The Neuroscience honours stream is run jointly by the School of Psychology and the School of Biomedical Sciences. The Neuroscience honours stream is open to all students who majored in Neuroscience or who are eligible to enrol in honours in the School of Psychology or School of Biomedical Sciences and have a background in disciplines allied to neuroscience ( for example, by completion of NEUR courses).
Neuroscience honours is a multi-disciplinary research-based course which can be taken full-time over one year or part-time over two. In this course, you will work on a research project with one or more neuroscientists affiliated with UNSW and undertake course work that will introduce you to the range of knowledge and techniques that make up modern neuroscience. This multi-faceted course is designed to enable you to develop high level research skills, especially in critical evaluation of data and communication of research results, with a specific focus on neuroscience.
Available scholarships for honours:
Entry requirements:
- Prior study - A Science* student should have completed a neuroscience major or specialisation or have a background in disciplines allied to neuroscience (as evidenced, for example, by completion of NEUR courses). External student with a background in neuroscience are eligible to enrol in the course subject to the approval of the Neuroscience Honours Convenor.
- WAM – Minimum credit (65) weighted average mark (WAM) for overall degree based on stage 1-3 courses is required. An applicant with a WAM of at least 60 will be considered if the weighted average for their level 3 science courses is ≥65%, or if they have done additional training, for instance as vacation scholars and they can find a supervisor to support their application.
- UNSW applicants must have completed all General Education courses in accordance with the program rules, e.g., for 3991 (BMedSci), 12 units in total taken from outside the Science or Medicine and Health faculties.
- UNSW applicants must have completed 144 Units of Credit (UoC) for a 3-year degree or 192 UoC for a 4-year degree and satisfied the requirements of the program in which they are enrolled.
- *This includes students in all UNSW Faculty of Science programs: i.e., Science - 3970, Advanced Science - 3962, Medical Science - 3991. Students completing the 3871 Exercise Physiology program may also apply for Neuroscience Honours if they have met their program requirements with a credit average and can find a suitable project and supervisor. Other students with an interest and some background in neuroscience may be eligible to enrol in the course subject to the approval of the Neuroscience Honours Convenor.
Prospective honours students are responsible for arranging a supervisor, discussing available honours projects and eligibility/suitability for the project before submitting their application (please refer to the Honours Supervisors section for a list of supervisors and available projects). Students interested in doing honours with a supervisor in a clinical school/ hospital or who does any research/data collection at the hospitals must be fully compliant with the NSW Health Requirements.
Please see the UNSW Science honours webpage regarding the application process.
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Comparison of honours courses:
Neuroscience Honours Psychology Honours School of Biomedical Sciences Honours ≥ 65 WAM ≥ 75 WAM ≥ 65 WAM 75% research
25% courses
60% research
40% courses
100% research
10000 word thesis 15000 word thesis 5000 word thesis You will need to find a research area and an appropriate supervisor.
Please see the recording of the Biomedical Sciences and Health Sciences Research Information Evening, 11 July 2024
Biomedical Sciences and Health Sciences Research Information Evening – Event Recording
Please refer to the PDF slides:
Research Information Evening 2024 slides
Please see the Potential Projects Document for projects available (including for Neuroscience*) :
Potential Projects for SBMS Honours Neurhonours & HDR (2025 intake).docx
Another way to find a Neuroscience Honours supervisor, is to view the Neuroscience research theme of the School. Please contact supervisors directly who align with your interests.
If you are interested in applying for Neuroscience Honours or Masters/PhD, please email to request an Application Instructions PDF for T1 2025 entry.
For Neuroscience Honours, please email sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au
For PhD/Masters, please email sbmshdr@unsw.edu.au
What sort of projects can I do?
Supervisors will have some projects for you to select from, but as the year progresses, you will be more able to direct the research.
Examples of projects conducted by students in previous years include:
- Sleep disturbances in behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), which identified the biological correlates of sleep disorder in bvFTD and the impact of sleep changes on emotion processing in this diseases.
- Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on dynamic brain bioenergetics in healthy control subjects, which measured changes in phosphate-containing metabolites in the frontal cortex of healthy subjects.
- Obesity and the neural control of the intestine, which investigated whether the inflammatory state caused by obesity affected sympathetic and enteric nerves, by using video imaging and electrochemical recording techniques.
Please refer to the Neuroscience Projects and Neuroscience Honours Supervisors sections below to see available projects offered by Biomedical Sciences, Psychology and Institutes such as Neuroscience Research Australia, Black Dog Institute and others.
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If your application is successful:
You will receive an offer letter via email from the Neuroscience Honours Convenor.
Standalone Honours: If you are a B Science or B Medical Science student, you will receive your offer for the 4500 Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the Admissions Office. Please proceed to accept your offer online, see step 2 of this process.
Embedded Honours: If you are in B Advanced Science (embedded Honours), please email sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au to confirm your acceptance, see step 2 of this process.
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You must accept your offer before enrolling. Please see course list below for enrolment If you have problems enrolling, please contact Neuroscience Honours Convenor sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au.
Please see the Faculty of Science honours webpage regarding the process.
