Drinking alcohol during pregnancy has serious consequences such as miscarriage, preterm birth, and low birthweight, and have a detrimental impact on foetal development in the form of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. However, the UK has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption during pregnancy in the world. Research suggests every third pregnancy in the UK is unplanned, which reduces opportunities to adapt healthy behaviours before conception, such as alcohol abstinence. This leads to alcohol exposed conception, and many women continuing to drink for weeks or month until their pregnancy status is known. Reducing the harm from alcohol consumption around conception and during pregnancy has been highlighted as one of the priority areas in the UK to achieve the vision set out in Better Births and reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women and their babies. Considering the ongoing technological developments in healthcare, the use of mobile or similar devices provides opportunities to reach large numbers of individuals with interventions. This PhD involves a range of research activities to inform the development of a novel digital intervention. The objectives are to: 1. Identify relevant behaviour change strategies which can underpin the alcohol abstinence intervention model. 2. Investigate how women of reproductive age group use technology to access health related information particularly about healthy behaviours, and examine barriers and facilitators to implementing positive behaviours. 3. Understand what information women and their partners would like to receive about the effects of alcohol consumption and importance of alcohol abstinence during pregnancy or planning pregnancy. 4. Co-design an alcohol intervention model with women and their partners for use through a digital application. 5. Understand the role of clinicians and healthcare providers in promoting the use of the application and its integration within their clinical practice. This PhD offers a great opportunity for an enthusiastic student to be trained in mixed methods research with a focus on the intervention development component and work in collaboration with a national maternal and child health charity. Applicants are expected to hold a minimum upper second-class undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in health sciences, public health, psychology, statistics, or related fields. A Master’s degree in a relevant subject/discipline with prior experience in mixed methods and/or intervention development research is desirable. The successful candidate will work with a multidisciplinary team of researchers based in Guildford and Hull. Support will be provided for developing skills in research design, data collection, analysis, and peer-reviewed publication.
Principal Supervisor – Dr Anand Ahankari, Lecturer in Maternal, Child and Family Health
Dr Ahankari is trained in Epidemiology and Public Health and has over 10 years of research experience gained through his academic, NGO, and consultancy appointments. His expertise is in maternal, child, & adolescent health research areas, mainly to support study design, implementation, analysis, and dissemination. The PhD will be supervised by three additional supervisors (Prof Lesley Smith, Prof Jo Armes, and Dr Afrodita Marcu). [Email Address Removed]
Entry requirements
Open to UK and international students with the project starting in October 2023. Note that a maximum of 30% of the studentships will be offered to international students.
You will need to meet the minimum entry requirements for our PhD programme https://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/health-sciences-phd#entry.
How to apply
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the relevant principal supervisor(s) to discuss the project(s) before submitting their application.
Applications should be submitted via the https://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/health-sciences-phd#apply programme page (N.B. Please select the October 2023 start date when applying).
You may opt to apply for a single project or for 2 of these Faculty-funded studentship projects.
When completing your application, in place of a research proposal, please provide a brief motivational document (1 page maximum) which specifies:
- the reference numbers(s) for the project or two projects you are applying for
- the project title(s) and principal supervisor name(s)
- if applying for two projects, please also indicate your order of preference for the projects
- an explanation of your motivations for wanting to study for a PhD
- an explanation of your reasons for selecting the project(s) you have chosen
Additionally, to complete a full application, you MUST also email a copy of your CV and 1-page motivational document directly to the relevant project principal supervisor of each project you apply for. Due to short turnaround times for applicant shortlisting, failure to do this may mean that your application is not considered.
Please note that online interviews for shortlisted applicants are expected to take place during the week commencing 30th January.
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