 |
 |
With apologies for cross-posting, the following may be of interest to those with historical / demographic interests: Research Associate: Historical Geography of Mortality Decline in Britain since 1850 Applications are invited for the position of Research Associate (fixed term, 30 months) to work on two closely-linked projects funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council, both directed by Dr. Humphrey Southall in collaboration with others in Portsmouth and elsewhere: 1. Locality level mortality and socio-economic change in Britain since 1920: This ESRC-funded project forms part of their Health Variations Programme. It is exploring the relationship between long-run mortality decline and changing occupational structures, housing conditions, etc. Two particular focii are the immediate impact of the inter-war recession on adult and infant mortality, studied at local government district-level, and the long-term impact of that recession on today's elderly, to be analysed by linking individual-level data from the Office of National Statistics' Longitudinal Study to information on local conditions in the 1930s. This project involves collaborating with Peter Congdon and Sarah Curtis (Queen Mary & Westfield College, London) and Ian Rees Jones (St. George's Hospital,London). 2 · Building the National Health: Achieving mortality decline in Britain 1851-1939: This Wellcome Trust-funded project concerns an earlier period and places greater emphasis on the role of medical intervention, including hospital provision and a wide range of public health measures, in achieving that decline. This will include an exploration of how changing ideas concerning public health promotion influenced action by local authorities across Britain. This project involves a wide network of collaborators, including Margaret Crawford (Queen's, Belfast), Danny Dorling (Leeds), Ian Rees Jones (St. George's Hospital, London, Gerry Kearns (Cambridge), John Mohan (Portsmouth) and Graham Mooney (Wellcome Institute, London). Both projects draw on a large database of historical statistics for Britain which has been assembled by Dr. Southall and his collaborators. This includes sub-county census statistics on occupations, housing, age and gender; mortality statistics for Registration Districts and sub-Districts pre-1911, and local government districts thereafter; Poor Law and unemployment data; plus a large database covering hospital provision and utilisation developed by John Mohan. The projects also exploit a very large Geographical Information System (GIS) containing the changing boundaries of the major statistical reporting units in the database, down to Civil Parish-level. This GIS system enables us to not merely accurately plot historical data onto the appropriate base map: using techniques developed by Ian Gregory (Portsmouth), we can effectively re-district mortality data gathered for a wide ranging set of reporting geographies - C19 Registration Districts, early and mid-C20 local government districts, and individual late C20 deaths located by postcode - into a single new reporting geography of our choice, permitting consistent comparisons over time. For more information about our historical database and GIS, see: http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/gbhgis Our Wellcome Trust funding will also support a researcher with GIS training who will work with Ian Gregory to create these long-run mortality time series, as well as a large data entry team based in Belfast. The primary duties of the present post will be to analyse the data sets in order to determine which forms of medical intervention, defined broadly, had a measurable impact on the health of the population, and to conduct archival investigations into policy interventions designed to improve health status, using material at the Public Record Office and in local record offices. The precise balance between the archival and the statistical components of the work will be the subject of discussion with the successful candidate; we are keen to attract a range of applicants. The postholder will be based in Portsmouth and directed primarily by Humphrey Southall and John Mohan, but the project involves a wide network of collaborators and research in London-based archives. Expertise in Geographical Information Systems is not required, but the postholder will work closely with the successful Great Britain Historical GIS team, and will have the opportunity to develop their skills in this area. They will also be joining an active group of researchers working in the general area of the geography of health; details of current work on this theme are available at: http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/geo/research/health/index.htm Applications are welcome from candidates with some combination of statistical/demographic expertise and skills in archival investigations, as indicated in the person specification which accompanies these particulars. Relevant disciplinary backgrounds might include human geography, demography, social / economic history and statistics. We would like the successful candidate to be able to start by October 2000. Starting salary up to £17390. Candidates should be EU nationals; failing that they should be able to obtain a UK work permit. Informal inquiries to: John Mohan: tel (023) 9284 2493; e-mail [log in to unmask]) Humphrey Southall: tel (023) 9284 2500; e-mail [log in to unmask]). Closing date is 9th May 2000. John Mohan Geography Dept, University of Portsmouth Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace Portsmouth PO1 3HE Tel (01705)-842493 Fax (01705) 842512 Portsmouth Geography of Health website: www.envf.port.ac.uk/geo/research/health/index.htm %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%