Embedded Honours: If you are in B Advanced Science (embedded Honours), please email sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au to confirm your acceptance into Honours via your student email address and enrol in the courses below. If you have problems enrolling, please email sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au
Please see the information in the UNSW website regarding the two-step enrolment process:
T1 (enrol in course and class)
NEUR4411 Psych Neuro Perspectives 6UOC
NEUR4442 Neurosci Res 12UOC
T2 (enrol in course and class)
NEUR4421 Biomedical Neuroscience 6 UOC
NEUR4442 Neurosci Res 12UOC
T3 (enrol in course)
NEUR4442 Neurosci Res 12UOC
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You will receive a copy of the Project Information Form with your offer letter from NEUR Honours Admin email.
Please read the instructions on the form. Please return your completed and signed Enrolment Form via email to sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au.
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All research students at SBMS must complete the relevant Health & Safety courses. Your supervisor should advise you regarding the courses you need to do for your particular project. Please refer to the UNSW Health & Safety website for further information.
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Students commence their research project. Exemption for a late start can be obtained by writing to the Honours Convenor.
12 February 2024
Official start of the Honours Year and Student Induction Seminar (Mandatory).
Week of 12 Feb 2024
Term 1 coursework (NEUR4411) commences.
March 2024
Supervisor and Examiner Induction (virtual).
10, 11 April 2024
Students present their Project Proposal orally, to a SoMS audience and Honours Committee.
18 April 2024
Students submit Project Proposal document. Rejoinder due 2 weeks after receipt of examiner feedback.
Week of 27 May 2024
Term 2 coursework (NEUR4421) commences.
21 June 2024
Student/Supervisor (mid-candidature) Progress Report due.
28 October 2024
Students submit Thesis.
4 November 2024
Students submit Lay Summary.
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The COVID-19 restrictions of recent years have had an impact on all communities across Sydney, including academics and their research activities. As a consequence, this has altered research timelines and the nature of research activities in many cases. Prospective honours students are asked to be considerate of these factors and understand that some supervisors may not have the same capacity or resources for honours projects commencing in T1 2024 as originally expected. We encourage you to keep this in mind when discussing projects with prospective supervisors.
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Human Sensory Neuroscience, Sensorimotor Control and Bionics
Research Area: Sensory neuroscience; neural code - encoding of tactile sensory information in health and disease (stroke, diabetic neuropathy, chronic back pain); sensorimotor control of the human hand; haptics, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering; bionics; robotics; computational neuroscience.
This theme has projects suitable for medical, biomedical science, psychology and engineering students of various specialisations. International students are welcome.
Techniques:Psychophysics, microneurography (recordings from single sensory neurons in humans) and other electrophysiology methods, signal processing, modelling, behavioural experiments, robotic control.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) & SoBMS Physiology/ Cellular and Systems Physiology
Level 3, Wallace Wurth West
P: 9385 8311
Status:
Cellular Mechanotransduction
Research Area: Gating and regulation of force-sensing ion channels
Techniques:Patch-clamp electrophysiology, cell culture, substrate microfabrication
This project will investigate how the sensitivity of force-sensing ion channels is regulated at the contact points between cells and the extracellular matrix. We are using deformable, microfabricated surfaces to apply forces directly to cell-matrix contacts, allowing us to quantitatively measure force-sensing ion channel activity.
Contact details: SoBMS Physiology/ Translational Neuroscience Facility & Single Molecule Science
Level 3, Wallace Wurth West
P: 9385 1764
Neurobiology Research Lab
Research Area: KCC2, GABA, Epilepsy, Brain plasticity
Techniques: Electrophysiology, Brain slices. Neuronal Culture, Spines, EEG
Our primary focus is on KCC2 and GABA signalling in epilepsy, where we are striving to provide better therapies to treat different forms of drug-resistant epilepsy. We apply animal models of brain function and seizures, and combine single neuron investigations with neural circuit analysis and whole animal behaviour and EEG. We have a number of projects available related to the plasticity of inhibitory synaptic transmission in disease.Contact details: SoBMS Physiology/ Cellular and Systems Physiology
302, Level 3, Wallace Wurth West
P: 9385 2575
Metabolic and Neuropharmacology Group
Research Area: Brain mechanisms involved in appetite and the changes that occur during the development of obesity; the link between obesity and stress; binge-eating and effects on the brain; the role of NPY on absence seizures in epilepsy.
Techniques:Obesity models; behavioural measurements, gene expression, hormone measurements; Immunohistochemistry.
Contact details: SoBMS Pharmacology
Level 3, Wallace Wurth East
Status:
Molecular Neuroscience
Research Area: Inhibitory neuropeptides in respiratory chemoreceptors: what is their normal role in ventilatory behaviour? How is this role altered during acute (e.g. exercise) and chronic respiratory/environmental stress (e.g. living in a cave, living at high altitude, obesity hypoventilation syndrome).
Techniques: Transgenic mice, in situ hybridisation, Immunohistochemistry, retrograde tracing, rodent behaviour, microscopy and image analysis.
Contact details: SoBMS Pharmacology
325, Level 3, Wallace Wurth East
Status:
Neuropathic Pain Treatment
Research Area: : Neuroimmune crosstalk in animal models of nervous system injury, autoimmune diseases, and chronic pain including peripheral nerve injury, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and multiple sclerosis.
Techniques: Animal surgery, behavioural tests (e.g. measurements of pain, locomotion), Immunohistochemistry, cell culture, flow cytometry, Western blot, PCR, and electrophysiology.
Contact details: SoBMS Physiology/ Translational Neuroscience Facility
Level 3, Wallace Wurth East
P: 9385 2478
Status:
Neuropharmacology and Brain Injury
Research Area: Stroke, hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, neuroprotection and brain repair.
