Liverpool John Moores University
MPhil/PhD Studentship
Health Inequalities
(Up to 3 years)

SCHOLARSHIP COVERS ONLY:- The studentship covers university fees at the UK/EU level and a stipend of £12,600 per annum.


The North West Public Health Observatory within the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University invites applications for an MPhil/PhD studentship to conduct a programme of research concerning relative and absolute inequalities in health.

It is well recognised that inequalities in wealth lead to inequalities in health. At a population level, many health indicators show a strong relationship with deprivation. In western societies it is not absolute poverty but an individual's perceived or actual rank in society that is linked to health. However while research has been carried out at an individual level using small-scale surveys, little has been done to utilise the enormity of geographical level data to explore this effect. This research programme will test the hypothesis that the deprivation of immediately surrounding localities relative to each locality is a predictor of ill health, and determine the strength of this relationship at different geographical levels. In doing so, it will utilise deprivation and health data available at the level of lower super output area, supplemented by national lifestyle data using modelling techniques. The research is highly quantitative and will require extensive application of multivariate statistical techniques and use of geographic information systems (GIS)

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in Health, Geography or other related or social science discipline. A relevant Masters degree would be an advantage (professional research experience would also be considered). The student will join an active team of analysts, researchers and information specialists within the NWPHO. The work programme will be supported by academics with specialist expertise and networks, in addition to the to the support and development opportunities provided by the University Research and Graduate School and the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences.

The studentship covers university fees at the UK/EU level and a stipend of £12,600 per annum for full-time study up to three years. The student will register initially for the award of MPhil and will be expected to transfer to PhD registration within 12-15 months (subject to satisfactory progress and approval of the transfer report)

For an informal discussion, contact the Director of Studies for the research programme, Dr Karen Tocque (email: k.tocque@ljmu.ac.uk). To apply, please complete the application form for postgraduate study, and send with your CV (optional) and a cover letter explaining your interests and skills relating to this opportunity to Miss Elaine Steele, Castle House, North Street, Liverpool, L3 2AY (e.m.steele@ljmu.ac.uk; 0151 231 4055). The closing date for applications is 23rd November 2007. Application forms are available from the following website: http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/RGSO/59300.htm

PhD Scholarships awarded each academic year in Adaptive Infrastructure Management in Utility Computing Environments
Company Overview:
SAP is the world's largest inter-enterprise software company and the world's third-largest independent
software provider overall. SAP Research studies emerging IT trends and deploys new technologies in reallife environments to determine their potential business value for SAP. Research Centres are situated in
several locations worldwide. The SAP Research Centre in Belfast has a PhD position available in the area of
the establishment and management of Virtual Environments. This research area is of very high industrial importance for SAP and will strengthen the leadership of SAP within the inter-enterprise market. As a result, the candidate will have excellent job opportunities.

PhD Program:
The PhD program at SAP Research offers you a great chance to get industry experience in a real-life project, to work with top researchers from all over the world, and to have the opportunity to develop your own research network. As SAP Research is a consortium member in various partly government funded projects, it forms an ideal platform for working on a doctoral thesis in conjunction with university partners. After finishing your PhD, you will normally encounter very attractive job opportunities within SAP.
As a PhD candidate you will be employed by SAP on a 3.5 year contract during which time it is expected that you complete the submission of your PhD thesis. The salary will be similar to university-based PhD
studentships and tuition fees will be paid by SAP. You will be based primarily at the SAP Research Centre in
Belfast, participating in a SAP research project that is closely aligned to your PhD topic. You will also participate in the standard activities of full-time PhD students at Queen's University Belfast including attending supervisor meetings, seminars and other training workshops.

