PhD Studentship: “Home, Safe & Well (Connected)” Developing a Digital Behavioural Intervention for Indoor Air Quality and Asthma Management

The Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB) is inviting applications for a Doctoral Studentship in association with our collaborative partner The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust to start in October 2025.

Indoor air pollution has been associated with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations. Home-based behavioural interventions are generally acceptable ways to improve asthma symptoms effectively. However, deprivation and other social determinants of health pose major barriers to implementing these interventions. There is an urgent need for affordable, user-friendly, and equitable solutions to empower people with asthma to take control of their indoor air quality.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust has partnered with the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) on the “Safe Air for Everyone” project. WMFS offers free “Home, Safe & Well” risk assessments covering fire, road, environmental, and health safety. In 2021-22, they conducted 36,994 visits, identifying several indoor air quality concerns, especially among people living in deprived areas.

This project aims to co-design and implement an evidence-based and data-driven digital behavioural intervention to improve indoor air quality and associated asthma symptoms.

We are seeking highly talented applicants with a first or upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent experience) in a relevant health, life sciences or quantitative subject with strong computational and communication skills. A postgraduate qualification in the field of Public Health, Health Research Methods, Health Communication is desirable. An MSc degree in Respiratory Medicine is desirable though not necessary. Previous experience with public involvement and engagement in research is desirable.

Application deadline: 5 March 2025

The project will be supervised by Prof. Alice Turner, Dr Marco Bardus and Dr Suzanne Bartington. Informal enquiries about the project prior to application can be directed to Prof Alice Turner Alice Turner a.m.turner@bham.ac.uk AND Dr Marco Bardus m.bardus@bham.ac.uk

Funding notes:

Centre-UB studentships cover tuition fees, a maintenance stipend, support for research training, as well as research activity support grants. Due to funding stipulations set by UKRI, we are able to recruit up to 30% of international applicants to the cohort each year. 

To be considered for this PhD, please click on the above ‘Apply’ button and follow the instructions here. 

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