How does specialist dementia nursing work? A mixed methods study of UK Admiral Nursing

Applications are invited for a funded, full-time PhD studentship, based at UCL Division of Psychiatry/ Dementia UK. The post is funded for three years from October 2020.
This is an exciting opportunity to undertake a PhD in applied health and social science, in a project jointly funded by ESRC and Dementia UK. The PhD will explore how Admiral Nurses, specialist dementia nurses deliver care and how care experienced by people living with dementia and family carers. The student will, with training and supervision, use mixed methods to explore how the service Admiral Nurses are providing to family carers of people with dementia differs from the more generalist approach that other family carers and people with dementia receive. They will explore in depth how care is delivered and experienced, and what aspects of the clinical encounters within generalist and specialist nursing dementia care models are or are not experienced as supportive and valued by family carers and professionals. They will research how client characteristics, practitioner skills and training and service characteristics influence how care is delivered and so might explain any differences. There will be opportunities to situate findings in an international context, through existing links of the research team.
This project will include opportunities to engage with researchers across a broad range of health and social care disciplines.
The student will be based mainly in UCL Division of Psychiatry, where academic supervision and broader skills training and career development support will be provided. For about 25% of the time, the student will be based in Dementia UK. Dementia UK will support the study from protocol development and recruitment to dissemination and implementation. We anticipate that the close collaboration between UCL Division of Psychiatry and Dementia UK will benefit the student and provide an ideal environment to learn at the interface of policy, research and clinical practice.

Key requirements

Master’s qualification (or to have completed their Master’s by September 2020) in an appropriate discipline and a minimum of a 2:1 or equivalent in a first degree. All applicants are required to have excellent written and verbal communication skills. They should also be willing to work collaboratively in multi-disciplinary and multi-professional teams. We will expect them to have demonstrated a research interest in dementia, and have a strong interest in social science research and qualitative methods.
Please check residency requirements on website: https://ubel-dtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply-2-how-to-apply-2-how-to-apply-2-how-to-apply-2-how-to-apply-2/eligibility-2/

Further details

If you have any queries about this studentship, please contact Claudia Cooper, Professor of psychiatry of older age in UCL Division of Psychiatry at [Email Address Removed] (first supervisor) or Alexandra Burton at [Email Address Removed] (second supervisor)
Further details about the UCL Division of Psychiatry are available here: https://ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry

How to apply

Send the following documents to [Email Address Removed]
• CV, including full details of all University course grades to date and contact details (phone number and email).
• Contact details for two academic or professional referees (at least one academic). References will be taken up for all short-listed candidates.
A covering letter (500 words maximum) outlining: (i) your suitability for the project, (ii) what you hope to achieve from the PhD, and (iii) your research experience to date.