The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is pleased to invite applications for a PhD studentship in epidemiology and health economics using real world evidence, as part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded INTEGRATE project, starting in September 2024.
Financial support
The award will cover:
- Full tuition fees (at Home fee rate only). This award is only available to those who are eligible for Home fees. Further information about fee status assessment can be found on the UKCISA website
- a tax-free stipend of GBP 21,181.00 per year
The studentships will be based in the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health. The Faculty is multi-disciplinary and encompasses epidemiologists, medical statisticians, medical demographers, nutritionists, social scientists and public health practitioners.
The studentship will examine the role of generating real-time estimates from routine healthcare data on health economic processes within NICE, either related to NICE guideline implementation or health-technology appraisal. The exact focus of the PhD will be developed with the successful candidate and will depend on their interests and prior expertise. Applicants are welcome to contact the project supervisors for an informal discussion prior to applying.
There is a choice of possible topic areas within the studentship, but the below is an example of a possible topic.
Possible topic area
Dynamic Appraisal of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) treatment recommendations using real world data
Supervisors: Laurie Tomlinson, Emily Herrett, Richard Grieve
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evaluate the evidence and cost-effectiveness of new medications and make national recommendations about their use. However, the long-term clinical or cost-effectiveness of medications in routine use can be uncertain. At present there is no process to systematically review and evaluate the long-term benefits of positive recommendations. This may lead to ineffective use of valuable NHS resources. However, greater availability of linked data on use of high-cost drugs means that the real world use and effectiveness of these medicines can be evaluated in a dynamic fashion.
The INTEGRATE programme, based at LSHTM and working in collaboration with NICE, aims to use cutting-edge epidemiological and economic evaluation methods in the unique wealth of routinely-collected data available in England to provide specific and timely evidence to understand and inform implementation of healthcare guidance. This project will work with experts from Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE as well as epidemiologists and health economists.
In this PhD project the candidate will use linked data on specific medications to examine the population receiving treatments in routine care and how this compares to those in the relevant clinical trials. They will then examine the effectiveness of the treatments compared to untreated or comparator drug populations and assess how the estimates of cost-effectiveness of the drug compares to those that led to recommendations for its use.
Eligibility requirements
Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain before the start of the PhD, a relevant MSc awarded with good grades, or have a combination of relevant qualifications and experience which demonstrates equivalent ability and attainment.
The PhD Programme
Students will be mentored by their supervisory team made up of three academics and an Advisory Committee consisting of at least two other people, who can be from outside the School. Students are expected to take part in the academic life of their department and can also be members of other Academic Centres - e.g. Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, the Clinical Trials Unit, the Malaria Centre, The TB Centre, the MARCH centre for maternal and child health, and the Centre for Statistical Methodology. All research seminars and journal clubs are open to PhD students from across the School. Students are able to take up to four Master’s level Study Modules per academic year, subject to approval from their supervisor.
Support for research students’ future career development is covered through the supervision process, through the Transferable Skills Programme (in the School and the Bloomsbury Postgraduate Skills Network) and the School’s Careers Service. Also important for career development are the opportunities for students to network and establish professional contacts. The School also facilitates national and international conference attendance by students in the later stages which provides networking opportunities.
How to apply
Information about the MPhil/PhD programme structure at LSHTM, as well as application guidance and a link to the portal, can be found on the School’s Research Degrees and Doctoral College pages.
To apply for this studentship, applicants should submit an application for research degree study via the LSHTM application portal. ‘Please select “24-25 NIHR PhD Studentship in use of Real World Evidence to inform and evaluate healthcare guidance” in the Funding Section of the application form. The research proposal should identify a specific research question or hypothesis, expanding on the topic on the website, summarise the relevant background information (with no more than 5 key references) and should outline an appropriate research methodology by which the question can be addressed.
Applications for this project will only be reviewed and processed after the deadline. All complete applications that are submitted before the deadline will be considered equally, regardless of submission date.
Only applications in the correct format will be considered.
The deadline for applications is 23:59 (GMT) 26th May 2024.