2007 Press Releases
Funding for UCC's Health Services Research PhD Scholar Programme
The Health Research Board (HRB) has indicated that UCC's Health
Services Research PhD Scholar programme application (submitted jointly
with RCSI and TCD) has been funded. A sum of €5 million will be
available to support 4 cohorts of PhD students (6-8 per year) into a
4-year structured inter-institutional PhD programme in Health Services
Research. This award has significant implications for Health Services
Research (HSR) in UCC. It provides a significant opportunity to develop
an internationally competitive HSR infrastructure in UCC. The funding
will support the development of an integrated masters level programme
in HSR as well as salary support over four years for the doctoral
students.
The project leads are Ivan Perry (UCC- Epidemiology & Public
Health), Hannah McGee (RCSI - Health Psychology), Charles Normand (TCD
- Health Economics). Other Steering Group members are: Helen Whelton
UCC - (oral health services research) Tom Fahey (RCSI - general
practice), Ruairi Brugha (RCSI - epidemiology & public heath), John
Feely (TCD - therapeutics), Jane Grimson (TCD - health informatics).
The supporting PI list includes over 20 academics in health services
research and related disciplines (including clinical disciplines) who
will support the PhD training programme.
Scholars will be supervised by a multidisciplinary team across two of
the three participating institutions. There will be 12-week work
placements in Irish institutions collecting health data in Year 1 (e.g.
National Cancer Registry, CSO) and a 2-week international site visits
for scholars to work with researchers with specialist expertise in
their research topic or methodology. The Scholar Programme will be
managed by the Irish Health Services Research Institute and
inter-institutional collaboration involving UCC, RCSI and TCD.
Project Summary:
The proposed Scholars Programme aims to improve the planning and
delivery of health services in Ireland and abroad through developing
committed and skilled health services researchers. This should improve
the quality of care, the experience of patients and the health of the
population. The capacity in Ireland to carry out rigorous HSR has been
constrained by the shortage of suitably skilled researchers.
The principles that support this proposal include: the best researchers
combine excellent scientific skills with commitment to contribute to
solving problems; HSR is inherently multidisciplinary and is best done
in teams; researchers need excellent understanding of the policy and
service delivery context; the training skills needed are based in
several institutions and the best programme requires collaboration
between these; PhD training should develop imagination and insight,
combined with skills in project management and dissemination.
The proposed training is in a four year programme, with generic and
specialized courses in the first year, a research project in years 2-4,
and personal development across the four years. Year 1 courses cover
health, health services and health policy, introductions to a range of
disciplines and methods, experience of working in a research setting
and high level courses in specific areas. Year 1 is equivalent to
a research masters programme in HSR. The planned support for
developing and carrying out the research project will ensure students
receive appropriate support, supervision of the highest quality, and
progress will be monitored to ensure a very rate of completion and high
quality research. The team assembled for this proposal represents
a wide range of relevant disciplines, extensive experience in HSR,
strong track records in supervision, and there are already many
existing successful collaborations across the institutions from which
to build.
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