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PhD studentship in Applied Health Research (ref: PhD2019YHARCEYP)

The Department of Health Sciences, University of York, is inviting applications for a fully funded PhD studentship, available on a full-time basis to start in October 2019 or January 2020, on a collaborative research project within the Early Years and Prevention theme of the newly awarded Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Centre (YHARC), funded by the National Institute for Health Research.

The successful candidate will be part of the department’s Public Health & Society Research Group, directed by Professor Kate Pickett, and will be supervised by Dr Stephanie Prady (University of York) and Dr Josie Dickerson (Bradford Institute for Health Research).

Project details

This PhD studentship will be embedded within YHARC, within the Early Life and Prevention theme, led by Professor Kate Pickett (University of York) and Dr Rosie McEachan (Bradford Institute for Health Research).

The Early Life theme will co-produce interventions to improve quality of life and mental wellbeing in families, improve child development, reduce childhood obesity, and reduce costly and painful dental caries.

The PhD student will develop a research project within this framework focused on the health inequalities impact of early life interventions. The area of focus is investigating reasons, and potential solutions, for the low take-up of preventative interventions aimed at tackling the social determinants of health, for example parenting programs, or social prescribing. Uptake for these types of interventions is low overall in disadvantaged communities but particularly so among certain subgroups such as recent migrants or those living in multiply disadvantaged situations. Investigations could utilise the longitudinal data collected by the Born in Bradford cohort studies (see www.borninbradford.nhs.uk) including Born in Bradford’s Better Start, the city-wide connected health data linkage, qualitative study, or a mixed methods approach. Candidates are also welcome to propose their own study related to the broader remit of the Early Life health inequalities theme. 

Candidates with a suitable background, an interest in health inequalities and potential to develop advanced quantitative and/or qualitative skills are encouraged to apply.

The award

The scholarship is open to UK/EU citizens on a full-time basis only. The studentship provides a tax free stipend per annum for UK/EU citizens in line with UKRI standard rates (currently £15,009 for 2019/20), plus annual tuition fees at the UK/EU rate, and £2250 total research costs.  Prospective students from elsewhere may also apply, though would be expected to provide evidence of the ability to fund the difference in tuition fees applicable to UK/EU and international (non-EU) students respectively. See https://www.york.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/fees/ for further information.

Essential requirements

Applicants will need to hold, or expect to gain, at least an upper second class honours (2:1) degree or equivalent in a relevant subject. Applicants will be required to travel regularly to Bradford to complete their research.

Applicants are required to submit a short research proposal (max 500 words) outlining how they would approach developing a research proposal in the area outlined above. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Dr Stephanie Prady to discuss proposal ideas before applying (contact details under Informal Enquiries below).

For students whose first language is not English there is a minimum requirement of an IELTS score of at least 6.5 in each component of the test and an overall score of at least 7.

Process for application

Applications should be received no later than Wednesday 31st July before 16:00h UTC. Applications will not be considered for the studentships after this date. Applications should be made using the Department of Health Sciences on-line application process which can be accessed using the following link.

http://www.york.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/apply?course=DRPHSCSHSC3

When completing the electronic form, applicants will need to state that they are applying for the advertised studentship and include ref: PhD2019YHARCEYP under the ‘How studies will be funded’ section, in order to be considered for the scholarship.

Shortlisting: Shortlisting will take place as soon as possible after the closing date and shortlisted applicants will be notified promptly.
Start date: October 2019 or January 2020.

Interviews

Individuals with the strongest academic record, experience, and research proposal ideas will be shortlisted and invited to interview in August/September. Interviews will be conducted face-to-face or via Skype or similar communication tools, for non-UK based applicants.

Informal enquiries

For informal enquiries please contact Stephanie Prady (stephanie.prady@york.ac.uk).

Department of Health Sciences

The Department of Health Sciences includes over 280 academics, teachers, researchers and support staff engaged in delivering research, professional development, education and training. Our core aim is excellence in research and teaching, while contributing to improving health and healthcare through the application of our research to policy and practice. We are a multidisciplinary department, involving clinicians from a range of health professions including medicine, nursing and midwifery alongside disciplines such as statistics, health economics, health services research, psychology, sociology and epidemiology. In the most recent assessment of research quality in the UK (the 2014 Research Excellence Framework), the Department was ranked equal first nationally for its research environment and all aspects of our research environment was judged to producing research of world-leading quality in terms of vitality and sustainability.
Our research activity is organised around six core themes: mental health and addiction; trials and statistics; public health and society; cancer epidemiology; cardiovascular health; and health services and policy http://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/research/.

The successful candidate will join a vibrant community of over 200 postgraduate students in our Graduate School, including over 50 PhD students. Our PhD students are embedded in one of our research groups and have the flexibility to tailor their studies to pursue their own research interests, and a bespoke training programme is designed in conjunction with the supervisory team to support the development of essential subject-specific and transferable skills for their future careers. 

The University

The University of York is one of the foremost Universities in the UK and a member of the Russell Group of leading UK Universities. It has an outstanding record of research, teaching, and training across a full range of disciplines. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, The University ranked 10th on the impact of our research and 14th overall. The University has a particular strength in health-related research.

The main campus is a 200-acre landscaped park, with colleges and academic buildings within walking distance of each other. Proximity to the historic city of York makes the University a popular choice and provides a pleasant working environment. Transport connections to York are fast and effective.

University of York Graduate Research School