PhD Studentship: Wider Data Science Field: Fully Funded Health Data Research UK PhD: Understanding The Relationship Between Indoor Air Quality In Schools And Asthma And Educational Outcomes

The successful candidate will work in a highly interdisciplinary environment as part of a vibrant cohort of HDR UK-funded PhD students, with outstanding networking opportunities with fellow students and colleagues located across the 4 nations of the UK. HDR UK’s mission is to unite the UK’s health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives. Its 20-year vision is for large-scale data and advanced analytics to benefit every patient interaction, clinical trial, and biomedical discovery and to enhance public health.

HDRUK is now entering its second Five Year phase (2023-2028) and have a refreshed strategy which will focus on three goals:

• Accelerate Trustworthy Data Use - By implementing a national research data strategy and assembling infrastructure and services aligned to research and innovation needs.
• Empower Researchers - By valuing people with diverse perspectives & skills committed to open and team science to advance scientific discoveries and deliver patient and public benefit.
• Promote Partnerships - By building and maintaining critical partnerships, aligning incentives and reducing complexity across a fragmented landscape to streamline health data science.

This PhD is funded as part of the HDR UK Inflammation and Immunity Driver Programme. We seek to enrol the most exceptional candidates and nurture them to become the next generation of leaders in health data science. The successful candidate will have opportunities to access, and contribute to, training activities organised by HDR UK, including via HDRUK Futures as well as within their own institution and as part of the Driver Programme team.

This Driver Programme will study inflammation and immunity, focusing first on common respiratory and allergic diseases. These conditions worsen with infections (e.g., rhinovirus, flu, pneumonia) and environmental triggers like pollution, tobacco, and allergens. Long-term, the programme aims to expand its data science capacity to other inflammation-related diseases.

Opportunity

This PhD studentship trains a candidate in public health research, epidemiology, and data science to study the impact of indoor air quality in schools on asthma and education. Supervised by the Social & Environmental Determinants of Health Driver Programme and supported by the CHILI Hub, the research aligns with efforts to make schools environmentally sustainable while addressing potential air quality issues.

Using nationwide data from the SAIL databank, the student will analyze links between air quality, deprivation, and asthma outcomes, employing statistical models and data science techniques. They will also explore socioeconomic inequalities at individual and household levels using Census 2021 data, WIMD, and RALFs. The project includes stakeholder engagement to inform policy and practice.

Funding Details 

Funding Comment

This studentship covers the full cost of tuition fees and an annual stipend at UKRI rate (currently £19,237 for 2024/25). 

Additional research expenses will also be available.

Closing Date: 24 February 2025

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