PhD Studentship – Demand and Capacity Modelling to Improve Health Care Services Delivery and Efficiency at University of Plymouth
Job Description
DoS (Director of Studies): Dr Yinghui Wei (yinghui.wei@plymouth.ac.uk, tel.: 01752586331)
2nd Supervisor: Dr Mariam Pirashvili (mariam.pirashvili@plymouth.ac.uk)
3rd Supervisor: Brandon Chapman (brandon.chapman@nhs.net)
Applications are invited for a 3.5-year EPSRC funded PhD studentship. The studentship will start on 1st October 2024.
Funding amount: The studentship is supported for 3.5 years and includes full Home tuition fees plus a stipend of £19,088 per annum 2024/25 rate (TBC).
Project Description
Health care services providers are facing an increasingly complex set of challenges. These challenges include patient demands outweighing available clinical capacity, and seasonal demands with additional healthcare needs in winter and extreme heat waves. Regionally, the care pressure can be further complicated in places which attract seasonal tourisms. More widely, major occurrences like epidemics and pandemics further amplify these challenges. The compound pressure from these challenges impacts on patients, service users, carers and health and care workforce. It is important to find a balance between health care demand and capacity, to reduce pressures on staff and resources, and to improve patient outcomes.
In this project, we will seek to provide practical solutions through developing methods to better forecast patient demands by using data from multiple sources, and developing and evaluating demand and capacity models to support the response to and recovery from compound pressures. We will translate the developed methods into an intelligent decision support tool to inform health care services planning and delivery. We will aim to enable better resource planning and allocation for the patient journey across services and, ultimately, improve health care efficiency and patient health outcomes.
Eligibility
Applicants should have a first or upper second class honours degree in an appropriate subject and preferably a relevant Masters qualification. Applications from both UK and overseas students are welcome.
The studentship is supported for 3.5 years and includes full Home tuition fees, Bench fee plus a stipend of £19,088 per annum (2024/25 rate TBC). The studentship will only fully fund those applicants who are eligible for Home fees with relevant qualifications. Applicants normally required to cover International fees will have to cover the difference between the Home and the International tuition fee rates. The international component of the fee may be waived for outstanding international applicants.
NB: The studentship is supported for 3.5 years of the four-year registration period. The second part of the fourth year is a self-funded ‘writing-up’ period.
If you wish to discuss this project further informally, please contact Dr Yinghui Wei, yinghui.wei@plymouth.ac.uk.
To apply for this position please click the ‘Apply’ button.
Please clearly state the name of the DoS and the studentship title that you are applying for on the top of your personal statement.
Please see here for a list of supporting documents to upload with your application.
For more information on the admissions process generally, please contact research.degree.admissions@plymouth.ac.uk
The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 15th March 2024. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview shortly thereafter. We regret that we may not be able to respond to all applications. Applicants who have not received a response within six weeks of the closing date should consider their application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.