4-year PhD studentship in ERC project “Serendipity in Research and Innovation” at SPRU, University of Sussex: Neglected diseases - Research for diseases of the rich and research for diseases of the poor

The Serendipity in Research and Innovation, SIRI, project [1] will investigate the role, management and impact of serendipity on research performance, focusing on the desirability and feasibility of targeting research [2]. SIRI will be led by Dr Ohid Yaqub for 5 years, with a team of two research fellows and two PhD students for 4 years. The successful PhD candidate will be expected to start in early September 2018.

Possible PhD topic: Research for diseases of the rich and research for diseases of the poor

Neglected diseases primarily afflict poor people. Since they do not command strong market incentives and have a low social profile in industrialised countries, they are assumed to suffer from under-investment in R&D. However, in recent times there has been increased R&D into neglected diseases. The candidate would seek to elucidate the extent to which progress against neglected diseases can be traced back to R&D that was targeted specifically to neglected diseases. They would explore research in both rich and poor contexts, and investigate any cross-overs and spill-overs.

Students interested in this topic will be supervised by Dr Ohid Yaqub [3], Dr Ismael Rafols [4], and Prof Joanna Chataway [5].

Applicants are free to:
• suggest variations on the above (see recent report [6] for ideas), or
• propose an altogether different topic (within the boundaries of the SIRI project’s remit).

Benefits
• A tax-free stipend matching the UK’s Research Councils rate (approx. £15,000 annually) but for 4 years.
• Tuition fee waiver, worth around £4,500 per year.
• All additional research and training related costs for 4 years (e.g. conferences, workshops, fieldwork, equipment).

Essential requirements:
•A good Bachelor’s degree.
o Applications from the natural sciences and humanities, as well the social sciences are welcome.
•A good Master’s degree.
o Exceptions can be made if the applicant can show evidence of some of the desirable skills below.
•Fluency in oral and written English.
•Sympathy for mixed quantitative and qualitative methods.

Desirable skills:
•Data discovery and collection
o Database management, especially experience of linking together datasets
o Text-mining techniques, such as web-scraping.
•Data processing and analytical skills
o Experience with programming languages (e.g. SQL, Python or R).
o Experience with bibliometric or patent databases
o Network analysis
•Data visualisation
o Network visualisation and geographic mapping
•Experience with historical/archive material.

Application procedure:

Enquiries and applications to: [Email Address Removed] by 15th March 2018 with:
• a CV
• a letter of motivation (a few paragraphs)
• a research proposal (a few pages) and
• a previous writing sample (on any topic).

Anticipated interview period: 26th– 30th March 2018. Expected offers, conditional on departmental clearance: 2nd April 2018.

We welcome applications from suitably qualified people, regardless of ethnicity, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and working patterns.

Full advert: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/fees-and-scholarships/scholarships/view/876