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.
How to apply
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.
For more information on how to apply, fees and the entry requirements please visit our Prospectus:
How to find a supervisor
To find supervisors in your chosen area of interest you can:
Current opportunities
Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care Studentship
We are delighted to announce our new full-time postgraduate research studentship for PhD students. The studentship is funded by the Faculty and covers both tuition fees and a stipend at the UK Research Council rate (minimum £19,237 plus London weighting).
This studentship is available for full-time entry onto any postgraduate research course within the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care with an intended start date of Tuesday 1 October 2024. The application deadline is Friday 31 May 2024.
You can find more information about the award, eligibility criteria, application process and selection process here.
Research projects
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
Methodology: Co-design, development and production, quantitative and qualitative data and analysis
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Sonesson and colleagues from the Division of Applied Technologies for Clinical Care
Contact supervisor: Dr Linda Sonesson, linda.sonesson@kcl.ac.uk
Methodology: Mixed methods, quantitative, qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Sonesson and Professor Martin Bricknell
Contact supervisor: Dr Linda Sonesson, linda.sonesson@kcl.ac.uk
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
Dr Crina Grosan
Methodology: Quantitative analysis
Funding provided: Yes (via a competitive MRC DTP scheme where the candidate will go through the overall application process, and then can take this project if they are successful)
Application deadline: 8 November 2023
Start date: Autumn 2024
Supervisory team: Dr Kimberley Whitehead and Dr Crina Grosan
Contact supervisor: Dr Kimberley Whitehead
More information and contact details for Dr Kimberley Whitehead
Methodologies: Quantitative mainly
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Kimberley Whitehead and colleagues from King's College London (e.g. this project could potentially complement perinatal research being led within the Faculty by Dr Rebecca Whybrow)
Contact supervisor: Dr Kimberley Whitehead
Contact details for Dr Kimberley Whitehead
» 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
Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Maria Duaso
Dr Maria Duaso
Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward
Dr Sue Woodward
Methodology: It is envisaged that this mixed methods study will involve systematic review of existing outcomes, Delphi methods to develop the COS and PROM development
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward
Dr Sue Woodward
Methodologies: Quantitative (e.g. analysis of electronic health records) and qualitative (e.g. interviews with patients and their families)
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Kimberley Whitehead, Dr Tom Jewell, and colleagues from King's College London
Contact supervisor: Dr Kimberley Whitehead (in the first instance)
Contact details for Dr Kimberley Whitehead
Methodology: It is envisaged that this mixed methods study will involve systematic review and mixed methods evaluation of the effectiveness of crafting activities to support resilience in IBD
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward
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
Methodology: Experience Based Co-Design
Funding provided: This studentship is funded by the MS Society. Funding covers PhD fees, research costs and a stipend
Start date: February 2024. Full time for 3 years
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward, Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan
Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward
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
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: realist methodology
Funding provided: Yes (PhD fees and UKRI stipend)
Start date: October 2024
Supervisory team: Dr Tomasina Stacey, Dr Maria Duaso, Dr Nigel Simpson (University of Leeds), in association with Tommy’s Preterm Birth Centre.
Contact Dr Tomasina Stacey with expressions of interest by 31 May 2024.
Contact details for Dr Tomasina Stacey.
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: 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: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Claire Feeley, Dr Elsa Montgomery
Contact details for Dr Claire Feeley
Methodology: Co-design/feasibility
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Tomasina Stacey
Contact details for Dr Tomasina Stacey
Methodology: Population based/case control
Funding provided: Yes/No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Tomasina Stacey
Contact details for Dr Tomasina Stacey
Methodology: Using methodologies such as photovoice, forum theatre and storytelling approaches
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Deborah Chinn
Dr Deborah Chinn
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 has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Claire Feeley, Dr Shawn Walker
Contact details for Dr Claire Feeley
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Rebecca Wybrow
Dr Rebecca Wybrow
» 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 Professor 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