2 PhD Studentships in Health Economics

The Health Economics Research Group is pleased to announce two three-year PhD studentships.  These highly competitive Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC)-funded scholarships are part of the innovative programme of research undertaken within the multi-disciplinary nation-wide MATCH Programme.

	1.   Evaluation of Technology Portfolios
	The analysis of cost-effectiveness information on new technologies and the use of this information to assist decision-making regarding their adoption is increasingly common and well documented.   As a result early estimates of the cost-effectiveness characteristics of planned products should now provide an important input into the internal, commercial decision-making by companies producing health technologies.  

	To date most analyses have considered individual technologies in terms of their relationship to an acceptable cost-effectiveness 'threshold'.  However there are a number of suggestions in the literature that purchasers of technology should consider the characteristics of the portfolio of technologies they adopt.  Reasons for this focus on portfolios include the nature of fixed budgets and the need to optimise within such constraints, indivisibility of technology investments, and attitudes to different aspects of risk and uncertainty.  The ideas have drawn particularly on the application of concepts and methods from within established 'portfolio theory' to this relatively new application.

	In addition to informing technology users, 'portfolio' approaches may be relevant to technology producers such as medical device manufacturers who, in deciding which concepts or early stage products they should attempt to take through to market, may well be concerned about the nature of the risks involved in their whole product portfolio. They may not want simply to maximise the sum of the expected values of their portfolio, but to consider the value of the portfolio as a whole, where this value to the company reflects the nature, not just the magnitude of the risks involved, and a possible concern to avoid a situation where all products involve a high degree of risk and/or are susceptible to the same or related type of risk.  

	It is proposed that this PhD project will explore portfolio theory and related ideas and concepts and demonstrate the application of relevant methods to both the analysis of cost-effectiveness of portfolios of health technology from the perspectives of adoption by users (health authorities) and investment and development to market by producers (commercial firms).  The ultimate aim will be to propose practical methods that each may use.


	2.	The iterative evaluation of health technologies during their development and marketed life-cycle
	Currently economic evaluation of health care technologies tends to focus on the period immediately before or after marketing, and principally reflects the growing requirements for cost-effectiveness evidence to meet the decision-making/advisory needs of central reimbursement or market access agencies and or the more diffuse needs of specific potential users considering purchase.   Production of this evidence may often be the first time that the conceptual framework of economic evaluation has been applied to the product, despite the fact that there have been proposals that economic evaluation should be used iteratively through the product life-cycle and some reported examples of this happening.

	This PhD will review the methods and concepts, including the use of formal Bayesian approaches to build on the increasing information available as the product is developed.  Itwill aim to characterise what this process might look like in practice and how it might best be used to inform both internal (commercial) decisions regarding the investment in development, and trialling, of products and then feed through to provide the basis for appropriate external appraisal of the product.  It is anticipated that the thesis will involve an example or examples of the application of this iterative and cumulative process to specific technologies, and the aim will be to indicate how they might be used in practice in a 'routine' context.

In both cases, applicants are expected to have a Masters level qualification (or equivalent) in economics or a related discipline, be highly numerate, and to have a strong interest in (but not necessarily experience of) health economics methods.  They need to be concerned to understand how relatively complex concepts can be used, adapted if necessary, and applied valuably to real-world situations.  The research will be based in the Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University but will involve collaborative work with relevant colleagues elsewhere in Brunel, and in the other Universities involved in MATCH, and will require active and sensitive engagement with one or more of the MATCH industrial partners.  We will consider applications from those working in appropriate related contexts who might be interested in undertaking the PhD on a part-time external basis.

PhD students will be provided with excellent working conditions and will be a part of a lively research group.  HERG has successfully supervised a number of PhD theses over the years, many of which have provided the platforms for highly successful research careers.  For more information about HERG see <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/acad/herg>  For further information about the MATCH scholarships, contact Professor Martin Buxton ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Tel +44 (0)1895  265443).

The EPSRC stipends are available for a maximum of 4 years and according to the EPSRC eligibility criteria.  The value of the annual stipend (which includes London weighting) is £12,500, rising to £14,000 in October 2005 and £14,300 for 06-07 academic year and yet to be agreed for the final year.  The scholarship also includes full-time tuition fees.  As funding is from the EPSRC the scholarship is limited to those who have been resident in the UK for the last 3 years (excluding for full time education).   Additional payment for part time research assistance may be available subject to the terms and conditions of the scholarship.

Application forms for postgraduate programmes at Brunel University can be found at <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/courses/pg/graduateschool/application/>  If you are applying for the MATCH scholarships, please write a covering letter requesting that your application is considered for the MATCH scholarships held by the Health Economics Research Group.  If you are applying for alternative PhDs within HERG, you may also be interested in completing Brunel University Postgraduate Scholarship and Bursary form
 <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/courses/pg/graduateschool/pgscholarships/scholhowapply/>

The closing date for applications for the MATCH scholarships is 31st July 2005, with interviews currently scheduled for 17th August.  Please submit completed applications to Nicky Dunne, HERG, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK.  

Interested candidates can also meet Professor Buxton or Dr Hengjin Dong at the HTAi conference in Rome (June) or Professors Buxton and Fox-Rushby and other staff from HERG at the iHEA conference in Barcelona (July).


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HERG is anticipating further funding for PhD scholarships that will include multi-level modelling of cost-effectiveness alongside clinical trials or monetary valuation of benefits from public health programmes.  If you would be interested in these, or in pursuing ideas that fit into other areas of interest to HERG, please contact Professor Julia Fox-Rushby on [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> (Tel. +44 (0)1895 266864).


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Nicky Dunne
PA to Professor Martin Buxton
Health Economics Research Group
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK

Tel:    +44 (0)1895 265443
Fax:   +44 (0)1895 269708
Email: [log in to unmask]