An exploration into emergence and development of meta organizations for the development of drugs for orphan and neglected diseases.

Overview

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 seeks to ensure health and well-being for all, at every stage of life. In this respect improving health of the poor and neglected, in particular, assumes critical significance. More than 90% of annual deaths from diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, dengue, encephalitis and hepatitis, which are categorised as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) occurs in low-income countries. In contrast to NTDs, which affect a sizable population of the world, diseases categorised as orphan or rare diseases (ODs) affect fewer than 200,000 individuals, mostly in high-income countries. Increasingly the development of new drugs or medical solutions for such diseases are championed by medical foundations, which bring together numerous organizations to create and manage product development partnerships. We posit that remediating NTDs and ODs is a matter of equity, compassion and humanitarianism at large.

Project details

Complexities underpinning development of drugs for NTDs and ODs, remain unexplored in contemporary organization and management research. The primary aim of the research is to explore the formation and evolution of medical foundations / product development partnerships established for the development of drugs for neglected tropical diseases and orphan diseases. The research aims to adopt insights from meta-organizational and ecosystem perspectives to explore and analyse structural and relational issues that underpin these inter-organizational arrangements. This PhD research will employ a processual approach and adopt qualitative research design including a range of methods to collect data, e.g., semi-structured interviews, workshops, observations etc.

The project supervisory team collectively has considerable experience in researching about, and involvement with, collaborative development of new bio-pharmaceutical products including NTDs; and involvement with pharmaceuticals professional bodies and learned societies that provide a rich network of collaborators and influencers intent on informing public health policies.

If you would like to discuss this PhD research project please contact Dr Swetketu Patnaik (swetketu.patnaik(@)aru.ac.uk)

Candidate requirements

Applications are invited from UK fee status only. Applicants should have (or expect to achieve) a minimum upper second-class undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a cognate discipline. A Masters’ degree in a relevant subject is desirable.

Applicants must be prepared to study on a full-time basis, attending at our Cambridge campus. The Vice Chancellor’s PhD scholarship awards are open to Home fee status applicants only.

Application Procedures

Applications for a Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship are made through the application portal on our website: https://aru.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research/phd-studentships    

We will review all applications after the submission deadline of 27^th February. We will contact shortlisted applicants in the week commencing 14^th March. Interviews will be held between 21^st March – 1^st April. The interview date for this project can be found on our website.

If you have any queries relating to the application process or the terms and conditions of the scholarships, please email vcphdscholarships(@)aru.ac.uk

Documentation required

You will need the following documents available electronically to upload them to the application portal (we can accept files in pdf, jpeg or Word format):

1. Certificates and transcripts from your Bachelor and Masters degrees, (if applicable)
2. Your personal statement explaining your suitability for the project
3. Passport and visa (if applicable)
4. Curriculum Vitae