PhD opportunity with Bristol BRC and Health Data Research UK

  • 30 May 2023

The NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre is working with Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) to offer a place on their prestigious Big Data for Complex Diseases PhD programme.

HDR UK is funding six PhDs with leading UK universities and research organisations. Within this programme, the Bristol BRC is offering a four-year placement hosted by the University of Bristol on a research project entitled: Characterising a high-risk Type 2 Diabetes phenotype using big data – the role of comorbidity and ethnicity.

Key dates

Applications are invited for a studentship starting in October 2023.

The deadline for applications is 2.00pm GMT, Thursday 15 June 2023.

Project summary

This project will use national data from general practices and hospitals to identify a group of people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), characterised by glycaemic status (blood glucose level) at diagnosis, and investigate the role of patient’s medical history, such as existing health conditions, and demographic characteristics, like ethnicity, in explaining differences in haemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) levels at diagnosis.

We will also investigate the long-term consequences of high HbA1C levels at diagnosis on the risk of cardiovascular conditions and cancer, compared to those with lower levels, and the role of pre-existing health conditions and ethnicity.

Findings from the study will help identify whether the severely hyperglycaemic form of T2D is a distinct, severe form of the disease, or a consequence of inequalities in early diagnosis and treatment or the effect of the complex inter­ relationships with other long-term conditions.

Benefits include

  • Tax-free stipends with annual increases based on UKRI advertised rates
  • Fully-paid tuition fees (and college fees where required) – international fee waivers are not generally available.
  • Research costs of up to £5,000 a year
  • Expenses and travel costs for conferences and events £300 a year.

Suitability and eligibility

This project would suit students with a degree in a biomedical, mathematics, data science or related quantitative discipline (with some familiarity with statistical analysis) and an interest in the application of statistical methods in cardiometabolic research. Some post-graduate research experience would be an advantage

Experience in the analysis of routine health data, the use of statistical software such as R, or a programming language such as Python would be an advantage.

How to apply

Click here for further details and to access the application form.

If you have any questions contact r.denholm@bristol.ac.uk