The University of Edinburgh/Farr Institute/Asthma UK Centre for 
Applied Research PhD studentship

Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD studentship within the Centre 
for Population Health Sciences (CPHS: http://www.cphs.mvm.ed.ac.uk/) at 
The University of Edinburgh. The PhD studentship will begin in February 
2015 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Summary of project
The focus of this PhD is on investigating how the UK’s electronic health 
records infrastructure can support the planning and execution of 
clinical trials. The successful candidate will have the option to help 
shape the focus of the investigation, but some important target areas to 
focus attention on include assessing the feasibility of undertaking 
trials, supporting recruitment, point-of-care randomisation, and 
facilitating data collection and long-term follow-up in trials of 
long-term conditions. Asthma is one of the commonest long-term 
conditions in the UK and this work will be conducted in the context of 
asthma, which for the purposes of this work is considered an exemplar 
long-term condition.

This studentship will be based in the Centre for Population Health 
Sciences (which is expanding to become the Institute of Population 
Health Informatics, and will benefit from close synergies between the 
vibrant and expanding Farr Institute and the Asthma UK Centre for 
Applied Research. It is likely to be of interest to those from 
statistical/epidemiological, clinical trials, health economics and 
health services research backgrounds.


Pre-application enquiries
Before making your application, you are encouraged to contact the PhD 
supervisors for informal enquiries and to discuss your research proposal.

Lead Supervisor: Prof Aziz Sheikh [log in to unmask]

Co-Supervisors: Dr Bright Nwaru [log in to unmask]
Dr Colin Simpson [log in to unmask]


Project partners
The successful candidate will be based in CPHS but will at the same time 
benefit greatly from the strong inter-disciplinary environment offered 
by partner institutes in this project; i.e. the Medical Research Council 
funded Scottish eHIRC/Farr Institute and the Asthma UK Centre for 
Applied Research.

• Farr Institute:
The Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research is a collaboration to 
harness health data for patient and public benefit by setting the 
international standard for the safe and secure use of electronic patient 
records and other population-based datasets for research purposes.
The Farr Institute comprises four nodes distributed across the UK and 
led from the University College London (Farr Institute @ London), 
University of Manchester (Farr Institute @ HeRC N8), Swansea University 
(Farr Institute @ CIPHER), and the University of Dundee/Edinburgh’s 
Bio-Quarter (Farr Institute @ Scotland).


• Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research (AUKCAR: www.aukcar.ac.uk):
A collaboration between the leading asthma researchers from 13 
universities across the UK, led by the University of Edinburgh and Queen 
Mary University of London, working with Asthma UK, people affected by 
asthma, NHS partners and other organisations.
Main areas of research are:
1. Encourage good asthma control
2. Help maximise the benefits of treatment
3. Reduce asthma exacerbations and prevent asthma deaths

Requirements
• Applicants should have or be predicted to obtain 2:1 or higher in 
relevant undergraduate degree
• Post-graduate degree, or its equivalent if outside the UK, in relevant 
field is desirable
• Some background/experience in quantitative research (i.e. in 
statistics, epidemiology, clinical trials or health services research) 
is essential for this PhD
• Applicants must meet the entry requirements (including English 
language proficiency) for acceptance onto the University of Edinburgh 
CPHS 3-year PhD programme. Details at: 
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=213&cw_xml=details.php
Following interview, the selected candidate will need to apply and be 
accepted for a place on the CPHS PhD population Health Sciences programme
• UK/EU tuition fees only (any eligible non-EU candidates must fund the 
remainder of the overseas tuition fee)
Funding
This is a University of Edinburgh and MRC funded award and will provide 
an annual stipend for three years of £13,863 per year, plus University 
fees for UK/EU students.
There will in addition be £1000 funding towards research costs per annum 
and up to £300 conference/travel fees per annum.

Application procedure
Please provide in pdf format:
• Curriculum vitae
• a referenced outline of your research plan (maximum of 4 pages)
• degree certificate(s)
• marks for your degree(s)
• 2 academic references
Email to: [log in to unmask]

The closing date for applications is: 5pm on Mon 22nd Dec 2015
Interviews will be held: January 2015 (interviews may be conducted by 
videoconference or Skype).
The studentship will begin in February 2015.

Selected references:
Coorevits et al. Electronic health records: new opportunities for 
clinical research. J Intern. Med 2013:274(6);547-60
Jensen et al. Mining electronic health records: towards better research 
applications and clinical care. Nat Rev Genet 2012:13(6);395-405
Kahn M. Integrating electronic health records and clinical trials. 2010
http://www.esi-bethesda.com/ncrrworkshops/clinicalresearch/pdf/MichaelKahnPaper.pdf

van Staa TP, et al. The opportunities and challenges of pragmatic 
point-of-care randomised trials using routinely collected electronic 
records: evaluations of two exemplar trials. Health Technol Assess. 
2014:18(43);1-146.




-- 
Steff Lewis
Reader in Medical Statistics
School of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences
University of Edinburgh Medical School
Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG

Tel: +44 (0) 131 537 3865 (Mon)
      +44 (0) 131 650 3198 (Tue,Wed, Thur)
      I'm not at work on Fridays.


The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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