraged to apply.

The *Research Training Network DISCOS* is an attempt to investigate the 
fundaments of the human person through an interdisciplinary endeavour of 
both the biomedical sciences and the humanities. Disorders of the self, 
i.e. of self-awareness, agency and identity, are due to varying 
combinations of neurobiological, psychological and social factors, and 
include e.g. schizophrenia, depression, demen­tia, sequelae of stroke or 
brain injury, severe personality disorders, post-traumatic and 
somatoform disorders.

DISCOS is a* multi-disciplinary network *of 10 partners* *from 7 
Euro­pean countries* *which aims at

a) determining the role of neurobiological, psychological and 
sociocultural factors for the development of a *coherent self* and

b) identifying dysfunctional mechanisms and in­fluences leading to 
*disorders of self-coherence*.

The network’s training program combines local specialist with 
network-wide training activities including

summer schools, workshops, individual training-through-research, 
secondments to other network part­ners, education in transferable 
skills, regular network meetings and systematic career development. In 
addition to the monthly salary, allowances for the transnational 
mobility program will also be provided.

Positions are available for *10 Early Stage Researchers* (ESR = 
postgraduates) and *5 Experienced Researchers* (ER, min. 4 years 
research experience) on the following topics:

*Neuroscience: Coherence and Disorders of the ‘Basic Self’*

1) Studying the *basic sense of self* by clarifying the role of the 
sensorimotor system for self-agency and intersubjectivity: basic 
processes of intentional action in macaque monkeys, normal and autistic 
children, processing of basic emotions in human healthy volunteers and 
schizophrenic pa­tients.* *Candidates with programming skills will be 
welcome (E-Prime, Matlab, etc.) (Parma, Prof. Gallese)

2) Examination of *the neural basis for severe dis­orders of 
self-awareness* *and agency* in neurologi­cal disorders such as 
anosognosia and/or unilateral neglect, implying options for thera­peutic 
re-integration of conflicting representations of the body (Lyon, Prof. 
Rosetti)

3) Investigation of *the neural basis of* *elementary personal identity* 
in patients with altered states of consciousness, e.g. vegetative and 
minimally conscious patients; development of an ethical framework for 
treatment of severe brain injury (Liège, Prof. Laureys)

*Philosophy of Mind/Phenomenology: Coherence / Disorders of the 
‘Subjective Self’*

4) Development of a *conceptual framework* for the role of bodily 
awareness, spatial/temporal orienta­tion and bodily simulation of 
others’ actions for self-consciousness and intersubjectivity. 
Application of the self-model theory of subjectivity to the 
psychopathology of schizophrenia and autism (Mainz, Prof. Metzinger)

5) (a) Phenomenological analysis of *different levels of self ex­perience*
(b) Development of a *clini­cal taxon­omy of self-disor­ders*, in 
particular concerning dissociations between minimal and extended sense 
of self
(c) a psychopathological investigation of the *connection of memory and 
self-disor­ders*
(d) an empirical study of *schizophrenia as a disorder of embodied 
self-awareness*, using the newly developed EASE instrument (Copenhagen, 
Prof. Zahavi, Prof. Parnas; Heidelberg, Prof. Fuchs)

*
*

*Developmental Psychology: Coherence and Disorders of the 
‘Autobiographical Self’“*

6) (a) Studying the role of caregiver’s affective mirroring behaviour 
*("social biofeedback”)* for self-development,
(b) the role of *“mentalising” *(using a „theory of mind”) for 
understanding others and for forming secure attachment patterns, and
(c) temperamental features of *hyper-control seeking* for the 
development of attachment disor­ganisation and psychopathologies of the 
self (Budapest, Prof. Gergely).

7) Investigation of the *development of social cognition* in 
adolescence, using a range of methodo-lo­gies including the Child and 
Adolescent Attachment Interview, theory of mind tasks and behav­ioural 
measures of mentalisation to detect early antecedents of Borderline 
Personality Dis­order (BPD) and to develop specific treatment concepts 
(London, Prof.Fonagy).

* *

*Conceptual Integration, Therapeutic and Ethical Integration*

8) Creation of a *multi-level, integrated model of embodied 
self-coherence* capable to assimilate the inputs from the above 
mentioned studies (Heidelberg, Prof. Fuchs).

9) (a) Development of an *integrated ethical framework*, including 
classifications and guidelines, for choosing neurobiological, 
psychological and social approaches in the prevention and treatment of 
major self-disorders, and
(b) an investigation of *prevalence and neurobiological concomitants of 
somatoform dissocia­tion* as an expression of altered coherence of the 
embodied self (Munich, Prof. Henningsen)

Starting dates of the positions are between *01.08.2007 and 01.01.2008* 
(duration 36 months for ESR, 24 months for ER). If you are interested in 
one of these positions, please send your application (pref­erably by 
email, and by naming the post you are interested in) including CV and, 
if possible, two refer­ences (name, email, phone) before the closing 
date to the network coordinator:

Prof. Thomas Fuchs, Thomas.Fuchs at med.uni-heidelberg.de 
<mailto:Thomas.Fuchs at med.uni-heidelberg.de>; Department of Psychiatry, 
University Hospital Heidelberg, Vossstr. 2; D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.

_Note:_ The mobility condition for Research Training Networks implies 
that, as a rule, researchers have to be appointed in a country different 
from their own nationality.

* *

*Closing Date for Applications: Juli 30, 2007*


-- 
Dr. Sabine C. Koch

Institute of Psychology
University of Heidelberg
Hauptstrasse 47-51
69117 Heidelberg/Germany

phone: ++49 (0) 6221 547297
eMail: sabine.koch at urz.uni-heidelberg.de