25th June 2023, 23:59 BST
Interviews to be held in July 2023
CriteriaThe studentship opportunity is open to all candidates with the following requirements:
The University of Kent, in collaboration with the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey, Sussex are offering a PhD scholarship (3-year full-time or 5 years part-time) to be based in the Centre for Health Services Studies. We welcome applications to undertake research focusing on social care commencing in September 2023. The studentship is linked to the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex which aims to develop applied health and social care research across the region for the benefit of patients and the public.
About CHSS, University of Kent
The Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) is a centre of research excellence in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research within the Division of Law, Society and Social Justice at the University of Kent. CHSS undertakes high quality research into a wide range of health and social care systems and service issues at local, national and international levels. CHSS also supports and advises health and care staff to develop and undertake research projects. CHSS collaborates with a wide range of partners in Kent, the UK and in other countries to improve the links between research, policy and practice.
About NIHR ARCs
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the nation's largest funder of health and care research and provides the people, facilities and technology that enables research to thrive. NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) support applied health and care research that responds to, and meets, the needs of local populations and local health and care systems. The NIHR ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS) is one of 15 ARCs across England, part of a £135 million investment by the NIHR to improve the health and care of patients and the public.
Each NIHR ARC is made up of local providers of NHS services, local providers of care services, NHS commissioners, local authorities, universities, private companies and charities. These collaborations work together to conduct high quality, generalisable, applied health and care research that addresses the specific health or care issues in their region. NIHR ARCs also act to close the second translational gap and increase the rate at which research findings are implemented into practice. The 15 ARCs work collaboratively to address national research priorities, with individual ARCs providing national leadership in their areas of expertise. NIHR ARC KSS supports applied health and care research that responds to, and meets, the needs of local populations and local health and care systems. The ARC KSS will focus on regional challenges including:
Scholarship information
The social care system in England provides support and care to people with long-term conditions, impairment or disability. A range of support is available, from more conventional care home and home care services to more innovative forms of person-centred support, drawing on the support of the local community, involving new technology and housing solutions and so on. Social care in England is often delivered by private and voluntary sector organisations, in markets, with a mix of public and private funding.
There is substantially growing national attention to issues around social care, as the population ages, where long-term conditions such as dementia continue to affect many people’s lives, and also most recently in the COVID-19 pandemic. But the evidence base remains somewhat under-developed, and as such this PhD offers the chance for research to make a real contribution. The scholarship is open to applicants with a defined research proposal relevant to social care. We particularly welcome applications from prospective students interested in the below but are not limited to these areas as all applications welcome.
The prospective student will be linked to the ARC KSS academy and benefit from research training and support across the Kent, Surrey and Sussex area as well as regional programmes of applied health and social care research in social care and social work, primary and community care, child and adolescent mental health and dementia.
How to applySubmit an online application, selecting the PhD in Applied Health Research (full time or part-time). Applicants MUST include the following upload to supplement their application form:
a clear and succinct 2-page research proposal uploaded as a word document (in Arial font, point 11) to your application using the following headings:
Please note that we require applicants to submit all documents, including references where available, by the deadline of 23:59 BST, Sunday 25th June 2023. This includes the 2-page research proposal supporting documents (CV) and relevant transcripts.
For questions regarding the online application process please contact the [email protected] team. For questions regarding the scholarship , please contact [email protected]
We encourage potential applicants to have a 15-minute conversation about your research proposal content prior to submitting an application with: Dr Melanie Rees-Roberts, [email protected]