About the Project
The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames and the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) based at UCL invite applications for two jointly-funded 3-year PhD studentships at UCL to begin September 2018. Supervisors are drawn from across both the NIHR CLAHRC North Thames and NIHR SPHR.
The benefit of this collaborative initiative include joint funding from two high profile NIHR research collaborations, which facilitates the opportunity for unparalleled access to leading applied and public health experts, supervisors who are leaders in their field, channels for dissemination of research and participation in bespoke training and a strong network and community of graduate students and researchers. There are four projects in total, of which two will be funded through these joint studentships.
Project 4
It has been well–established that poor mental health and living with multiple long-term conditions are associated with adverse outcomes including morbidity, hospital admissions and early mortality. We have demonstrated that initiatives to incentivise physical health screening in people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) in England have increased uptake of screening, and some preventative care
such as smoking cessation treatments, but yet there is a still widening mortality gap from CardioVascular Disease (CVD) in people with SMI compared to the general population.A greater understanding is needed on why this gap still exists and is increasing, and in particular identifying potential modifiable causes. Furthermore there is poor understanding of why other common mental disorders, for example depression and personality disorders, are also associated with poor physical health outcomes.
This PhD aims to explore the role of healthcare provision and care pathways for people with poor mental health including SMI, depression and personality disorders in explaining the gap in adverse physical health outcomes. This includes factors such as continuity of care in General Practice, referrals, management of co-morbidities and geographical and socio-demographic variation (age, gender, ethnicity, deprivation, regional, urban-rural differences).
The PhD will explore these questions using routinely collected data in a large nationally representative sample linking where possible primary care (The Health Improvement Network Database/CPRD), secondary care (Hospital Episode Statistics), psychiatric care (Mental Health Minimum Dataset) and UK population Census data. The student will develop the PhD protocol with support from the supervisors and team and will include a systematic review of existing evidence and a series of linked cohort studies using routinely collected healthcare data. This studentship would suit someone with experience/training in quantitative data analysis.
Eligibility
Candidates should hold a Master’s qualification (or complete their Master’s by September 2018) in an appropriate discipline and have a minimum of a 2:1 or equivalent in their first degree. Applicants should preferably have knowledge of the UK health and care system. All applicants are required to have excellent written and verbal communication skills. They should also be willing to work collaboratively in multi-disciplinary and multi-professional teams.
Due to funding restrictions applicants must be UK/EU nationals. Please refer to UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) for details of these criteria.
How to apply
Your application should consist of a CV, contact details of two academic referees, and a personal statement (1,000 words maximum) describing your suitability for the proposed project including how your research experience, skills and interests relate to the NIHR CLAHRC North Thames and NIHR SPHR project(s). In your application, please indicate which project(s) you wish to be considered for.
Please send your application or queries about projects to Dr Silvie Cooper, NIHR CLAHRC North Thames Academy Teaching Fellow ([Email Address Removed]).
Find out more: https://clahrc-norththames.nihr.ac.uk/two-nihr-phds/
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