PhD Studentship - Forecasting Disease Progression using Cardiovascular Digital Twins

Contract: 3.5 year PhD studentship

We are seeking applications for a PhD studentship starting in September 2025 to work on digital twins for patients with pulmonary hypertension. This studentship is linked to an £8M programme grant funded by the UK EPSRC, and will involve working with an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, computer scientists, engineers and mathematicians based in Sheffield, Nottingham, the Alan Turing Institute, and Imperial College London.

Digital twins are emerging as potentially valuable tools for healthcare applications, but are yet to be widely deployed. The aim of our wider research is to develop and evaluate digital twins of the cardiovascular system that can be deployed at scale. Patients with pulmonary hypertension may experience clinical worsening events, and the focus of this PhD project will be on developing and evaluating methods that use digital twins to both forecast disease trajectory and anticipate these events.

Supervisor Bio

Richard Clayton and Xu Xu have extensive experience in technical aspects of cardiac and cardiovascular modelling as well as strong collaborations with clinicians both in Sheffield and beyond.

About the School/Research Group

You will be based in the School of Computer Science, which has a strong international reputation for the quality of its research. You will have access to state-of-the-art resources and a collaborative interdisciplinary environment that includes the largest institute in Europe dedicated to in silico medicine (www.sheffield.ac.uk/insigneo).

Candidate Requirements

• Applicants must hold or expect to obtain a first or upper-second class undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Mathematics, an Engineering discipline or other relevant subject.
• We are particularly interested in candidates with strong coding skills (ideally Python and/or Julia), and an interest in technology applications in healthcare.
• If English is not your first language, you must have an IELTS score of 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in each component.

How to apply

To apply for a PhD studentship, applications must be made directly to the University of Sheffield using the Postgraduate Online Application Form. Make sure you name [insert supervisor name(s)] as your proposed supervisor(s).

Information on what documents are required and a link to the application form can be found here - www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying

The form has comprehensive instructions for you to follow, and pop-up help is available.

Your research proposal should:

• Be no longer than 4 A4 pages, include references
• Outline your reasons for applying for this studentship
• Explain how you would approach the research, including details of your skills and experience in the topic area

Funding details

The PhD studentship will cover standard UK home tuition fees and provide a tax-free stipend at the standard UK Research Council rate (currently £19,237 for the 2024/25 academic year) for 3.5 years. If you are an overseas student, you are eligible to apply but you must have the means to pay the difference between the UK and overseas tuition fees by securing additional funding or self-funding. Further information on International fees can be found here: View Website

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