Deadline date for applications: April 12th 2013
The Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, is pleased to offer three funded PhD scholarships for outstanding UK/EU and overseas students wishing to undertake full time doctoral research in the Division of Health Research. Awards will be made for a maximum of three years full-time study. Funding covers:
Applicants should be able to demonstrate knowledge and interest in Health Psychology or Clinical Psychology in their application materials as a whole.
Applications must address one of the below topics:
People with amputations comprise a sizeable group who require access to a variety of different forms of health interventions and service provision. There are 62, 000 artificial limb users in the UK, with 5,000 new referrals each year. Projects on amputation and artificial limbs with a particular focus on one of the following areas are invited: (1) ethnicities, race and disability, (2) romantic and intimate relationships, (3) interaction with health care professional (particularly prosthetists). Interested candidates should contact Dr Craig Murray.
Studies have identified that there are relationships between emotional intelligence and compassion in the health professions. However, the concept of EI has arisen from outside medicine and there are reasons to question its applicability within clinical relationships. The study will investigate relevance/role of both concepts in health professions with a focus on clinical communication. Interested candidates should contact Dr Ian Fletcher.
Cranioplasty is a neurosurgical procedure involving the replacement of a piece of missing skull usually with a titanium mesh plate. Little is known about the psychological and cognitive impact of this procedure over time. Proposals on this topic should outline a research strategy that is comprehensive, patient outcome focussed, and able to holistically assess the neuropsychological impact of cranioplasty. Interested candidates should contact Dr Stephen Weatherhead.
Research proposals on this topic will examine the impact that an increasingly medical model of care is having on the process of becoming a parent and developing attachment relationships during the perinatal period in Uganda. These will focus on either (i) parents' experience of having a baby in this context or (ii) differences in parent-infant interactions between families accessing hospital/home care. Interested candidates should contact Dr Jenny Davies.
Psychological outcome in people with chronic neurodegenerative illness is often presumed to be related to the biological causes of the neurodegeneration. However, psychological research has indicated a range of psychological factors are involved in outcomes such as low mood, anxiety and happiness. This studentship will further explore such psychological explanations and could also explore and compare psychological factors more broadly across other types of chronic illness. Interested candidates should contact Dr Jane Simpson.
The following stages are required and must be fully adhered to for candidates to be considered for one of the awards.
Applicants wishing to be considered for these awards must have contacted the person (potential PhD supervisor) named for a given project area to discuss their application by no later than February 1st 2013. This contact should be made by email in the first instance and be accompanied by a full CV and a document briefly outlining why the project area appeals to the prospective candidate. The contact person will reply to advise whether you should or should not submit a formal Expression of Interest form.
The Expression of Interest Form should be submitted with a 1 page CV by February 15th 2013. Contact Dawn McCracken for further information by email (firstname.lastname@example.org) or telephone her on +44 (0)1524 593936.
Your CV should clearly indicate your educational achievements to date (indicating the class of degree award achieved). Overseas students whose first language is not English must also clearly indicate their IELTS (or equivalent) score.
Applicants shortlisted to progress to the second stage of the application process will be informed by March 1st at the latest. If you have not heard from the Faculty by then your application will not have been selected to continue to Stage 2. Due to the number of applications received, the Faculty is unfortunately not able to enter into correspondence about why your application was not shortlisted.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to make a full application via the online applications portal. The personal statement must summarise your interest and knowledge of Health Psychology or Clinical Psychology. The research proposal should be as succinct as possible but detailed enough to allow evaluation (around 1,500 words, plus references). It should include an introduction to the study topic, research questions, and the methods that may be used, by the deadline date of 12th April at 5.00pm.
Your CV should clearly indicate your educational achievements to date (indicating the class of degree award achieved) along with employment details, any methodological training/knowledge, research experience, and publications. As noted above, overseas students whose first language is not English must also clearly indicate their IELTS (or equivalent) score.
Applicants shortlisted for interview will be informed by May 24th 2013 at the latest. If you have not heard from the Faculty by this date then your application will not have been selected for the interview stage. Due to the number of applications received, the Faculty is unfortunately not able to enter into correspondence about why your application was not shortlisted.
Shortlisted applicants will be required to attend an interview in person (travel expenses within the UK (2nd class rail travel) only will be reimbursed) or by Skype/telephone for applicants outside of the UK. The interviews are likely to take place in the first week of June 2013. Candidates will be notified of the outcome within 3 working weeks. Applicants should be registered to commence their studies in October 2013.
The terms of the award are as follows:
No more than one application can be submitted by each candidate.
For more information see applying for doctoral study.