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Deadline: Midnight (23:59 GMT), April 1st 2026. 
Full TimeLondon, All England
Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD studentship at King’s College London examining the impact of mobile technology on childhood cognitive development and mental well-being. This project, funded by the Huo Foundation, will leverage uniquely rich online cognitive assessment datasets we are acquiring to link social media and AI use with trajectories of cognitive and behavioural development. Using an experimental design the study also will determine if randomly delaying smartphone ownership reduces overall engagement with digital platforms, in turn impacting cognitive and emotional outcomes.
The successful candidate will work within the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, under the joint supervision of Professors Philip Shaw and Adam Hampshire. The project will make use of high-frequency cognitive and behavioural data, integrating multiple assessment modalities—including cognitive tasks, self-report measures.
This studentship provides an excellent opportunity for a candidate interested in the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, developmental science and trial design. The successful applicant will receive training in:
The candidate will have be based at the new Pear Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People, with close ties to the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences.
For informal inquiries, please contact Professor Philip Shaw ([email protected]).
Applicants should have:
1 fully funded 4-year PhD, funded by Huo Foundation. Students will be fully funded full time, to include home tuition fees (studentship not available to Overseas applicants), annual stipend and some research and travel costs. Overseas applicants may apply but will need to cover the difference in fees.
To be treated as a Home student, candidates must meet one of the following criteria:
• A UK national (meeting residency requirements)
• Settled status
• Pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements)
• Indefinite leave to remain or enter
1st supervisor: Prof Philip Shaw: [email protected]
2nd supervisor: Prof Adam Hampshire: [email protected]
Applicants must complete and submit an online admissions application, via the admissions portal by midnight (23:59 GMT), April 1st 2026. On the ‘Choosing a programme’ page, please select (Department) Research MPhil/PhD (Full-time) or (Part-time). More information on the department and the programme is available at the departmental prospectus page here
In your application, you will be asked to include:
In the Funding section, please tick box 5 and include the following reference: PS-IOPPN-HUO-26
Please note there is no need to complete the Research Proposal section in your application as the project has already been set. You are welcome to email supervisor name (email address) for more information regarding the project and studentship.
If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact the Education support team at [email protected].
References must be received by the deadline for the applicant to be eligible. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Closing date – midnight (23:59 GMT), April 1st 2026.
Interviews - 21st April 2026
Funding covers Home candidates only - Overseas applicants may apply but will need to cover the difference in fees.
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