Research Topic:
Businesses in future service-oriented economies need to act in a more agile fashion than ever before. Utility computing environments hosting the business processes must exhibit adaptive characteristics in managing infrastructure resources to enable business applications deliver expected services in dynamic and diverse conditions. Existing management tools and practices lack flexibility and interoperability. Virtualization technologies and standard models based system management can help in tackling these problems. Virtualization technologies can provide the flexibility of dynamic capacity management in utility computing environments. Model based system management, on the other hand offers the opportunities for automation of management tasks and interoperability among disparate systems. Together, both of these can provide the required adaptive behaviour in the infrastructure management. The potential candidate is therefore required to address the following broad research topics:

Systematic analysis & requirement specification after studying dynamic business situations in real
production environments,
A detailed analysis of the standard infrastructure modelling languages like DMTF Common
Information Model (CIM), Web Based Enterprise Monitoring (WBEM), System Virtualization,
Partitioning & Clustering (SVPC) and Service Modelling Language (SML) etc. Investigation into the
suitability of existing modelling language & tools for modelling Virtualized Infrastructure modelling.
The study of different virtualization technologies especially resource management interfaces and
tools to comprehend their suitability for adaptive utility infrastructures.
Innovative techniques and methodologies for model based system management and automation.
Investigation of the dependencies between general management of dynamic compute environments
and data management.
Student Pre-requisites
Potential PhD students will be expected to have an upper Second Class honours degree, or equivalent, in
Computer Science or a closely related discipline with a broad appreciation of the research topics described
above. Candidates are required to have sound knowledge of operating systems design & Implementation
and good programming skills in at least 2 programming languages. Preference will be given to those who
have some experience in Linux System Administration, Bash Scripting and C/C++ programming. Candidates will also be expected to have very strong capabilities in self-organisation and the ability to work in an international team of researchers.

How to apply:
Please apply online on the SAP webpage:
https://ejobs.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZj...QzMTAwOA%3d%3d
Further information: http://www.sap.com/about/company/res...rs/belfast.epx

Fully Funded PHD Studentship
Sensor networks for surveillance and monitoring applications
Department of Aerospace, Power and Sensors
As part of our collaborative research work with SELEX Sensors & Airborne Systems Limited, we wish to recruit a research student for a PhD study on sensor networks for surveillance and monitoring applications.

The main objective of the proposed research project is to explore the usage of sensor networks in improving monitoring and surveillance performances, with an emphasis on the provision of actionable user information (e.g. decision support etc.) gathered from integrated multi-modal systems. This requires improving deployment strategies and associated supporting tools for the deployment of static sensor nodes in order to provide optimal coverage/context awareness from the deployed system within the monitored area. Based on decentralized sensing architecture, robust threat identification and sensor node localization algorithms will also be investigated. In addition, efficient data/information fusion from heterogeneous sensors (such as EO/IR visual, acoustic and seismic sensors) will be carried on to improve threat detection, behaviour within its operating context. The potential to exploit the distributed tracking capabilities of multi-modal sensor networks will also be assessed during this work.

The project will be carried out in close collaboration with our industrial partner and the resulting interactions will provide an exceptionally rich research environment. In addition to simulation validation, this project entails 30% real time experiments to embed proposed algorithms on representative sensor network hardware capabilities.

Entry Requirements: For this research studentship, we are seeking a talented graduate, having (or be expected to obtain) at least an upper second class honours degree (first class honours preferred), MSc or equivalent in electrical engineering or computer science. Good mathematical background and experience of sensor signal processing, distributed/networked systems, Bayesian based inference techniques, data/information fusion and real time systems would be most desirable.

Eligibility: The funding is restricted to UK or EU Nationals due to the requirements of the sponsor. The studentship is for three years and provides payment of tuition fees at the UK/EU rate plus a £12,600 per annum (normally tax free) contribution to living expenses.

Applicants should make initial enquiries or send a CV with contact details of two referees to: Dr Aouf n.aouf@cranfield.ac.uk

PhD Position
Performance Engineering for Service-Oriented Architectures
SAP Research:
SAP is the world's largest inter-enterprise software company and the world's third-largest independent
software provider overall. SAP Research studies emerging IT trends and deploys new technologies in reallife environments to determine their potential business value for SAP. Research Centres are situated in
several locations worldwide. Our Belfast (UK) Research Centre currently has PhD positions available in the
area of performance engineering for service-oriented architectures in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ulster.

