PhD Studentships in Diabetes Research, PPHI

UK. Peninsula Postgraduate Health Institute.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified graduates for a full-time PhD studentships in research of factors associated with diabetes in people with severe mental illness. Students should hold, or expect to obtain, a minimum of an upper-secondclass degree in a relevant health related subject. Relevant disciplines include psychology, psychiatry and epidemiology.

The student will be based in the Mental Health Research Group. Supervision will be provided jointly by Dr Peter Aitken, (Mental Health), and Professor David Melzer, (Epidemiology & Public Health), and the work will be supported by the PMS Molecular Medicine Research Group.

The studentships will cover a stipend of £15732 pa and tuition fees at the home rate for a 3-year period. Candidates from countries outside the European Union will be liable for the difference between ‘homestudent fees’ and ‘foreign student fees’.

It is well known that people with schizophrenia and other forms of severe mental illness (SMI) are at high risk of developing diabetes, but current data are confounded by the absence of robust diagnosis, both of the psychiatric condition and the subtype of diabetes present. Effects of the emerging genetic factors for diabetes are largely unknown in this client group.

This study will employ both quantitative and qualitative methodologies andwill involve:

• using a research diagnostic instrument to identify and diagnose a sampleof mental health service users with various forms of SMI;
• developing a practical and user-friendly method of obtaining a fasting blood sample from this population, thus generating a service model for annual physical health checks;
• collecting data on the subtypes of diabetes present;
• exploring the attitudes of clients and carers towards diet, weight control, physical health and other risk factors;
• seeking consent to retain blood samples for future genetic analysis.

For an application pack, please contact:
The Postgraduate Office
Peninsula Medical School
John Bull Building
Tamar Science Park
Plymouth
PL6 8BU

Application Deadline: 31 May 2006

http://www.pms.ac.uk/pphi/institute/index.php