About the Project
NEW Deadline: Midnight Thursday 1st September 2016 (Interviews will be held w/c 5th September)
This project provides an excellent opportunity for the successful candidate to use their knowledge of applied Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to research and develop GIS-based accessibility tools as a series of customised interfaces that enable accessibility calculations to be conducted by the non-expert user in a number of application areas which have the potential to contribute to Tenovus Cancer Care priority areas. The project is co-sponsored by Tenovus Cancer Care, which delivers innovative research-led cancer prevention, treatment and support in the community to people with the greatest need in Wales.
The PhD studentship will build on research conducted in the GIS Research Centre concerned with developing small area measures of geographical accessibility to a range of public services including primary and secondary health care. To date, measures of access to health services such as screening have tended to be based on relatively simplistic measures of accessibility such as the nearest straight-line distance to such services or the numbers of facilities found within a particular administrative area. The proposed project will adopt an approach based on models developed within open source GIS environments to examine the relative impacts of social and geographical factors on access to a range of cancer treatments. This research has the potential to contribute to debates surrounding the future provision of cancer services within Wales, the UK and internationally and will generate interest from both public and policy audiences. In particular, the tools developed will enable Tenovus Cancer Care to investigate the impact of spatial configurations of cancer services in a range of application areas.
Eligibility of Student:
To be eligible to hold a KESS studentship, you must:
- have a home address in the Convergence area* (details below) at the time of registration.
- have the right to take up paid work in the Convergence area* on completion of the scholarship.
- be classified by the University as ‘home’ or ‘EU’ for tuition fees purposes, according to the University’s guidelines.
- satisfy University of South Wales’ admissions criteria: see below
*The Convergence area covers West Wales and the Valleys, and is made up of the following 15 local authorities: Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen.
Qualifications and experience:
Eligible applicants will have:
- A good first degree (2i or higher) or Masters in geography, GIS, statistics, computer science or a related discipline
- Good computer programming skills, or a firm commitment and desire to develop such skills
- A positive attitude to practical and applied research, and be able to work in a self-directed manner and have the inter-personal skills to interface with the larger research team
- A willingness to travel and engage with specialists in cancer support services at local, regional and national levels
The position is available from 1st October 2016.
Funding Notes
The project is funded by the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) programme and will be based in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science at the University of South Wales. KESS is a programme funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) awarded by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) in the Welsh Government.
The studentship will cover the fees for a 3 year full time PhD programme and pay a stipend of circa £14k p.a. There is also around £3.5k project support costs available for consumables, travel/conference attendance, minor equipment, training (including the KESS Grad School) and conference attendance.
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