Two Full-time PhD (via MPhil) studentships are available at Liverpool John Moores University, via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast (ARC NWC). NIHR ARC NWC is one of 15 regional ARCS funded by the NIHR to bring together those needed to support research to improve health and care. Our vision is to address the considerable health inequalities across our region through the collaborative production and implementation of high-quality applied health research in our five themes. Research supported by the ARC NWC must be relevant to the needs of the diverse communities served by the NIHR ARC NWC and its local health and care system, and be generalisable across health and care nationally, as well as within the local health and care system where it is conducted. Our Doctoral Fellows are distributed across the themes and universities and are a crucial part of our Academic Career Development Strategy.
The supervisory teams have a broad range of expertise, and experience in successful supervision to PhD completion. Two from the 11 projects currently advertised will be funded, reference ARC1-11.
Immersive Dementia. The clinical and socioeconomic value of an immersive Virtual Reality cultural intervention with people living with dementia
There is no cure for dementia. Nonetheless, technology (Smith & Simkhada, 2019) and cultural programmes (Ganga & Wilson, 2020) are beneficial non-pharmacological interventions that can improve the lives of people living with dementia (Livingston, 2020). Everton Football Club's charity arm (Everton in the Community) 'Pass on the Memories' is one of its most effective impact and soon will be re-purposed as an Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) intervention. A recent systematic review (Clay, et al., 2020) reveals iVR as a field in its infancy, and the evidence supporting the generalizability of iVR is limited. There is a pressing need to link iVR studies to existing clinical cohorts to determine if these techniques have additional benefits beyond conventional measures and if they can significantly contribute to a reduction in health inequalities for people with dementia. This PhD fellowship is designed in collaboration with Everton Football Club's charity arm (Everton in the Community) 'Pass on the Memories' to address the following question: What are the clinical and socioeconomic benefits of iVR cultural interventions to support people living well with dementia in disadvantage communities?
The fellowship will be embedded in a more extensive research and innovation programme led at LJMU by the Centre for Collaborative Innovation in Dementia, which will generate robust evidence base on the role of iVR cultural intervention with people living with dementia. This study will use a living lab approach to facilitate co-production, research innovation and implementation of an iVR cultural intervention with people living with dementia in a disadvantaged community. PhD studentship will i) design and test a user involvement-led research and innovation methodology; ii) validate iVR cultural content to and by people living with dementia; iii) disseminate the methods and intervention within the quadruple helix arrangement amplifying the impact of the study and ultimately benefiting the wider community.
Contact details: For informal enquiries or for any further information please contact Dr Grahame Smith ([Email Address Removed])
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