PhD Studentship: Developing a quality of life tool for people living with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC)

Date of interviews: 30^th June 2016 at Royal Free Hospital, NW3 2QG
Principal Investigator: Douglas Thorburn, Liver Services, Royal Free Hospital
Lead Supervisor: Professor Paddy Stone, MCPCRD, UCL
Funding and award: 3-year funded scholarship starting in 2016 to cover University fees (2016/17: £4,770), maintenance stipend (2016/17: £16,057) and some research expenses.

Eligibility: Only applicants eligible to pay fees at the UK/EU rate will be considered. You must normally be a national of a European Union (EU) country, or the relevant family member of an EU national, and have been ordinarily resident within the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three year period before the first day of the first academic year of the programme.

General description

The Liver Service at the Royal Free Hospital is seeking an outstanding, highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate for this PhD scholarship. The successful candidate will undertake a PhD to develop a tool to assess the quality of life of people living with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), which will be supervised by Dr Thorburn and academics in the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department (MCPCRD) at University College London.

Potential applicants should visit https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/services/services-a-z/liver-services/ and www.ucl.ac.uk/mcpcru to read more about us and our research. More details about the project available at www.pscsupport.org.uk/QLproject

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Upper 2:1 (>=65 pass mark) or 1^st class undergraduate degree in a health or social science discipline


• Evidence of experience or training in research methodology if not apparent from the above


• Evidence of excellent organisational, problem-solving and analytical skills


• Data management skills


• Willingness to travel within London and across the UK for research purposes


• Ability to work independently as well as in a collaborative research team

Desirable criteria

• Master’s degree in research methodology, public health, sociology, psychology or similar discipline. The applicant should expect this to be awarded prior to the commencement of the PhD


• Experience of working with/conducting research with health/social care service users


• Research experience in a field relevant to the PhD studentship


• Understanding of questionnaire development


• Understanding of liver and/or bile duct disease


• Publications in peer-reviewed academic journals. Please briefly describe your contribution to any published work in your CV

The post-holder will be expected to contribute to the wider activities and life of the MCPCRD, UCL and the Royal Free.

Please support your application by detailing modules or courses undertaken during your studies, research internships or employment, and any peer-reviewed, academic publications.

Application procedure

Please submit applications in the following format:

• A CV, including full details of all University course grades to date.


• Contact details for two academic or professional referees.


• A personal statement (750 words maximum) outlining (i) your suitability for the project with reference to the criteria above, (ii) what you hope to achieve from the PhD and (iii) your research experience to-date.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Please send electronic applications to:

Contact name: Adrian Machinn a.machinn@ucl.ac.uk
Contact details / enquiries: a.machinn@ucl.ac.uk

Links

You can find out about PSC here: http://www.pscsupport.org.uk/about-psc