NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre PhD Studentships 2018/19 Application Form and Guidance Please complete the form, below, and submit to Karen Phekoo (karen.phekoo@uhs.nhs.uk) by 7th May 2018 Scheme Outline: The NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) has annual allocation of funds to support PhD research students at the University of Southampton These studentships provide funds for between £15,000 and £30,000 per year per student for three years, covering between 50% and 100% of PhD fees and stipend It is anticipated that the BRC will support up to eight studentships (five in projects related to the nutrition theme, two related to behavioural science and one for data science) These studentships are offered competitively and projects must be aligned with BRC theme research priorities or cross cutting themes (data science, behavioural science and microbial science- see Appendix 1) Projects must also fit within the NIHR and BRC remit Proposed studentships must be able to demonstrate that the remainder of costs (including consumables and lab costs) can be match funded from elsewhere (preferably external sources) where appropriate PhD students should be recruited through open competition using the model accepted by individual faculty or academic unit Students must have a degree with at least class of 2(1) Application Criteria: Prospective supervisors whose research programmes align with scientific programmes of the BRC are eligible to apply for BRC studentship funds To register, the attached application form should be completed and submitted 7th May 2018 Awards will be notified by the end of June 2018, to commence in October 2018 The application form should contain the following information: • Names of joint supervisors and their Academic Unit / Faculty • Proposal of student research project and alignment to BRC Research themes and priorities (see Appendix below) This should be 2-5 pages in length including figures References may be included in an appendix but note that reviewers may focus on the main research proposal if applications are lengthy • Outline of student work plan (250 words) • Short CVs of joint supervisors, including experience of PhD student supervision (max pages) • Statement of how proposal fits with BRC themes (including cross cutting themes) and research priorities (250 words) • Impact and future funding potential (250 words) Selection Procedure: Applications will be reviewed by a panel consisting of the BRC theme leads or their delegates, a representative from the Southampton Academy of Research (SoAR, likely one of the BRC theme training leads) and representatives from the FoM and FoHS graduate school, and a senior representative from UHS R&D Review criteria will focus on the quality of the science and the fit with BRC research strategy and priorities, alongside evidence of co-funding where appropriate (see Appendix for process and timelines) Review will examine: • Project quality (methodology, plan, underlying science) • Funding source/Security of funding/Value for money • Impact and future funding potential • Supervisors (experience, appropriate skills, track record) Final selection will also be based on fit with BRC research priorities as determined by a panel meeting Conditions and Reporting: Supervisors awarded studentship funding will be required to: • Select a student with a degree of at least 2(1) in compliance with the University’s regulations and Code of Practice for Research Candidature and Supervision http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionV/codepractice.html • Agree a lead supervisor who will be the main contact for the BRC and whose Faculty Finance Team will liaise with the other funding body • Seek final approval by sending the details of the successful student to the BRC Manager by October 2018 • Provide the BRC Manager and training lead with a copy of the students first year and transfer reports, plus information required to meet reporting requirements for NIHR, such as progression, transfer and completion, and destination post PhD • Ensure the student contributes to the Postgraduate Research conference and other BRC and NIHR related training and development events • Include an acknowledgment of the NIHR Southampton BRC support on all publications, posters and other outputs resulting from this award NIHR Southampton BRC Studentship Funding Application Form 2018/19 Applicant Details: Primary Supervisor ** Academic Unit & Faculty: Email: Co Supervisor ** Academic Unit & Faculty: Email: Additional Colleague(s)**: Academic Unit & Faculty: Email: Additional Colleague(s)**: Academic Unit & Faculty: Email: ** Please include short CVs (max pages) Studentship Details: Research Project Title: Studentship start date: Studentship end date: Proposal for student research project (length should be between 2-5 pages including figures) Statement of how proposal fits with BRC themes (including cross cutting themes) and research priorities: (250 words) Outline PhD student work plan including objectives, milestones and training plan: (250 words) Indicate plans for matching BRC studentship funds with external sources and covering any additional research costs if required by the project: (250 words) Please direct queries regarding the eligibility of funding source to Faculty Finance Indicate if this studentship will support any future funding plans: (250 words) Supervisor Signature Signature: Date: APPENDIX 1: BRC Research themes and priorities NIHR