Psoriatic arthritis can have onset in child or adulthood, from infants to the elderly. It is a highly heterogenous disease, with features potentially affecting the joints, skin, nails and scalp. Despite a continuum of similar disease across the lifecourse, in practice, psoriatic arthritis is siloed into paediatric or adult medicine. These specialties have different classification criteria alongside different treatment guidelines for psoriatic arthritis, and therefore different availability in potentially effective therapies. This separation of two potentially equivalent diseases disservices both children and adults with psoriatic arthritis, missing opportunities to understand age-related disease mechanisms and delaying treatment availability based on an arbitrary age cut-off. To harmonise care across the lifecourse of PsA, age-dependent and age-independent associations with disease presentation and treatment response must be uncovered.
Rich data on clinical features and their impacts have been collected within several UK prospective cohorts in both children and adults with psoriatic arthritis. These large datasets provide invaluable clinical and patient-reported outcome data. This PhD offers the opportunity to use these data to analyse a range of short and longer-term outcomes, deemed important by children and young people and adults with psoriatic arthritis. The project has some flexibility and, alongside the supervisors, a specific project focused on the applicant’s interests can be refined. The anticipated outcomes would be a series of high impact publications focusing on highly-impactful clinical outcomes, contributing to effective stratified care in psoriatic arthritis across the lifecourse. Strong methodological skills which could be built upon or transferred to post-doctoral work are anticipated.
Entry Requirements
Candidates are expected to hold (or be about to obtain) a minimum upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in epidemiology, statistics, data science, computing or other related field. A Masters degree in a relevant subject and/or experience in a related subject area/discipline is desirable. This PhD would be attractive to candidates with experience and training in epidemiology and also for those from a statistical or data science background looking to increase their knowledge and experience in applied pharmacoepidemiology.
Applicants interested in this project should make direct contact with the Primary Supervisor to arrange to discuss the project further as soon as possible.
How To Apply
For information on how to apply for this project, please visit the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Doctoral Academy website (https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/research/apply/). Informal enquiries may be made directly to the primary supervisor. On the online application form select the appropriate subject title.
For international students, we also offer a unique 4 year PhD programme that gives you the opportunity to undertake an accredited Teaching Certificate whilst carrying out an independent research project across a range of biological, medical and health sciences.
Incomplete applications will not be considered and withdrawn.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Equality, diversity and inclusion is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities. The full Equality, diversity and inclusion statement can be found on the website https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/research/apply/equality-diversity-inclusion/”