PhD Program:
The PhD program at SAP Research offers you a great chance to get industry experience in a real-life project, to work with top researchers, and to have the opportunity to develop your own research network. As SAP Research is a consortium member in various partly government funded projects, it forms an ideal platform for working on a doctoral thesis in conjunction with university partners. As a PhD candidate you will be employed by SAP on a 3.5 year contract during which time it is expected that you complete your submission of a PhD thesis. Salary will be similar to university-based PhD studentships and tuition fees will be paid by SAP. You will be based primarily at the SAP Research Centre in Belfast, participating in a SAP research project that is closely aligned to your PhD topic. You will also participate in the standard activities of full-time PhD students at the University of Ulster including attending supervisor meetings, seminars and other training workshops.

Research Topic:
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a new paradigm for constructing complex software systems and
promises much greater flexibility for composing tailored enterprise applications that satisfy specific customer needs and business strategies. However, the non-functional behaviour of such systems, such as
performance, is not yet well understood. Collaborative research is being carried out between SAP Research
in Belfast and the University of Ulster to derive more comprehensive performance and resource models for
Service Oriented Architectures within SAP. Our vision is that these models will evolve over time and enable
better decision-support during any phase of a software solution's lifecycle. The major research themes and
potential PhD topics in this context include:

How to describe the performance and resource consumption characteristics of services/components
in a complex service-oriented architecture.
How to capture the performance and resource consumption characteristics in an automated way and
with minimal overhead on development teams.
How to derive benchmarking applications for SOA and describe resource requirements in a
hardware independent way.
Identifies new methodologies and techniques for landscape management within a virtualized
adaptive IT infrastructure
Student Pre-requisites
Potential PhD students will be expected to have a First Class honours degree, or equivalent, in Computer
Science or a closely related discipline with a broad appreciation of the research topics described above.
Candidates will also be expected to have very strong capabilities in self-organisation and the ability to work
in an international team of researchers.

How to apply:
Please apply online on the SAP web page: https://ejobs.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZj...QzMTAwOA%3d%3d

Further information: http://www.sap.com/about/company/res...rs/belfast.epx

BRACE (Bristol Research into Alzheimer's and Care of the Elderly) Ph.D. Studentship
‘Predicting the progression of cognitive impairment in memory clinic attendees'
Department of Social Medicine
Applications are invited from graduates with good honours or Masters degrees in a numerate discipline, and extensive experience of applied statistical analysis, for a three-year Ph.D. studentship tenable from January 2008. The student will use anonymous data from the Bristol memory clinic archives to investigate whether neuropsychological tests administered at presentation can help identify individuals whose cognitive impairment will worsen. The studentship is funded by the BRACE charity (Bristol Research into Alzheimer's and Care of the Elderly) and includes a stipend of £12,500 per year, plus a generous allowance for research costs. It is anticipated that the project will require a comparison and choice between potentially useful statistical methods in a practical context. A demonstrated interest in health services research and Alzheimer's disease would be desirable.

Further details from Susie Potts. T: 0117 928 7274 E: susie.potts@bristol.ac.uk.
Web page http://www.epi.bris.ac.uk

Application is by CV and covering letter, which should be sent to Dr Chris Metcalfe: Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol, UK, BS8 2PR
(E: chris.metcalfe@bristol.ac.uk)

University of St Andrews
Fellowships and Studentships in Cosmopolitan Studies
School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies
Department of Social Anthropology
Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies

SCHOLARSHIP COVERS MAX:- £27,857 - £ 33,262 per annum pro rata

The fellowships aim to provide scholars who are within five years of having completed a doctorate with the opportunity to spend a number of months redrafting their thesis for publication. Up to two fellowships will be awarded per competition, and the standard length of each fellowship is six months.

