PHD STUDENTSHIP IN STATISTICS AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

Applications are invited for a full-time EPSRC-funded PhD studentship in
Statistics commencing 1 October, 2009. The studentship will include
University fees and a stipend.

The studentship will be based at the Open University's central campus in
Milton Keynes, where there is a thriving postgraduate student community.

The Statistics Group at the Open University provides a lively and
stimulating environment for Statistics research with active researchers
working in a variety of fields of statistics. For more information about
the Statistics Group see http://statistics.open.ac.uk/ 

The available project is:

Smooth risk functions for self-controlled case series models (details
below)

Supervisor: Dr Heather Whitaker & Prof Paddy Farrington

Applicants should have a first or upper second class honours degree or a
recognized postgraduate qualification containing a substantial element
of Statistics. The usual EPSRC residence requirements apply: see
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/PostgraduateTraining/StudentEligibility.htm

For the Open University's Research Degrees Prospectus and an application
form, see http://www.open.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/. Please note
that where the standard application form asks for a research proposal,
indicate the project above and describe why you are interested in it.

Informal enquiries may be made by email to Paddy Farrington (email:
[log in to unmask]). 

Closing date for applications: Tuesday, 30 June, 2009.

Outline of project:

The self-controlled case series method is an epidemiological design to
study the association between time-varying exposures and rare or
recurrent events. In the parametric version of the method, the
underlying age or time effect is modelled using a piecewise-constant
relative risk function. A semi-parametric version of the method is also
available, which avoids having to specify any age or time intervals.
However, the semi-parametric model can be very cumbersome to fit for
large data sets. 

The aim of this project is to develop new versions of the
self-controlled case series model, in which the age or time effect is
modelled using flexible smooth functions. A variety of approaches will
be developed, evaluated and compared, based for example on fractional
polynomials and penalized regression splines. A further aim of the
project is to develop suitable software in standard statistical
packages.

The project will be supervised jointly by Dr Heather Whitaker and
Professor Paddy Farrington. Further information on self-controlled case
series models and their applications, and on recent work on them by Dr
Whitaker and Professor Farrington and others, is available from
http://statistics.open.ac.uk/sccs.

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