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Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care

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Postgraduate Research

Join our dynamic research community to work with world-leading academics at the forefront of international nursing, midwifery and palliative care research. Our research students are thoroughly supported by three supervisors and participate in regular journal clubs, research seminars and workshops.

To apply for a project, please email our Postgraduate Research Team with the names of the supervisors and your chosen area of interest, along with your CV and a short research proposal. We will contact supervisors on your behalf and be able to answer any queries you may have. 

Current opportunities

Research projects and Funded Studentship Schemes become available throughout the year. We currently have research projects available in the following areas:

» Applied technologies in clinical care 

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative analysis
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Crina Grosan and colleagues from the Division of Applied Technologies for Clinical Care
Contact supervisor: Dr Crina Grosan

Contact details for Dr Crina Grosan

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative analysis
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Crina Grosan and colleagues from the Division of Applied Technologies for Clinical Care
Contact supervisor: Dr Crina Grosan

Contact details for Dr Crina Grosan

 

» Care in long term conditions   

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Kirsty Winkley and Professor Khalida Ismail

Contact details for Dr Kirsty Winkley

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Kirsty Winkley and Professor Angus Forbes

Contact details for Dr Kirsty Winkley

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Kirsty Winkley and Professor Angus Forbes

Contact details for Dr Kirsty Winkley

Gastrointestinal

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan and Professor Christine Norton

Contact details for Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan and Professor Christine Norton

Contact details for Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan

Methodology: Qualitative methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward and Dr Cheryl Jordan

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward

Full project title: Understanding the experience of providing bowel care for people following spinal cord injury - the patient and staff perspective - and developing interventions to improve care
Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward and Dr Mark Baker

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward

Mental health

Full project title: Understanding how jointly using digital interventions impact upon the therapeutic relationships between mental health workers and people experiencing severe mental illness.
Methodology: Ethnographic: interviews and observations of mental health service users and workers jointly using e-mental health resources. Study could include developing a tool to measure ‘human-technology interactive therapeutic alliance’
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Mary Leamy

Contact details for Dr Mary Leamy

Methodology: Mixed methods/qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Andreas Xyrichis and Dr Jennifer Oates

Methodology: Evidence-based co-design (ECBD) to develop e-mental health resources with peer support workers, clinicians and research team. Qualitative interviews and observations to evaluate use of EBCD e-mental health resources with service users.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Mary Leamy

Contact details for Dr Mary Leamy

Older people care

Objective: Examine how care delivery in nursing homes is led and by whom, to design an education intervention to support leadership development.
Methodology: It is envisaged that this mixed method study will involve semi-structured qualitative interviews of nursing home managers and NH staff, residents and their family and visiting professional staff; non-participant observation of key interactions where leadership of care occurs e.g. work planning and organisation, care management meetings, team meetings, observation of care delivery; and a series of stakeholder workshops to design an intervention e.g. toolkit, guidelines, seminars or action learning set to develop and support leadership of person-centred care.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Ruth Harris

Contact details for Professor Ruth Harris

Methodology: It is envisaged that this study will involve a critical, systematic examination of how the concept of PCC is communicated in health and social care policy documents in the UK using critical discourse analysis; and semi-structured interviews with policy makers in national organisations responsible for the development and delivery of health and social care.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Ruth Harris and Dr Joanne Fitzpatrick

Contact details for Professor Ruth Harris

Objective: Facilitate a healthy transition for older people relocating to a nursing home as a permanent arrangement, by developing and testing an intervention with residents, families and staff.
Methodology: This study will use the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions to address the research objective. The intervention will be developed using an adaptation of Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD). EBCD is a Participatory Action Research approach that draws upon design tools and ways of thinking to bring staff and service users together to co-design services, care pathways or interventions.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Joanne Fitzpatrick

Contact details for Dr Joanne Fitzpatrick

» Methodologies  

Methodology: Qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sara Donetto and Professor Glenn Robert

Contact details for Dr Sara Donetto

Methodology: Qualitative – ethnography, conversation and discourse analysis
Funding provided: Yes
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Deborah Chinn and colleagues from the King's Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication.

Contact details for Dr Deborah Chinn

Methodology: Qualitative – ethnography, conversation and discourse analysis
Funding provided: Yes
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Deborah Chinn and colleagues from the King's Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication.

