Title of project: Climate Change, Air Pollution and Ethnic Inequalities in Health: Analysis and Projection Based on Longitudinal Register Data from Scotland

Type of Funding: St Leonard’s PhD studentship

Supervisor(s): Prof Hill Kulu, Prof Frank Sullivan and Dr Urška Demšar

Project Description:

We invite applications from qualified and highly motivated students for a 3-year PhD studentship to study the effect of climate change on ethnic inequalities in health. The PhD studentship is a joint initiative between the School of Geography and Sustainable Development (SGSD) and the School of Medicine (SoM) and supported by St Leonard’s College. The successful applicant will investigate effects of air pollution and extreme weather events on population health and mortality across ethnic groups and will project future health behaviour and mortality patterns as response to changes in weather and pollution (for further details, please see https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gsd/opportunities/pg/phdfunding/). The project will be supervised by Prof Hill Kulu (SGSD), Prof Frank Sullivan (SoM) and Dr Urška Demšar (SGSD).

The scholarship will cover tuition fees, a yearly stipend of £14,777 per year (in the 2018/19 academic year, subject to increase annually), and a research training support grant (RTSG) of £750 per year.

The successful applicant will become a member of two research groups. The research of the Population and Health Research Group at the SGSD covers a wide range of topics including the analysis of health and mortality; family and fertility dynamics; and migration. The group combines expertise in demographic, longitudinal and spatial data analysis. (For further details about the research group, please see: https://populationandhealth.wordpress.com/.) The group is part of the ESRC Centre for Population Change (CPC) (http://www.cpc.ac.uk/). The research of the Population and Behavioural Science Division at the SoM focuses on health informatics and community based clinical trials. (Please see: http://med.st-andrews.ac.uk/populations/). The division is a partnership site for the MRC-led Health Data Research (HDR) UK (https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/).

This is an excellent opportunity for a highly motivated PhD student to work in two international teams of researchers on a cutting-edge social and health science topic and applying advanced quantitative methods to longitudinal and environmental data. The studentship starts in October 2019.  Please see the School of Geography and Sustainable Development’s website for information on the project’s context and also data and methods.   For informal inquiries, please contact Prof. Hill Kulu (Hill.Kulu@st-andrews.ac.uk) or Prof. Frank Sullivan (fms20@st-andrews.ac.uk).  For enquiries related to the online application procedure, please contact Mrs Helen Olaez in the SGSD Postgraduate Office (ho10@st-andrews.ac.uk). Please include ‘St Leonard’s PhD studentship’ in the subject line of your email.

Deadline for Application: 10th May 2019

Entry Requirements: 1) A first class or an upper secondary undergraduate or master’s degree in any area of social, environmental or health sciences (including statistics and applied mathematics); 2) Interest in application of advanced quantitative methods in social and/or health sciences; and 3) Interest in working with spatial and longitudinal data. Coding skills are an advantage (e.g. in R, Stata or SAS), but not required. 

How to apply: Candidates must submit an online application by 10th May 2019 at the following link: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/apply/postgraduate/research/. Please apply to the “School of Geography and Sustainable Development” and to the programme “PhD Geography (Arts)”.  Please include a covering letter outlining your interest in environmental effects on human health and in applying advance quantitative methods in social and/or health science research. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed in late May. Skype interviews are possible. 

Eligibility: The University of St Andrews strive for equal opportunities. Applications of any background are welcome.