MRC MRes/PhD Studentship - Healthy ageing phenotype: characterisation and measurement
Institute for Ageing and Health
Reference Code: IA005
Closing Date: 11th June 2010
Project start date: September 2010
Eligibility and Value of the Award:
Depending on how you meet the MRC's eligibility criteria, you may be entitled to a full or a partial award. A full award covers tuition fees at the UK/EU rate and an annual stipend of £13,290 (2009/10). A partial award covers fees at the UK/EU rate only.
Person Specification
You should have, or expect to achieve, an upper-second-class or first-class Honours degree in a biomedical subject. We also welcome applications from candidates with a relevant Master's award. An aptitude for quantitative research would be a distinct advantage.
How to Apply:
To apply for the studentship please complete the University's postgraduate application form (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/applicationforms/), selecting 'Master of Research/Doctor of Philosophy (Medical Sciences) - Ageing' and quoting the reference number IA005. Please attach a copy of your CV and a covering letter to your application.
Supervisors: Professor John Mathers and Professor Martin White
Institute: Institute for Ageing and Health
Sponsor: MRC (on behalf of the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing initiative)
Duration of the award: 4 years (MRes Medical and Molecular Biosciences followed by a three-year PhD)
This studentship is one of three studentships based within the LIVEWELL programme - a major research project which is funded through a prestigious Collaborative Grant awarded by the Medical Research Council on behalf of the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing initiative.
The LIVEWELL programme aims to develop and pilot an integrated suite of well-founded, pragmatic interventions which can be delivered in the retirement window to promote health and well-being in later life, and to define a panel of outcome measures, including biomarkers of the healthy ageing phenotype.
We will focus on the 'retirement window' i.e. the period before and after the main income provider in a household retires from primary employment. In discussion with older people, and based on both rigorous systematic reviews of the literature and behaviour change theory, we will develop interventions to address each of the main modifiable behavioural and social factors. This will include novel interventions in the areas of diet, physical activity and social interactions. We will develop novel ways of delivering these interventions which will be feasible and cost-effective and which will encourage sustained behaviour change and improved social circumstances.
The candidate appointed to this studentship will:
i) conceptualise the healthy ageing phenotype (HAP)
ii) identify key features of the ageing process which can be used to characterise healthy ageing
iii) develop, test and validate tools for measuring the HAP which are suitable for use in lifestyle intervention studies in older people.
This project will use the facilities and resources in the Human Nutrition Research Centre at Newcastle University.
Closing date for applications: 11th June 2010
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