The fellowship competition is open to any scholars whose work addresses 'cosmopolitanism', understood as social enquiry into the ‘human condition': a singularity above and beyond proximal affiliations and the categorizations of nation, ethnicity, class, cultural community, religion, gender and so on. Your intended writing project might be ontological in theme (defining the human), or methodological (gaining access to the human), or political-cum-moral (securing the human). It might address, for instance: global citizenship; trans-nationalism and supra-nationalism; home and movement; individuals as universal agents; human rights as global discourse; humanism, universal values and morals; liberalism and communitarianism; social inclusion and freedom; individuality and embodiment; introspection, empathy and intersubjectivity; irony and critical method.

Further information about the St. Andrews Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies may be found at: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/anthropology/centres/ccs/ .

Informal enquiries can be made to Professor Nigel Rapport, Director, Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St. Andrews, North Street, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL, Scotland; or email: rapport@st-andrews.ac.uk or tel: 01334 462977.



Application forms and further particulars for the Fellowships are available from Human Resources, University of St Andrews, College Gate, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, (tel: 01334 462571, by fax 01334 462570 or by e-mail Jobline@st-andrews.ac.uk. The advertisement and further particulars and a downloadable application form can be found at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/employment/.

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MPhil / PhD Studentship
Characterisation of novel and complex mechanisms of antibiotic resistance using a proteomics approach
Centre for Infections
SCHOLARSHIP COVERS:- £14,709 pa
Colindale, NW London

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is an independent public sector organisation that protects the health and well-being of the Nation. The Agency plays a critical role in protecting people from infectious diseases and in preventing harm when hazards involving chemicals, poisons or radiation occur. We also prepare for new and emerging threats, such as a bio-terrorist attack or a virulent new strain of disease.

The Centre for Infections at Colindale, NW London is an internationally renowned centre of excellence for expertise, reference, research, surveillance and epidemiology in relation to micro-organisms affect on human health. The modern purpose built centre is well equipped and staffed and provides excellent library, occupational health, refectory facilities and an onsite nursery.

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship funded by the Health Protection Agency. This three year studentship will be located in the Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory and the Molecular Identification Services Unit.

Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health; bacteria have evolved resistance to every class of antibiotics. Classic molecular characterisation is time-consuming, and offers only partial insight into affected cellular processes. This challenging PhD project will use high-resolution analysis of the proteomes of antibiotic-susceptible and resistant bacteria to dissect out novel and complex resistance mechanisms. It entails the running of high resolution 2-D gels, comparative proteome analysis using ‘Difference in Gel Electrophoresis’ (DIGE) imaging analysis and a range of mass spectrometry techniques, It will concentrate particularly on resistance to 'agents of last resort', including to carbapenems and oxazolidinones.

Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain, a first or upper-second class honours degree in a relevant discipline, preferably Microbiology, Biochemistry or Molecular Biology and must have a reasonable understanding of Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry. They should be self-motivating with a strong interest in antibiotic resistance and novel technologies.

Informal enquiries should be made to Dr Neil Woodford (neil.woodford@hpa.org.uk) or Prof Haroun Shah (Haroun.shah@hpa.org.uk).

The Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring & Reference Laboratory (ARMRL) is the national laboratory for antibiotic resistance in England and Wales, providing reference microbiology, conducting surveys and undertaking research on unusually resistant isolates. Details are available on http://www.hpa.org.uk/cfi/armrl/default.htm

The Molecular Identification Services Unit provides microbial identification services and complementary developmental activities. Its R&D activities extend from analysis of conserved genes to comparative proteomic approaches to complement biomarker identification. Details are available on http://www.hpa.org.uk/cfi/misu/default.htm

Research Studentship or Bursary in Primary Care
Musculoskeletal pain
Primary Care Musculoskeletal Research Centre (PCMRC)
RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR PRIMARY CARE AND HEALTH SCIENCES

(3 years, full-time)

Project: transportability and usefulness of clinical prediction rules for musculoskeletal pain.

