Applications are invited for this national PhD studentship competition for three year awards from individuals with a strong academic record who wish to develop a career in primary care research. Awards are offered at all the partner universities within the SPCR: Bristol, Cambridge, Keele, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham Oxford, Southampton and University College London.
Awards will normally be taken up in October 2017.
Applicants must have a first degree in a discipline relevant to primary care research and will be expected to complete a PhD/DPhil during the award period. The precise academic qualifications required depend on the University and training offered. Students must be defined as “home” for fee purposes to be eligible to apply for this award.
Studentship awards include tuition fees, an annual tax-free stipend normally of £16,000 and a contribution towards research and training costs. Students at Cambridge will receive college fees. Further information is available here
Students are encouraged to develop their own project, however, the Unit has some suggestions below:
Title: Interventions to promote physical activity in primary care
There is a need for low-cost, scalable interventions to encourage and support patients to be more physically active. A promising approach is to use digital interventions such as text messaging, smartphone apps and internet-based interventions. A digital intervention could be used in combination with a brief face-to-face intervention from a practice nurse or healthcare assistant in primary care. The practitioner would give brief advice about physical activity to the patient as part of a routine consultation and then ‘signpost’ the patient to a digital intervention that would provide ongoing support for behaviour change. This project will use qualitative and quantitative methods to develop and evaluate a scalable physical activity intervention for use in primary care.
Supervisor: Stephen Sutton, Professor of Behavioural Science.
Title: Understanding smoking cessation and relapse
This project aims to identify the situations in which smokers smoke and relapse. Information will be collected from smokers in real time, including the locations in which they smoke and the characteristics of these situations, through a combination of smartphone sensor data and self-reports. Situational characteristics will be used to predict craving, smoking and lapse. The aim is to inform more effective ‘context-sensitive’ or ‘just-in-time’ lapse prevention interventions delivered by smartphone. The project will involve a systematic review, a longitudinal study collecting data before and after a quit attempt among smokers recruited through primary care, and specification of an intervention.
Supervisor: Stephen Sutton, Professor of Behavioural Science.
Title: Distinguishing and managing attachment disorders, ADHD and neurodevelopmental conditions within a Primary Care setting.
Attachment disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism have different aetiologies; yet they have similar and overlapping diagnostic criteria, particularly in assessments of social interaction. Distinguishing between and managing symptoms of these disorders in children is a substantial challenge, one which is increasingly dealt with within primary care. This doctoral studentship will examine both a) referral thresholds, pathways, and outcomes; b) patient, family, and clinician experiences.
Supervisor: Robbie Duschinsky, Lecturer in Social Sciences
Title: Early detection of cancer in primary care
This thesis will investigate promising new approaches to detecting cancer in the primary care setting, and may include decision support for GPs, new diagnostic approaches such as use of technology or biomarkers, and triaging symptomatic and asymptomatic patients for targeted diagnostic investigations. We will use a range of appropriate methods such as large database studies (using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, CPRD) and mixed methods approaches.
Supervisor: Fiona Walter, Principal Researcher in Primary Care Cancer Research
Title: Improving Primary Care Follow-up of Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) After Hospital Discharge.
The PhD student will conduct a systematic review and a mixed methods study to determine the needs and outcomes of patients with HFpEF following discharge from hospital and develop a transitional care programme that can be implemented in primary care.
Supervisor: Christi Deaton, Florence Nightingale Foundation Professor of Clinical Nursing Research