PhD Studentship: Investigating the Biopsychosocial Mechanisms of Resilience

Resilience can be defined as the dynamic process of positive adaptation following trauma exposure (i.e. ‘resilience mechanism’) and can be evaluated based on an individual’s level of well-being in response to adversity (i.e. ‘resilient functioning’) and an individual’s ability to deal with future stress (mediated by ‘resilient factors’). An individual with low levels of resilience may be at a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders following adversity in comparison to an individual with high levels of resilience who experiences the same stressor. An individual’s resilience is a complex and dynamic construct, which is thought to emerge from the interplay between an individual’s biology (i.e. genome, hormonal and inflammatory systems) and is formed by environmental experience. As such, it is likely governed by several neurobiological systems that affect emotional, cognitive and developmental processes.

This project will follow the resilience framework (Kalisch et al., 2017) and investigate the three components of resilience: resilient functioning, resilience factors, and resilient mechanisms. This project takes an integrative approach and will investigate biological, social and psychological factors in relation to these three components of resilience. Techniques employed will include self-report questionnaires, cognitive/behavioural tasks, measures of immune response in response to stress, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging ((f)MRI).

For more details on the project, please visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/pgstudy/phd_opportunities/ageing2023/biopsychosocial.

References:

Alexander, R., & Gatt, J.M. (2019). Resilience. In Miu, A.C., Homberg, J.R., & Lesch, K.P. (Ed). Genes, Brain and Emotions: Interdisciplinary and Translational Perspectives. 286 – 303. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Ioannidis, K., Askelund, A.D., Kievit, R.A. & Van Harmelen, A.L. (2020). The complex neurobiology of resilient functioning after childhood maltreatment. BMC medicine, 18, 32.

Kalisch, R., Baker, D. G., Basten, U., Boks, M. P., Bonanno, G. A., Brummelman, E., Chmitorz, A., Fernàndez, G., Fiebach, C. J., Galatzer-Levy, I., Geuze, E., Groppa, S., Helmreich, I., Hendler, T., Hermans, E. J., Jovanovic, T., Kubiak, T., Lieb, K., Lutz, B., Müller, M. B., Murray, R. J., Nievergelt, C. M., Reif, A., Roelofs, K., Rutten, B. P. F., Sander, D., Schick, A., Tüscher, O., Diest, I. V., Harmelen, A.-L. V., Veer, I. M., Vermetten, E., Vinkers, C. H., Wager, T. D., Walter, H., Wessa, M., Wibral, M. & Kleim, B. (2017). The resilience framework as a strategy to combat stress-related disorders. Nature Human Behaviour, 1, 784-790.

Funding

This studentship is funded by the BBSRC MIBTP scheme: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/pgstudy/phd_opportunities/.

Please read the eligibility criteria: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/pgstudy/application/.

International students will still have to pay for their own visas and a healthcare surcharge which is approximately £2500.

For more details on the project, informal enquiries and/or advice on making your application, please contact Dr Renate Reniers: r.l.e.p.reniers@bham.ac.uk.

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