I received an email from the University of Bristol today, advertising a PhD in 'The Psychoactive effects of chocolate and chocolate constituents' in the Department of Experimental Psychology...

 

A Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award (DHPA) is available to a student from India, China, Hong Kong, Brazil, South Africa, Russia or the developing world (guess that rules me out then!) to study for a PhD in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, UK. http://psychology.psy.bris.ac.uk/ 

The topic of the research is the psychoactive effects of chocolate and chocolate constituents. The supervisor will be Professor Peter Rogers ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

The work is likely to include studies of changes in mood induced by, for example, caffeine, theobromine and cocoa (see Smit et al., Psychopharmacology, 176, 127-139), and studies of mood and cognition in chocolate ‘cravers' and ‘non-cravers' before during and after eating chocolate.

Of particular interest is the idea that chocolate ‘craving' is the product of attempted restraint and thought suppression arising from ambivalent attitudes (‘nice but naughty') toward this food (see Rogers and Smit, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 66, 3-14; Kavanagh et al., Psychological Review 112, 446-467).

The award is funded by Cadbury plc and BBSRC. To be eligible for a DHPA, normally students must hold at least the equivalent of a UK first class honours degree in an appropriate subject. (I guess that rules me out too! oh well )

Full eligibility requirements and further information can be found at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/hodgkin/default.htm The closing date for applications is 31st August 2008.

For information on how to apply see http://psychology.psy.bris.ac.uk/pgrad/index.html
Or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it