Eight non-clinical PhD studentships available as part of the new NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre

Overview

The University of Bristol is offering a number of 3-year full time PhD studentships as part of the new NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, to start in October 2017. The award covers the standard UK stipend (£14,553 in 17/18) tuition fees (£4,195 in 17/18), plus an allowance for research and training.

The studentships are in the areas of cardiovascular research; mental health; nutrition, diet and lifestyle; reproductive and perinatal health; and surgical innovation and involve a wide range of disciplines.

The NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is a partnership between University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol which will conduct cutting-edge research to develop new, ground-breaking treatments, diagnostics, prevention and care for patients in a wide range of diseases. Students will contribute to one or more of the BRC’s research themes (cardiovascular research; mental health; nutrition, diet and lifestyle; reproductive and perinatal health; surgical innovation; translational population science and biostatistics, evidence synthesis and informatics) and will link with many different centres of excellence across the University. Our research is multidisciplinary in nature, and the researchers in the Centre include surgeons, epidemiologists (including those working with multi-omic data such as epigenetics and metabolomics), geneticists, public health physicians, statisticians, psychologists, nutritionists, research dieticians, bioethicists and social scientists.

We are offering a total of 8 studentships, please see full details here:

1. DNA methylation as a biomarker of risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes,
2. Cardiac Intensive Care: Machine learning to improve patient flow management,
3. Timing of menarche and adolescent self-harm,
4. Dietary intervention in people with a stoma,
5. Active travel in people with type 2 diabetes
6. The effects of randomised dietary, physical activity and metformin interventions on the serum metabolome and DNA methylome of men at risk of, or with, localised or advanced prostate cancer,
7. One studentship will be awarded for one of the following 3 projects:

a) Designing healthcare interventions using qualitative methods
b) The legal, regulatory and governance dimensions of surgical innovation
c) Optimising the introduction and adoption of novel surgical devices in clinical practice

8. One studentship will be awarded for one of the following 3 projects:

a) Ethnicity and perinatal health,
b) Infertility, its treatment and mental health,
c) Prediction and Prevention of poor condition at birth,

You are strongly encouraged to contact the named supervisors to discuss your research proposal prior to submitting your application.

Candidate requirements

Applications are welcome from highly motivated individuals across diverse disciplines (e.g., neuroscience, psychology, genetics, mathematics, natural sciences, surgery, bioethics, law, behavioural and social sciences) who have, or are expected to obtain, a 2.i or higher degree or equivalent. Possession of a relevant research Masters degree will be an advantage. Must be able to start full-time in October 2017.

How to apply

Please make an online application for this project. For faculty and programme choices please see our full advert here.

Under ‘Funding’, identify UoB BRC as your fee payer. Under Research Details, provide the names of project supervisors. Include these details (UoB and supervisor names) at the top of your Personal Statement.

Please provide a current CV, covering letter/personal statement, certified copies of degree certificates and transcripts, and two academic references. You are also required to develop a 2-page research proposal expanding on the provided outline. This is used as part of the shortlisting process and applications without this proposal will not be considered. You are free to discuss the project proposal with your proposed supervisors.

Only applicants from the EU and UK are eligible for this programme.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Sunday 30th April 2017. interviews will be held in the second, third and fourth weeks of May.

Contacts

For general enquiries about the studentships please contact Hazel Phillips and for enquiries about the application procedure please contact Sharen O’Keefe.