DO YOU like long chats on the phone? If so, some York scientists want to hear from you.

The team at the University of York wants volunteers for a project about the science of communication.

The volunteers will be asked to sit at home, they will be connected up to a group of their friends or family for free, with the chance to talk about anything they like for 30 minutes - and they will be entered in a £500 prize draw for their trouble.

"We want people to have a bit of fun," said Dr Darren Reed, of the Department of Psychology. "The project is a serious attempt, using group telephone calls, to understand just how a conversation works when people are talking with friends, but it could also be a highly entertaining experience. It's like a virtual pub - everyone will be in their own home, but the technology will allow them to chat as if they were together.

"We want to understand what makes a conversation between a group work well when using this type of equipment.

"After the call we'll contact the group and ask them what was good or bad about the experience. We want to understand how today's new technologies can be improved to make things like group telephone conversations even more rewarding."

The volunteer group telephone project, headed by Professor Andrew Monk, is the latest in a line of research at the university into communication between people using various electronic methods.

Earlier work concentrated on the business world, but the current project is aimed purely at people's use of the telephone for leisure purposes.

Anyone interested in taking part should contact Dr Reed on email

d.reed@psych.york.ac.uk or telephone 01904 434369. All ages are accepted.

Updated: 11:02 Wednesday, April 30, 2003