Techniques: In vitro and in vivo models of brain injury, western blotting, small animal behaviour, Immunohistochemistry.
Contact details: SoBMS Pharmacology
Level 3, Wallace Wurth East
Status:
Neuroplasticity in Memory and Addiction
Research Area: Our group investigates the cellular mechanisms of memory formation. We aim to identify of novel mechanisms that modulate or preserve neuronal connections that may be translated into treatments for disorders of impaired or aberrant connectivity such as Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. Our approach includes patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings and live-cell high resolution fluorescence imaging.
Techniques:Honours projects examine 1) cellular mechanisms of addiction, 2) role of the endoplasmic reticulum in coupling synaptic activity and gene-transcription, 3) modulation of synaptic plasticity.
Contact details: SoBMS Physiology/ Translational Neuroscience Facility
Level 3, Wallace Wurth West
P: 9385 2910
Sensori-Motor Neuroprotection
Research Area: Neuroprotection and repair in sensori-motor pathways: bionics-based gene delivery with cochlear implants, noise and age-related hearing loss, brain injury repair (stroke models).
Techniques: In vivo imaging, cellular and systems electrophysiology, gene knock-outs, Immunohistochemistry, electrotherapeutics, gene therapy.
Contact details: SoBMS Physiology/ Translational Neuroscience Facility
Level 3, Wallace Wurth West
Status:
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Behavioural Neuroscience
Research area: The role of epigenetic modifications in the development and persistence of drug addiction. Drugs of abuse lead to histone and DNA modifications that regulate the expression of genes critical for reward-related behaviour, and the formation and persistence of drug memories. Advanced molecular and sequencing techniques are paired with sophisticated behavioural paradigms to demonstrate the functional consequences of epigenetic modifications on the acquisition, maintenance and relapse to drug-seeking.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 909
P: 9385 3523
Status:
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research areas: Examination of the role of dopamine in animal models of drug addiction; control of behavioural flexibility by the prefrontal cortex
Techniques: Central and systemic administration of neurochemical agents; psychopharmacology; behavioural assessment; animal models of human mental disorder
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 1609
P: 9385 3034
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research areas: Neural circuit analyses of fear and reward learning, using optogenetics, chemogenetics, and fibre photometry in normal and transgenic rats using standard and intersectional viral vector approaches.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 504
P: 9385 3044
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research areas: An examination of whether behavioural expression of conditioned fear in rats is appropriate to their age at training or their age at testing, Extinction of learned fear, Infantile amnesia, Contextual conditioning.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 511
P: 9385 1048
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research areas: My laboratory employs sophisticated behaviour models and modern genetic tools to uncover how the brain implements motivated behaviours and adaptive decision-making. Two projects are currently available. The first examines the neural circuitry mediating fear regulation. The second project explores the cellular, molecular and neural interactions mediating the influence of environmental stimuli on choice between actions.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 406
P: 9385 1836
Status:
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research areas: Understanding the neural circuits and their interaction with gut signals that control feeding behaviours using a combination of genetic tools, pharmacology, behavioural tasks and histology in rodent models.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 509
Status: Current October 2021
Behavioural Neuroscience
Scientia Professor Bernard Balleine
Australian Laureate Fellow
NHMRC Senior Principal Research FellowResearch areas: My current research projects examine the psychological and neural bases of learning and motivation particularly relating goal-directed action, reward learning, predictive learning and decision making. We use animal and human subjects, and numerous cutting edge techniques to image and manipulate brain processes. For more information, see my research profile: http://www.psy.unsw.edu.au/contacts-people/academic-staff/scientia-professor--bernard-balleine.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Decision Neuroscience Lab
Mathews Level 4
Email: Scientia Professor Bernard Balleine
Behavioural Neuroscience
ARC Future Fellow
Research areas: I use animal models to study the behavioural and neurobiological substrates of attention, learning and memory. I am interested in the factors which regulate these processes in a normal brain, cause disturbances to these processes in a diseased brain, and the implications of these disturbances for disorders like post-traumatic stress (PTSD). In one line of inquiry, I study how basic information is processed in the brain, and how motivational states (like fear) change the way that information is processed. In a second line of inquiry, I study how the brain deals with contrasting information, and the role of context in processing this information. You can find more information about my publications here http://www.psy.unsw.edu.au/contacts-people/research-staff/dr-nathan-holmes
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 909
Email: Dr Nathan Holmes
Phone: (02) 9385 3523
Fax: (02) 9385 3641
Behavioural Neuroscience
ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow
Research areas: My research is in behavioural neuroscience and my projects investigate the brain circuitry that support learning and memory. To do this, I use animal models in a wide range of experimental protocols. Some projects assess the involvement of specific neurotransmitters in processing environmental cues and how that may interact with fear and/or reward learning. Other projects aim to identify how a poor diet can affect learning and motivation. For more information, please see: https://www.psy.unsw.edu.au/contacts-people/research-staff/dr-justine-fam
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 709
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research areas: Identifying the psychological, cognitive and neuroscience markers of mental wellbeing and resilience in twins
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia, and School of Psychology, UNSW
Status:
Cognitive Neuroscience/ PsychEngineering
Research areas: The lab studies many different exciting and cutting-edge topics from new methods to map the human brain, to how we make decisions and how imagination works. Current projects include, mental imagery, human intuition and decision making, visual hallucinations and visual memory. We use all human methods (inc. fMRI, TMS, tDCS).
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews level 16 Future Minds Lab.