Contact details for Dr Deborah Chinn

Methodology: Qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sara Donetto and Professor Glenn Robert

Contact details for Dr Sara Donetto

Methodology: Qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sara Donetto and Professor Glenn Robert

Contact details for Dr Sara Donetto

Methodology: Mixed-methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: September 2022; January 2023
Supervisory team: Dr Claire Feeley, Dr Tomasina Stacey

Contact details for Dr Claire Feeley

Methodology: Qualitative possible mixed-methods if using a survey
Funding provided: Yes
Start date: September 2022; January 2023
Supervisory team: Dr Claire Feeley, Dr Elsa Montgomery

Contact details for Dr Claire Feeley

Maternal and newborn perinatal health

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Yan-Shing Chang and Professor Debra Bick

Contact details for Dr Yan-Shing Chang

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Maria Duaso

Contact details for Dr Maria Duaso

Methodology: Able to supervise qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods projects
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Shawn Walker

Contact details for Dr Shawn Walker

Methodology: Able to supervise qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods projects
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Shawn Walker

Contact details for Dr Shawn Walker

Methodology:  Mixed-methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: September 2023; January 2024
Supervisory team:  Dr Claire Feeley, Dr Shawn Walker

Contact details for Dr Claire Feeley

» Palliative care  

Methodology: Mixed methods, including primary and secondary data analysis
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Anna Bone

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Full project title: Evaluation of the measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported versions of a comprehensive assessment measure, the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale for Dementia (IPOS-Dem) in non-cognitively impaired frail older adults with multi-morbidities
Methodology: Evaluation of measurement properties
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Clare Ellis-Smith, Professor Irene Higginson, Dr Catherine Evans

Full project title: Evaluation of the measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported versions of a comprehensive assessment measure, the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale for Dementia (IPOS-Dem) in non-cognitively impaired frail older adults with multi-morbidities
Methodology: Evaluation of measurement properties
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Clare Ellis-Smith, Professor Irene Higginson, Dr Catherine Evans

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Adejoke Oluyase

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Research around rehabilitation approaches for the management of symptoms and disability towards the end of life. This could involve (i) characterising the people most likely to benefit with cohort studies, and (ii) modelling and testing rehabilitation treatments and approaches using mixed-methods and clinical trials. Applications from Allied Health Professions and therapists are particularly encouraged.
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Matthew Maddocks

Contact details for Dr Matthew Maddocks

Methodology: This could involve (i) use of 'big data' to investigate patterns of care for people near the end of life, including linkage of electronic health record data with other sources of routine data; (ii) investigating the links between research and policy, and in particular how big data analyses can inform policy; (iii) investigating novel data collection mechanisms for palliative care-specific data, such as electronic collection of outcomes data.
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Wei Gao, Dr Katherine Sleeman

Contact details for Dr Katherine Sleeman

 

» Coronavirus  

Methodology: Mixed methods, including primary and secondary data analysis
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Anna Bone

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Full project title: Evaluation of the measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported versions of a comprehensive assessment measure, the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale for Dementia (IPOS-Dem) in non-cognitively impaired frail older adults with multi-morbidities
Methodology: Evaluation of measurement properties
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Clare Ellis-Smith, Professor Irene Higginson, Dr Catherine Evans

Contact details for Dr Clare Ellis-Smith

Full project title: Evaluation of the measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported versions of a comprehensive assessment measure, the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale for Dementia (IPOS-Dem) in non-cognitively impaired frail older adults with multi-morbidities
Methodology: Evaluation of measurement properties
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Clare Ellis-Smith, Professor Irene Higginson, Dr Catherine Evans

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Adejoke Oluyase

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Methodology: Research around rehabilitation approaches for the management of symptoms and disability towards the end of life. This could involve (i) characterising the people most likely to benefit with cohort studies, and (ii) modelling and testing rehabilitation treatments and approaches using mixed-methods and clinical trials. Applications from Allied Health Professions and therapists are particularly encouraged.
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Matthew Maddocks

Contact details for Dr Matthew Maddocks

Methodology: This could involve (i) use of 'big data' to investigate patterns of care for people near the end of life, including linkage of electronic health record data with other sources of routine data; (ii) investigating the links between research and policy, and in particular how big data analyses can inform policy; (iii) investigating novel data collection mechanisms for palliative care-specific data, such as electronic collection of outcomes data.
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Wei Gao, Dr Katherine Sleeman

Contact details for Dr Katherine Sleeman

 

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