New PhD studentship available

This full-time PhD studentship is jointly funded by the ESRC UCL, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership and Public Health England (PHE). Funding covers university course fees, an annual maintenance stipend (currently £16,296 per annum) and limited research expenses. Applications are invited for both 1+3 (research masters and PhD) and +3 (PhD only) programmes. Applicants for +3 funding must have a research masters equivalent to [relevant programme(s)]. 

The studentship must begin by October 2017.

Studentship Description

Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health threat which is driven by antibiotic overuse. To tackle this problem we need to understand when and why doctors prescribe antibiotics. In hospitals in particular antibiotic use is poorly understood due to lack of individual-level prescribing data.  Resolving these dilemmas requires the application of data science techniques to health service data derived from real clinical practice, combined with qualitative analyses to investigate prescribing behaviour. 

In this PhD the student will use complementary data sources (electronic health records, surveys, and routine datasets) to investigate variation in rates of antibiotic prescribing within and between NHS hospitals in England. In collaboration with Dr Lou Atkins in the UCL Centre for Behaviour Change (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-change) the student will have the opportunity to investigate behavioural factors that drive appropriate and inappropriate prescribing by undertaking targeted qualitative interviews with prescribers who exemplify these behaviours.   Taken together, this work will support the development of national indicators for antibiotic prescribing quality working with the antimicrobial resistance team at PHE. 

The student will be based at the UCL Institute of Health Informatics (IHI) at 222 Euston Road, London NW1 2DA. UCL IHI has been established to conduct high quality research that leverages health informatics approaches at local, national and international levels, working closely with the UK-wide Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research.  The student will also undertake an internship with PHE’s AMR team who lead national surveillance and policy developments in the area of antimicrobial use, resistance and stewardship through the English Surveillance Programme on Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (ESPAUR).

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

• Minimum of 2:1 in first degree in biomedical or social sciences and/or a Master's degree in epidemiology, public health or other quantitative discipline (preferably with a merit or distinction)
• Experience in quantitative data analysis
• Ability to organise and prioritise workload
• Ability to work as part of a team

Desirable

• Experience in statistical analysis and the use of programmes such as Stata, R, SAS
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (ranging from informal 1:1 discussion to formal presentations)
• Experience in analysing electronic health records and/or routine datasets
• Experience and/or interest in health policy and/or antimicrobial resistance
• Experience in qualitative research

Eligibility

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS: ESRC studentships are open to all UK applicants. Applicants are also eligible for a studentship if they have been an ordinary resident in the UK for three years prior to the start of the studentship grant. For instance, if the applicant applies for a studentship to start in October 2017, they must have resided in the UK since October 2014. Please note: if the applicant is from an EU-country, these three years may include time spent studying however if the applicant is from outside the EU (international), these three years cannot include time spent studying at a Higher Education institution.For more details, please read the ESRC UBEL DTP residency guidelines: https://ubel-dtp.ac.uk/eligibility-2/

For further application details, please click here.