P: 9385 3969
Decision Neuroscience Lab
Research areas:
1. Characterising learning-related signals in new genetically-encoded activity reporters in mice in vivo Dr Jay Bertran-Gonzalez & Dr Miriam Matamales
2. Neuronal circuits during action learning and automatisation in behaving mice
Dr Miriam Matamales & Dr Jay Bertran-GonzalezOur goal is to understand how learning is encoded in brain circuits, and how new behaviours that did not exist before imprint in neuronal circuits when they are generated, matured and adapted upon changes in environmental rules.
We combine behavioural procedures in mice drawn from the associative learning literature with the use of modern microscopy and transgenic technology for the recording, tracing and manipulation of specific circuits in the brain.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Status:
Forensic Psychology
Professor & Director of Master of Psychology (Forensic) Program
Research areas: I am interested in topics relating to forensic and legal psychology applied cognitive psychology, applied perception, face identification and identity verification, eyewitness memory and evidence, forensic science evidence, and jury deliberation in complex trials. Richard Kemp and Ben Newell would also be interested in jointly supervising a project on rip spotting – What is the best way to train people to spot rips at the beach? See my Google Scholar profile for a full list of publications (https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=gSI3LAgAAAAJ&hl=en).
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 1005
Email: Professor Richard Kemp
Phone: (02) 9385 1401
Status: Current October 2021
Molecular Neuroscience
Research areas: Parkinson’s patients suffer from motor and beyond motor disorders. Using optogenetics technology, this project aims to provide better understanding and treatments for Parkinson’s Disease.
Drug addiction is a chronically relapsing and complex disorder. This project applies a combination behavioral, pharmacological and molecular biology tools to identify the neural circuitry underlying drug addiction.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 508
P: 9385 6552
Motivation, Attention and Perception Lab
Research areas: Cognition, perception, and emotion, with strong links to social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. The relationships between motivation, emotion, and attentional control, as well as how each of these factors influences basic cognitive processes such as perception and memory. The consequences of these interactions for psychological and physical health.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 705
Nutritional Neuroscience
Research areas: Our research projects utilise a range of molecular neuroscience techniques, including optogenetics, chemogenetics and fibre photometry to examine the neuronal basis of motivated behaviours such as food and fluid intake.
Potential thesis topics include-
1. Neural circuits that regulate feeding following bariatric surgery
2. The circumventricular organs and hypothalamic projections regulating thirst
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 708
P: 9385 2441
Status: Current October 2021
NeuroRecovery Research Hub
Research areas: The Neuroimaging, Neurobiology and Mental Health program aims to identify biomarkers for pain, and associated mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. In particular, the program aims to determine what is the relationship existing between chronic pain mental health problems on brain morphology and/or function.
Techniques: structural, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), MR spectroscopy.
Keywords: pain; imaging; mental health; connectivity
Contact details: School of Psychology
Biomedical Sciences (Biolink) Building, Level 1
M: y.quide@unsw.edu.au
P: 02 9065 1883Status: Current March 2022
Psychopathology/ Cognitive Neuroscience
Research areas: Cognitive and affective consequences of emotion regulation strategies, Thought suppression, memory, and formation of obsessions and compulsions, Cognitive bias modification in obsessive compulsive disorder.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 801
P: 9385 3031
Psychophysiology
Research areas: Physiological responses accompanying different emotional reactions, Which autonomic indices index emotion specific arousal, The neural correlates underlying arousal, When and where emotion specific indices of arousal occur in the brain? The projects will utilise both central measures of brain function (e.g., EEG and ERPs), and peripheral measures of autonomic function (e.g., SCR, HR).
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 711
P: 9385 3591
Social and Affective Neuroscience
Research areas: The lab uses electroencephalography, event-related potentials, and transcranial direct current stimulation, along with behavioural methods, to study humans emotions.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 1105
P: 9385 3520
Status: Current October 2021
Vision
ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow
Research areas: Neural mechanisms of visual perception - Poster link. My research aims to understand the workings of human visual system and its interaction with related brain systems (e.g., the influences of task, attention, memory on visual processes). I use behavioural methods (psychophysics) as well as neuroimaging (fMRI and MEG). You can find further information on my work here: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=-ReGIFQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews Building, Room 1015
Email: erin.goddard@unsw.edu.au
Status:
Vision
Research areas: The primary research focus of my laboratory is vision: how is visual processing different in autism and schizophrenia; why we perceive some visual patterns as beautiful; and how fragmented local information is perceptually integrated into a more global percept,. I am interested in the neural mechanisms underlying these processes (fMRI, EEG) as well as how they develop in infants and children.
Contact details: School of Psychology
Mathews, Room 715
P: 9385 1463
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Primary supervisors of Honours students from the below Institutes must have a conjoint academic appointment in the School of Biomedical Sciences or the School of Psychology. If the supervisor does not meet either of these requirements, a co-supervisor who is a member of staff within the School of Biomedical Sciences or the School of Psychology must be appointed.
Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA)
Laboratory of ImmunoPsychiatry
Reasearch areas: We invesitgate how the immune system hijacks the brain and causes symptoms of psychiatric illness, typically using animal models. Projects offered: 1. Using models of infection we are testing timecourses of behavioural responses and whether treatment with drugs that promote removal of excess gluatamate from the brain may be a novel treatment for inflamamtion-indcued depression.
