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 UKs 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/Edinburghs
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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