Two Cancer Research UK funded studentships within the UK Colorectal Cancer Intelligence Hub

We are looking for two exceptionally high calibre students with an interest in using ‘big data’ to improve cancer outcomes. The successful candidates will be able to select a project that best suit their interests from within a wide-ranging cancer intelligence programme. These positions offer an excellent opportunity to be at the forefront of cutting-edge applied health research funded by the largest independent cancer research charity in the world.

Each year in the UK around 41,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 16,000 die from it. It is estimated that detecting and managing the illness costs the NHS in excess of £1.1 billion annually and, in parallel, the research community puts significant resource and effort into understanding, detecting and managing the disease. Despite this investment, survival rates are poor and there remain major variations in diagnosis, treatment and outcomes.

It is recognised that high quality data are essential to improving outcomes. Good cancer intelligence underpins patient choice, identifies and quantifies inequalities, improves the cost-effectiveness and quality of services and supports cancer research. Unfortunately, the availability of such high-quality cancer intelligence has been limited.

A new Cancer Research UK programme of research at the University of Leeds seeks to rectify this by robustly linking and analysing multiple routine data sources to enable scrutiny of colorectal cancer services. The Programme will securely and anonymously link together routine datasets (from sources such as primary cancer registries, hospitals, screening programmes, clinical trials, biobanks, and social media, etc.) to generate a population-based resource containing information on all individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the UK.

These ‘big’ and ‘real world’ data offer enormous potential and will be exploited for numerous studies that will provide evidence to:

• promote earlier diagnosis and reduce emergency presentations;
• enhance the uptake and accuracy of screening programmes;
• assess inequalities (in relation to age, sex, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity) at a national and international level;
• assess the quality of diagnosis and treatment;
• quantify long-term consequences (mortality, morbidity and psychosocial impact) of the disease and its treatment;
• support precision medicine and clinical trials;
• develop new methods to robustly assess cancer outcomes using routine data, and use of new and novel datasets in the context of cancer research (such as social care, consumer, social media, housing, pollution, energy, environment, and transport).

To discuss potential projects, or to just find out more about the studentships, please contact Amy or Eva from the study team in the first instance.

Dr Amy Downing – a.downing@leeds.ac.uk – 0113 206 8990
Prof Eva Morris – e.morris@leeds.ac.uk – 0113 2026 8958

Eligibility

Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a first or upper second class honours degree in a relevant discipline, and be highly committed to pursuing a PhD in applied cancer research.

The Faculty minimum requirements for candidates whose first language is not English are:

• British Council IELTS - score of 6.5 overall, with no element less than 6.0
• TOEFL iBT - overall score of 92 with the listening and reading element no less than 21, writing element no less than 22 and the speaking element no less than 23.

How to apply

To apply for this scholarship applicants should complete a Faculty Scholarship Application form and send this alongside a full academic CV, degree transcripts (or marks so far if still studying) and degree certificates to the Faculty Graduate School fmhgrad@leeds.ac.uk.

We also require 2 academic references to support your application. Please ask your referees to send these references on your behalf, directly to fmhgrad@leeds.ac.uk by no later than Friday 17 March 2017.

If you have already applied for other scholarships using the Faculty Scholarship Application form you do not need to complete this form again. Instead you should email fmhgrad@leeds.ac.uk to inform us you would like to be considered for this scholarship project.

Any queries regarding the application process should be directed to fmhgrad@leeds.ac.uk.

Funding Notes

Two full time PhD studentships are available for UK and EU citizens only. Cancer Research UK sponsorship includes a generous tax free stipend (currently £19,000 for 2016/17) for up to 4 years, subject to satisfactory progress and will cover the UK/EU tuition fees. The standard period of study for this PhD is 3 years, however the funding will also support successful candidates for an additional 12 months during their writing up period, up until their thesis deadline.