2. Using mouse models of breast cancer and chemotherapy, we are investigating mechanisms and treatments for cancer-related cognitive impairment and anxiety disorders in cancer patients. 3. We are evaluating stress and inflamamtory markers biological samples from children with Autism to identify if there are subtypes of autism based on biological phenotype compared to diagnostic criteria.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia. Barker Street Randwick.
Email: a.walker@neura.edu.au;
Ph: 02 9399 1068
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Medicine/Psychiatry
Location: Schizophrenia Research Lab (SRL) within NeuRA
Prof Cynthia (Cyndi) Shannon Weickert
Reasearch areas: Enhancing neurogenesis in adult primates brain.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
Email: cyndi@neura.edu.au
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Medicine/Psychiatry
Location: Schizophrenia Research Lab (SRL) within NeuRA
Reasearch areas: Increased levels of midbrain immune-related transcripts in schizophrenia: relationship to changes in neurotransmitter systems.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
Email: cyndi@neura.edu.au
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Medicine/Psychiatry
Location: Schizophrenia Research Lab (SRL) within NeuRA
Prof Cynthia (Cyndi) Shannon Weickert
Reasearch areas: The role of the microbiome and metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia and related psychoses.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
Email: cyndi@neura.edu.au
Email:t.purves-tyson@neura.edu.au
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Medicine/Psychiatry
Location: Schizophrenia Research Lab (SRL) within NeuRA
Reasearch areas: Role of neuroinflammation and neurotransmitter systems in the improved cognition induced by estrogen receptor modulation.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
Email:t.purves-tyson@neura.edu.au
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Psychiatric Genetics
Reasearch areas: Bipolar Disorder is a severe and debilitating psychiatric condition, for which treatment is based on sequential trial-and-error of different medicines, which are only effective in a subset of patients. The biological predictors of treatment response remain largely obscure and will be the focus of this project.
Techniques: genomic risk profiling using polygenic risk scores; statistical analysis, bioinformatics; pharmacogenetics.Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA)
139 Barker St, Randwick
P: 9399 1836
Active and Healthy Ageing
Prof Kim Delbaere, Dr Kylie Radford, Dr Kim van Schooten , Dr Louise Lavrencic & , Dr Adrienne Withall
Reasearch areas:
Our group develops innovative approaches to promote healthy and active ageing. We focus on understanding physical, cognitive and psychological contributors to fall risk, dementia and inactivity. To address these contributors, we employ eHealth interventions to promote physical activity. Our target populations are: community-dwelling older people aged 65 years and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people aged 55 years and over, and a range of clinical populations (mild cognitive impairment, dementia, peripheral artery disease, Parkinson’s disease, etc). A few examples of topics of interest are:
- The effect of app-based exercise programs on balance, cognition and fall risk.
- The effect of self-managed psychological intervention programs on fear of falling.
- The effect of depression and fear of falling on daily activity levels.
- Understanding the relation between cognitive decline and physical health.
- Factors associated with uptake and adherence to exercise interventions.
- Development of novel wearable technologies to detect fall risk in daily life.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
School of Psychology / UNSW Science
School of Population Health / UNSW Health & Medicine
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Brain Structure and Function
Reasearch areas:
Research project 1: The impact of high-calorie food on brain and behaviour
Binge eating of high calorie foods results in a loss of control over food-seeking behavior. This project will investigate the neural mechanisms underlying this effect using a rodent model of binge eating. Pharmacological and microscopy techniques will be used to implicate the brain’s orexin system and to restore normal behaviour.
Research project 2: treating cognitive and motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
A preclinical model of Parkinson’s disease will be used to investigate methods to reverse deficits that result from striatal dopamine loss. This could include deficits in motor performance, habitual actions or brain neurochemistry. Techniques may include DREADDS, behaviour, and/or Immunohistochemistry/microscopy.
There is also a similar project available centred on brain and/or behaviour in an autism model.Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
P: 9399 1096Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Falls, Injury and Balance Research Centre
Prof Stephen Lord, Dr Jasmine Menant and Dr Daina Sturnieks
Research area: Fall prevention in older people
- Evaluation of step training using actual slips and trips in older people and people with Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. [We have new systems for training older adults to avoid slips and trips in a safe laboratory environment. The apparatus involves an overground slip/trip walkway and a slip/trip treadmill (i.e. sudden acceleration /deceleration).]
- Evaluation of innovative exergames for feasibility and effectiveness using randomized clinical trial designs.
- Remote detection of Freezing of Gait in people with Parkinson's Disease
- Visuo-spatial processing required for obstacle avoidance in young and older people, using motion capture to investigate behavioural outcomes and a freely-worn brain imaging device - functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study neural outcomes (pre-determined cortical regions of interest).
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, RandwickNeuroscience Research Australia & School of Biomedical Sciences(SoBMS)
Dr Annie Butler, Prof Simon Gandevia, Dr Martin Héroux
Research areas:
1. Dr Annie Butler, Prof Simon Gandevia, Dr Martin Héroux.
How the configuration of our upper limbs impacts how we perceive their location.
2. Prof Simon Gandevia, Dr Annie Butler, Dr Martin Héroux, Dr. David Kennedy (UTS)
Using tablet-based technology to test human body representation in the clinical setting.
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
a.butler@neura.edu.au (project 1)
s.gandevia@neura.edu.au (project 2)
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Sensorimotor control. Neural code, bionics.
Research areas: We offer wide variety of human research projects related to sensorimotor control, hand function. tactile sensory system, psychophysics, neural code, computational neuroscience machine learnining of neural signals, bionics.