Identifying patients at risk of poor outcome when they consult primary care could help indicate when a more detailed assessment or a different management approach is required. Clinical prediction rules offer one way of doing this and there has been increasing interest in deriving these. However, there have been fewer attempts to critically investigate whether these rules perform well in different samples of patients, whether they outperform clinicians’ own judgements, or how practically they could be incorporated into routine primary care practice. Yet these are crucial steps if research findings are to be translated into patient benefit.

As part of the PCMRC’s ongoing collaboration with Amsterdam’s EMGO Institute, we have used previously gathered cohort data to derive clinical prediction rules for predicting poor outcome among low back pain and shoulder pain patients consulting primary care.

With the support of the supervisory team, you will design, coordinate and analyse data from a new prospective cohort of patients with musculoskeletal pain in primary care. You will compare the performance of the clinical prediction rules with clinicians’ judgements and engage general practitioners and physiotherapists to understand the usefulness and feasibility of clinical prediction rules in routine practice.

In addition to a relevant Honours – ideally a 2:1 or higher - or Master’s degree and a knowledge of health, you will need strong numeracy, literacy and writing skills and an understanding of quantitative analysis. Your logical, scientific and questioning approach must be balanced by excellent interpersonal and organisational skills and a commitment to principled, ethical research. You should be able to work well in a team; experience of statistical analysis, epidemiological research, report writing and the use of data organisation and analysis packages (such as SPSS) would be an advantage.

For an informal discussion or to arrange a visit to the Centre, please contact Dr George Peat. Tel. 01782 583906; Email: g.m.peat@cphc.keele.ac.uk.

Further particulars, and full details of application procedures for study are on the Keele website www.keele.ac.uk/gradschool or contact The Graduate School for an Application Guide and application form (Graduate School, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG. Tel: 01782 584368, email: gradschool@keele.ac.uk).

Engineering Doctorate
Engineered Materials for High Performance Applications in Aerospace and Related Technologies
Department of Metallurgy and Materials
Modelling Single Crystal Turbine Blade Manufacturing Processes

An Engineering Doctorate studentship is available within Rolls-Royce plc, the world’s second largest manufacturer of jet engines. Working as part of a research and development team embedded within a manufacturing business unit, the Research Engineer will develop, validate and apply process simulation tools for the analysis and optimisation of component integrity, performance and design for manufacture.

The four-year research project will be carried out based at the company, and a number of one-week modules in Advanced Materials and Professional Development will be taken at the University. The programme of study will thus be both theoretically and practically based.

Initial enquiries about the EngD scheme to: Mrs Jo Corbett, EngD Centre Administrator (tel: 0121 414 5222; email: j.a.m.corbett@bham.ac.uk)

University of Birmingham, Department of Metallurgy and Materials, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
http://www.bham.ac.uk/metallurgy

Ph.D. Studentship
‘Predicting the progression of cognitive impairment in memory clinic attendees'
Department of Social Medicine
Applications are invited from graduates with good honours or Masters degrees in a numerate discipline, and extensive experience of applied statistical analysis, for a three-year Ph.D. . The student will use anonymous data from the Bristol memory clinic archives to investigate whether neuropsychological tests administered at presentation can help identify individuals whose cognitive impairment will worsen. The studentship is funded by the BRACE charity (Bristol Research into Alzheimer's and Care of the Elderly) and includes a stipend of £12,500 per year, plus a generous allowance for research costs. It is anticipated that the project will require a comparison and choice between potentially useful statistical methods in a practical context. A demonstrated interest in health services research and Alzheimer's disease would be desirable.

Further details from Susie Potts. T: 0117 928 7274 E: susie.potts@bristol.ac.uk.
Web page http://www.epi.bris.ac.uk

Application is by CV and covering letter, which should be sent to Dr Chris Metcalfe: Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol, UK, BS8 2PR
(E: chris.metcalfe@bristol.ac.uk)