Scholarships Source

ESRC funded PhD studentship [3y; Master with strong quant component in stat, economics, or econometr; interest developing & applying stat methods for evaluating health care programmes; £17,940; Methods to reduce selection bias in health economic evaluation] / Health Services Research Unit within Department of Public Health & Policy at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) / deadline September 22

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London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

One studentship is available in the Health Services Research Unit within the Department of Public Health & Policy. This studentship covers a 3-year doctoral (PhD) programme in this internationally renowned, research-based institution to start October 2008

THE PHD PROJECT

Methods to reduce selection bias in health economic evaluation

Economic evaluations often use observational data where the major concern is selection bias. Traditional methods for dealing with this bias suffer from important limitations, and can lead to misleading inferences for policy-making. The project will examine a novel non-parametric technique (Genetic Matching) that makes more appropriate assumptions. While Genetic Matching has been tested on a single dataset in labour economics, this research will further examine the technique using a series of health economic evaluations. The case studies are primarily from a developed country context (mainly the UK, and US) and include evaluations of clinical and public health interventions. This context offers an excellent opportunity to compare estimates from high-quality observational studies with those from pragmatic RCTs. This research will provide rigorous evidence on the techniques merits, which can ultimately help evaluations provide a stronger basis for policy-making.

The PhD thesis will be undertaken within a larger project funded by ESRC/NIHR which involves collaboration with colleagues at Universities of California, Harvard and MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge.

THE CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate will have a Masters degree with a strong quantitative component in statistics, economics, or econometrics, a good practical awareness of implementing statistical methods, and excellent writing skills. The preferred candidate will also have a strong interest in developing and applying statistical methods for evaluating health care programmes.

SUPERVISORS AND ENVIRONMENT
The project will be supervised by Dr Richard Grieve (senior lecturer in health economics). The successful applicant will also be able to draw on guidance from colleagues with expertise in statistics (Dr James Carpenter) and econometrics (Prof Jas Sekhon, University of California, Berkeley). As part of the studentship, the applicant will receive advanced training, for example by taking study modules from the highly regarded Master course in Medical Statistics, at LSHTM. LSHTM provides a highly supportive environment for Research Degree study.

AWARD
The studentship will cover full tuition fees at Home/EU level as well as a maintenance grant of £17,940 (inclusive of London Weighting) per year, for three years.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applicants must have been ordinarily resident in the UK throughout the 3-year period immediately preceding the date of the award. Full award is available to UK residents only; other EU nationals may receive awards which cover tuition fees only. Please check your eligibility requirements on the ESRC website before applying.

HOW TO APPLY
Applicants should submit a complete application for Research degree study. Research (MPhil/PhD) Application forms. Please ensure that you indicate on your application form that you wish to be considered for this award and enclose an outline of the proposed PhD topic of up to 3 pages.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
The deadline for receipt of complete applications under this scheme is 22nd September 2008.

FURTHER DETAILS
Informal enquiries regarding the project can be made directly to Dr Richard Grieve (richard.grieve@lshtm.ac.uk) Further guidance on making an application can be found by visiting the How to Apply pages of the School's website: www.lshtm.ac.uk/prospectus/howto, or by e-mailing Registry: registry@lshtm.ac.uk.