We use some very sophisticated electronic equipment and robotic manipulators.. We have projects for students with various skills regardless whether you have basic neuroscience, psychology, engineering or computer science background.Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia
Barker Street, Randwick
P: 9399 1672
i.birznieks@neura.edu.au
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Peters Group
Research area: Does intergenerational practice, bringing prefrail older adults and preschool children together in mutual activities, reduce older adult frailty and improve quality of life?
Contact details: Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA)
Barker Street, Randwick
P: 9399 1015
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Peters Group
Research area: Intergenerational practice, bringing older adults and young children together for mutual benefit?
Contact details: Psychology/NeuRA
Status: Current. Updated October 2021
Other Institutions
Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry South West Sydney
Research areas: Autism, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, genotypes, neurocognitive predictors of treatment response in autism; genotypes and link with stimulant response in ADHD; genetic and neurophysiological underpinnings of Tourette Syndrome.
Contact details: ICAMHS, Mental Health Centre, L1
Liverpool Hospital, Elizabeth Street
Liverpool, NSW 2170
P: 96164364
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Dr Nady Braidy, Prof Henry Brodaty, Dr John Crawford, Dr Karen Croot, Dr Jiyang Jiang, Dr Nicole Kochan, Dr Ben Lam, Dr Darren Lipnicki, Dr Karen Mather, Dr Katya Numbers, Dr Anne Poljak, Dr Suraj Samtani, Dr Anbu Thalamuthu, A/Prof Wei Wen.
Research areas:
All topics in relation to cognitive brain ageing and dementia including neuropsychology, epidemiology, neuroimaging, genetics & genomics, proteomics and statistics. Large data sets available for analysis in relation to brain imaging, genetics of dementia, blood biomarkers of dementia, epidemiology of cognitive decline.
Neuroimaging and brain ageing laboratories are also available.
All topics in relation to neuropsychiatry and behavioural neurology.
Special interest in drug-induced movement disorders, epilepsy, Tourette syndrome, cognitive disorders.Visit the CHEeBA website for more info: https://cheba.unsw.edu.au
All topics in relation to neuropsychiatry and behavioural neurology. Special interest in drug-induced movement disorders, epilepsy, Tourette syndrome, cognitive disorders.
Contact details: Psychiatry / CHeBA
P: (02) 9065 0398 E: s.dean@unsw.edu.au
Status: Current. Updated November 2021
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Psychosocial research areas: Role of positive and negative social interactions in cognitive ageing. Assessment of psychological processes related to the mental health of older adults.
Contact details: Psychiatry / Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Status: Current. Updated November 2021
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Research areas: Changes in cerebrovascular burdens in ageing.
Contact details: Psychiatry / Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Research areas:
Memory and Ageing Study (MAS)
https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/research-projects/sydney-memory-and-ageing-study
- What is the psychological health over time of MAS participants aged 70-90yo. We have data longitudinally for up to 14 years on depression, anxiety, K10/PHQ9, apathy, positive mental health, satisfaction with life.
- Correlations.
- Psychotropics.
- Course.
- Outcomes – association with dementia, death. Mild behavioural impairment (MBI) (Ismail Z et al).
- Does MBI in cognitively normal older people predict cognitive decline over time? Examine data from 1037 MAS participants had Neuropsychiatric Inventory ratings at T1 and have been followed up over 14 years.
- Progression of behavioural symptoms in population of cognitively normal people?
What is the natural history of behaviours and psychological symptoms associated with dementia (BPSD) over 14 years? - c) & d) could be separate or combined into one project.
- .Cognisance – Codesigning Diagnostic process and post-diagnostic care.
https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/consortia/cognisance - Interviewing participants (people diagnosed with dementia in last 12 months and their family members) about their experience with receiving the diagnosis and about what advice they had about how to live well with diagnosis.
- Qualitative study of Sydney older people with dementia and their family members and their doctors/health care practitioners.
Contact details: Psychiatry / Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA)
Status: Current. Updated November 2021
Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN)
Dr Samuel Arnold & Dr Jacqueline Rushby
Research areas: The Australian Longitudinal Study of Autistic Adults (ALSAA) is a nation-wide study of autistic adults (aged 25+ years), their carers / family members, and a community comparison sample. Now in the midst of time 2 data gathering, multiple project opportunities exist for motivated students with interest in the area of autism. In combination with our sister Study of Australian School-leavers with Autism (SASLA) a large existing sample covering ages 15-80 years is available. Particular areas of interest that could be explored by potential scholars include:
- Love, relationships and happiness.
- Social anxiety measurement.
- Longitudinal loneliness and personality.
- Physical activities and mental health.
Many further data points are also available. Data gathered is well-suited to add-on mixed methods investigations. ALSAA utilises an inclusive research approach with guidance from a group of autistic advisors.
Contact details: School of Psychiatry
P: 9385 0620
Eating Disorders
Prof Herbert Herzog, Dr Yan Shi, Dr Lei Zhang & Dr Nicola Lee
Research areas: Our laboratory's major goal is to understand how the brain, notably the hypothalamus, regulates appetite and body weight. Defects in the brain pathways that regulate these processes may be responsible for wasting conditions such as anorexia nervosa and cancer cachexia as well as the metabolic resistance to weight loss that often occurs when people try to shed excess weight. We use state of the art molecular biology and physiology technologies to address these questions.