Southampton BRC: Lifecourse Nutrition, Lifestyle and Health Research Theme Aims and short (1-2 years), medium (3-4 years) and long term (5+ years) objectives Aims To develop nutritional and lifestyle approaches to non-communicable disorders across the lifecourse, including preventive interventions, predictive/diagnostic phenomarkers and personalised/stratified therapeutics, and patient and public engagement in participatory health promotion Our Lifecourse Nutrition, Lifestyle and Health research is in three Research Areas: 1) Childhood obesity, growth, development and health (Pre-conception to adolescence) 2) Obesity, metabolic/liver disease and cancer (Mid-life) 3) Nutrition and healthy ageing (Older-age) Our aim is to deliver: Short-term • Deeply-phenotyped parent-offspring cohorts from pre-conception, for validation of multi-omic phenomarkers with industry, MRC and BHF • Characterisation/piloting of novel nutrition/lifestyle interventions in future parents to prevent obesity and improve offspring growth/development • Digital dietary assessment methodology for One NIHR (with DIET@NET) • Personalised population-wide approaches to improve health using routine NHS data • Validated novel phenomarkers to guide design of new nutritional/lifestyle interventions, promoting healthy ageing and preventing osteoporosis and sarcopenia/frailty Medium-term • Characterisation/piloting of nutritional interventions to improve growth/development of infants born preterm or with imprinting/congenital/surgical disorders • Integrated nutritional/pre-/probiotic solutions to prevent/improve outcomes in childhood inflammatory bowel disease, atopic disorders and food allergy • Early evidence of efficacy of novel nutritional therapeutics for NAFLD, and cardiovascular/chronic respiratory diseases • Participatory school-, workplace- and population-based behaviour change interventions, achieving and sustaining engagement to prevent obesity, metabolic disease and obesity-related cancers, and improve the nutrition of community-dwelling older people • Personalised nutritional targeting of immunomodulatory joint disease therapeutics Long-term • Building research capacity and working with NHS, industry and stakeholders, using our crossgenerational lifecourse insights to tackle the double burden of obesity and malnutrition which threaten UK health and wealth Research Strategy Our strategy is to translate our scientific excellence to characterise nutritional and lifestyle approaches to noncommunicable disorders (NCDs) across the lifecourse, applying first-class NIHR infrastructure, through preventive, predictive, personalised and participatory approaches for patient and public benefit Our vision is to build on our national nutrition/lifestyle hub, informed by public/patient involvement, to build capacity, translate discoveries and address NIHR nutrition priorities for patient/public benefit We will achieve this by further development of our established infrastructure to: • Provide a national dietary/metabolic assessment/phenotyping toolkit for early nutritional diagnosis • Characterise validated epigenetic phenomarkers/signatures in nutritional/lifestyle intervention trials • Establish a Centre for Nutritional Immunology providing validated nutrition and immune assays • With the Data Science Cross-cutting theme, apply systems biology and bioinformatics to characterise and pilot nutrition interventions in patient/lifecourse cohorts • With the Microbial Science Cross-cutting theme, use metagenomic and function-based microbiome analysis to characterise and pilot interventions targeting the gut microbiome • With the Behavioural Science Cross-cutting theme, develop/evaluate digital nutrition/lifestyle behaviour change platforms • Collaborate with industry to develop therapeutic nutritional interventions for the NHS ” For further details, contact Professor Keith Godfrey (kmg@mrc.soton.ac.uk) Respiratory and Critical Care Theme The Respiratory and Critical Care Theme addresses common problems that affect millions of people like asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, tackles rare lung diseases for which therapies are limited, and will discover new ways of improving critical care Work on these topics involves three stages of care, from better prevention of disease, through earlier and more accurate diagnoses, to developing treatments personalised to each individual including managing end-of-life care with dignity For further details, contact Professor Ratko Djukanovic (R.Djukanovic@soton.ac.uk) Cross-cutting Themes Three important areas of research are common to our nutrition and respiratory themes: • Data science: Using large amounts of clinical and research data to improve treatments and health • Microbial science: Fighting microbial infections and overcoming antibiotic resistant bacteria • Behavioural science: Supporting people in healthy behaviours and choices Data science This theme is about health data integration and repurposing data to make discoveries and improve patient care With patient agreement, we are making the most of patient information available in the NHS system and combining this with research data The successful applicant will be proposing novel methods of data integration, new approaches for patient engagement, ideas for enhanced data quality and storage or the incorporation of new data sets Projects need to be applicable to the key BRC themes of Nutrition and Respiratory disorders For further details, contact Professor Sarah Ennis (s.ennis@soton.ac.uk) Microbial science A growing number of bacteria and fungi resistant to antibiotic drugs threaten to make currently treatable infections and routine surgery lethal We’re combining genetic techniques to identify new drugs with an approach exploring use of ‘good’ bacteria in the gut and upper airways to fight infection and improve health To this we’ve brought together experts in engineering, microbiology and physical sciences, and initiated groundbreaking studies of infectious diseases For further details, contact Professor Rob Read (R.C.Read@soton.ac.uk) Behavioural science Aims: To develop innovative methods to maximise behaviour change in patients and the public, preventing and treating the burden of obesity and malnutrition and improving management of respiratory conditions Through the activities of a BRC Centre for Patient Collaboration and Participation in Health Research we will: Develop novel Digital Interventions to support cost-effective implementation of personalised, preventive and predictive Nutrition/Respiratory Theme advances Innovate in Educational Interventions, establishing and sustaining engagement in improving health behaviours Characterise state-of-the-art methods to integrate digital, educational and In-Person interventions and maximise patient/public participation Apply a Person-Based Approach ensuring interventions are maximally accessible, acceptable, feasible and engaging Strategy: Three strategic, integrated work streams will support innovations in Behavioural Science, enabling translational delivery of the Nutrition and Respiratory and Critical Care research themes UHS/UoS has a world-leading position in the development of digital intervention technologies to support health and health behaviour change This expertise and technology will be combined with our cutting-edge education platform and our unique approach to changing behaviour and professional practice through in-person interventions to provide behavioural expertise for activity under each theme and innovation in the field of behavioural science Health care into the future has to ensure engagement and participation of patients and the public in the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of adopting P4 medicine Given our unique critical mass of expertise, our strong PPI and the physical proximity of INVOLVE, establishment of a BRC Centre for Patient Collaboration and Participation in Health Research is an important part of our proposal Under the umbrella of the Centre, we will develop innovations to engage patients and the public in participatory maintenance of their health and treatment Relevance to the health of patients and the public Increasing participation in improving health behaviours has potential for enormous impact on the health of patients, the public and the NHS Poor diet costs the NHS £6bn annually and physical inactivity £1bn (Scarborough, 2011) Respiratory diseases are estimated to cost another £6.6bn, including £1bn for asthma treatment The cost of obesity treatment in England is approaching £50bn and obesity-linked diabetes costs are projected to rise to £39.8bn by 2035/6 Overweight in adults is linked to an approximately fivefold excess of doctor-diagnosed asthma Weight loss benefits both paediatric and adult asthma, with studies of diet and surgical interventions showing reduction in medication use, improved asthma control and sometimes complete resolution The potential financial savings to be made from improvements in nutrition and respiratory health are therefore enormous, alongside the reduction in human suffering If the UK population met current dietary recommendations, approximately 33,000 deaths per year would be avoided, 20,800 alone for coronary heart disease amounting to a saving of 2m years of life lost (Milner, 2015) Reductions of exacerbations in asthma and COPD will reduce associated morbidities and save large numbers of admissions Work under the Behavioural Science Cross-cutting Theme is designed to generate these savings Collaborations across the BRC and within the BRC Centre for Patient Collaboration and Participation in Health Research make our partnership well-placed to deliver impact from interventions designed to deliver advances in P4 medicine The potential reach and power of digital interventions mean their impact could be unparalleled in public health Digital interventions can also play a crucial role in meeting NHS policy aims to empower patients to self-manage their long-term conditions, providing patients with better access to personalised information and support for active participation in treatment Previous digital interventions designed by members of the team are being rolled out successfully by a university social enterprise, with endorsement from NICE and Public Health England, providing a model for wide dissemination and societal impact that will be adopted for the suite of intervention types planned by the Centre LifeLab and our education platform has been designed to underpin the National Science Curriculum and its proven popularity means LifeLab is currently being considered for rollout in other parts of the UK and with other organisations, including Southampton Football Club Healthy Conversation Skills is a feasible and a potentially sustainable approach for all front-line health care practitioners, to support both the public and patients For further details, contact Dr Mary Barker (meb@mrc.soton.ac.uk.) APPENDIX 2: BRC PhD Post allocation and recruitment pathway