Contact details: Neuroscience Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
P: 9295 8296
Genetics & Neuroscience of Psychosis
A/Prof Melissa Green, Dr Yann Quide
Research areas: Our group conducts multi-disciplinary research of psychotic disorders that bridges the complementary disciplines of epidemiology and neuroscience. Our neuroscience work integrates systems-level biology (genetics, epigenetics, neural, cognitive, stress and immune systems) with clues from epidemiology about environmental risk factors (mostly stress-related), to determine processes involved in the development of psychosis that are common among different diagnoses (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and/or bipolar disorder). We collaborate with researchers at the Black Dog Institute and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).
Contact details: School of Psychiatry
St Vincent's Hospital/ NeuRA
P: 8382 1584
Status: Current 2022
Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering (GSBmE)
Prof Nigel Lovell, Dr Amr Al Abed
Project: Light and optical-electrodes for electrophysiology sensing and modulation.
Research area: Neurophysiology recording techniques, cardiac electrophysiology.
Contact details: Samuels Building, UNSW
P: 9385 3922
Status: Current October 2021
Neurodegeneration and Neurogenomics
Research areas: Our major focus is Parkinson's Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's Disease. The lack of knowledge of the underlying mechanisms responsible for causing Parkinson's Disease (PD) and its progression is the major impediment to therapeutic advances and a cure. To achieve earlier diagnoses, monitoring disease progression and the development of treatments, our research focuses uses multifaceted approaches to discover the cascade of molecular and cellular events that cause the loss of neurons in PD.
Contact details: Neuroscience Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
P: 9295 8238
Neuroendocrinology
Research areas: My group’s primary interests centre on the neuroendocrine control of obesity and diabetes with a special focus on the NPY system. we aim to understand how centrally- and peripherally produced NPY and PYY affects appetite, fat metabolism, insulin secretion/action and energy/glucose homeostasis. By employing sophisticated transgenic animal models and cutting edge molecular techniques, we are able to uncover the critical functions of the NPY system in the brain as well as in the peripheral tissues including brown/white fat and pancreatic islets. Moreover, the key molecular pathways and neuronal circuitries underlying the functions will also be investigated.
Contact details: Neuroscience Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
P: 9295 8530 (office) or 9295 8301 (lab)
Neuro-inflammation
Research areas:
- Neuro-inflammation:- CNS immunoregulation
- Animal models of Multiple Sclerosis
- Animal Models of Spinal Cord Injury
Contact details: St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research
St Vincent’s Hospital Research Precinct
Sydney Neurostimulation Centre
Dr Stevan Nikolin, Dr Donel Martin, Prof Colleen Loo
Research areas:
1. Developing an individualised method of dosing for transcranial direct current stimulation.
2. Developing an EEG-based dosing methodology for prefrontal transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Contact details: School of Psychiatry
Black Dog Institute, Randwick
P: 9382 3721 (Randwick)
http://www.sync.unsw.edu.au/
Status: Current. October 2021
Paediatric Neuromuscular Diseases
Research areas: Neuromuscular diseases in children.
Studies include understanding causes, measuring disease progression and improving the management of neuromuscular diseases in children.
Contact details: School of Women's & Children's Health
Level 3, Sydney Children's Hopsital, Randwick
P: 9382 1799
Retinal Networks Laboratory, School of Optometry & Vision Science
Research areas: We investigate the anatomical and functional characteristics of the retina including how retinal circuitry operates with regards to neurotransmitter release, neurotransmitter receptor localisation and receptor functionality. Using animal models for inherited retinal dystrophy or create metabolic insult (ischaemia/reperfusion), we can compare the retinal network of normal and diseased retinas and analyse the functional remodelling which occurs during retinal disease.
Contact details: Centre for Eye Health
Rupert Myers Building (south wing), UNSW
P: 8115 0710
School of Optometry & Vision Science and Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith, Dr Mohit Shivadasani
Research areas: Our group investigates the cellular mechanisms of memory formation. We aim to identify of novel mechanisms that modulate or preserve neuronal connections that may be translated into treatments for disorders of impaired or aberrant connectivity such as Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. Our approach includes patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings and live-cell high resolution fluorescence imaging.
Projects: Does Neural Selectivity in the Retina Depend on the Extent of Retinal Degeneration – Implications for Bionic Eyes
Contact details: Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith
Status: Current. October 2021
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Project title Academic Are there shared genetic risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune diseases? (Honours/Masters/PhD)
Prof Bryce Vissel & Dr Peggy Rentsch
E: pe.rentsch@amr.org.auSt Vincent's Applied Medical Research
Characterising learning-related signals in new genetically-encoded activity reporters in vivo (Honours/Masters/PhD) Dr Jay Bertran-Gonzalez
E: j.bertran@unsw.edu.auSchool of Psychology (Matthews)
View websiteDefining addiction associated neural circuits (Honours) Dr John Power
E: john.power@unsw.edu.auSchool of Biomedical Sciences
View videoDeveloping new innovative technological devices for the assessment and treatment of Cervical Myelopathy and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
A/Prof James Van Gelder
E: j.vangelder@unsw.edu.auSydney Spine Institute and Public Hospital Sites
View posterDiscovering the neurobiology of schizophrenia (Honours/PhD) Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert
E: c.shannonweickert@neura.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA)
View posterCollaborating Investigators Dr Hayley North
Electroencephalographic (EEG) connectivity measures in states of reduced consciousness (Honours/Masters) Dr Frederic von Wegner
E: f.vonwegner@unsw.edu.auSchool of Biomedical Sciences
View posterExploring the role of alternative splicing in neurodevelopment using CRISPR technology (Honours/ PhD) Dr Robert Weatheritt
E: r.weatheritt@garvan.org.auGarvan Institute of Medical Research
View posterFunctional brain tissue conductivity imaging. A new paradigm for study of brain function (Honours/Masters/PhD)
Prof. Caroline Rae
E: c.rae@unsw.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia
Hindbrain neural circuits in food intake control / How glucagon-like peptide-1 regulates alcohol intake behaviours (Honours/Masters/PhD)
Dr Zhi Yi Ong
E: zhiyi.ong@unsw.edu.auSchool of Psychology
How proprioceptive perceptions of grasp aparture scale across the functional range and differ with task complexity (Honours)
Dr Annie Butler
E: a.butler@neura.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia
Implantable neuromodulation: Using ionic direct current to treat chronic pain (Honours/Masters/PhD) Dr Felix Aplin
E: f.aplin@unsw.edu.auSchool of Biomedical Sciences
View posterInvestigating anti-inflammatory effects of cannabinoid-based therapies in mouse models of Parkinson's disease and L-Dopa induced dyskinesia? (Honours/Masters/PhD)
Prof Bryce Vissel & Dr Peggy Rentsch
E: pe.rentsch@amr.org.auSt Vincent's Applied Medical Research
View posterInvestigating kynurenine pathway in multiple sclerosis (Honours/Masters/PhD) Prof. Bruce Brew & Dr Michael Lovelace
E: b.brew@unsw.edu.au
E: m.lovelace@amr.org.auSt Vincent's Centre for Applied Medical Research
View posterInvestigating mechanisms underlying neuroinflammation induced synapse loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease? (Honours/Masters/PhD) Prof Bryce Vissel & Dr Peggy Rentsch
E: pe.rentsch@amr.org.auSt Vincent's Applied Medical Research
View posterInvestigating microglia driven synapse loss in a mouse models of Parkinson’s disease and L-Dopa induced Dyskinesia? (Honours/Masters/PhD) Prof Bryce Vissel & Dr Peggy Rentsch
E: pe.rentsch@amr.org.auSt Vincent's Applied Medical Research
View posterLife with a blind mind
Extreme visual imagery from aphantasia to hyperphantasia
(Honours/PhD)
Prof. Joel Pearson
E: jpearson@unsw.edu.auSchool of Psychology
Lighting the brain pathways: Neural circuitry of drug addiction and movement disorders (Honours/Masters/PhD) Dr Asheeta Prasad
E: asheeta.prasad@unsw.edu.auSchool of Psychology
Microglia changes proximal to dopaminergic neurons following a neurodevelopmental immune insult (Honours/PhD) Dr Tertia Purves-Tyson
E: t.purves-tyson@neura.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia
View posterCollaborating Investigators
Preclinical Schizophrenia Research Team
Neural mechanisms of visual perception (Honours/Masters/PhD) Dr Erin Goddard
E: erin.goddard@unsw.edu.auSchool of Psychology
Neuroimmune cross-talk in the pathophysiology of chronic pain (Honours/Masters/PhD) Associate Professor Gila Moalem-Taylor
E: gila@unsw.edu.auSchool of Biomedical Sciences
View posterTactile information encoding and sensorimotor control: fundamental neuroscience, medicine, bionics and robots (Honours/Masters/PhD) Associate Professor Ingvars Birzniek
E: i.birznieks@unsw.edu.auAssociate Professor Richard Vickery
E: richard.vickery@unsw.edu.auSchool of Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA)
View poster
View videoTargeting the renin angiotensin system to treat cancer-related cognitive impairment, anxiety and depression - chemobrain (Honours/PhD)
Dr Adam Walker
E: a.walker@neura.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia
The neurophysiological effects of a one-week trial of transcutaneous spinal stimulation in individuals with a spinal cord injury (Honours/Masters)
Dr Martin Héroux
E: m.heroux@neura.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia
Translational neuroscience: Neuroprotection across focal brain disorders (Epilepsy), TBI, Stroke, Hearing, Vision & targeted DNA / RNA therapeutics (Honours/Masters/PhD)
Professor Gary Housley
E: g.housley@unsw.edu.auTranslational Neuroscience Facility, Wallace Wurth Building 3SW
Translational Neuroscience Facility, Wallace Wurth Building 3SW (Honours/Masters/PhD) Prof Gary Housley, Dr. Jennie Cederholm, Dr. Jeremy Pinyon, Dr. Dominik Froehlich, Dr. Georg von Jonquieres
E: g.housley@unsw.edu.auTranslational Neuroscience Facility, Wallace Wurth Building 3SW
View posterUnderstanding fall risk in cancer survivors with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy” (Honours / Masters / PhD) Dr Jasmine Menant
E: j.menant@neura.edu.auNeuroscience Research Australia
View videoUsing new innovative technological devices to help clinicians assess, treat and monitor patients with back and neck pain conditions.
(PhD)
A/Prof James Van Gelder
E: j.vangelder@unsw.edu.auSydney Spine Institute and Public Hospital Sites
View poster -
Dr Teri Furlong, Neurhonours Convenor.
Dr Jennie Cederholm, Neurhonours Co-Convenor.
Mr John Redmond, Neurhonours Administrator.
T: (02) 9065 6070Email for all: sbmsneurhonoursadmin@unsw.edu.au
