PhD Studentship - Creating tailored retinal screening pathways for people with diabetes

Job description

Title of the award

ARC NENC PhD Creating tailored retinal screening pathways for people with diabetes

Institution and location

University of Sunderland, Sunderland

Award summary

100% of home tuition fees paid, annual stipend of £21,805 and additional funding given to cover research costs of £15,000. This studentship is only available to those eligible for UK home tuition fees.

To be classed as a Home student, candidates must:

• Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
• have settled status, or
• have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student and would not be eligible.

Applicants will need to be in the UK and fully enrolled before stipend payments can commence.

Overview

Diabetic retinopathy is a potential complication of diabetes that can lead to sight loss if untreated. The NHS Diabetes Eye Screening Programme supports early detection and treatment, but the programme is evolving through optical coherence tomography, digital surveillance and emerging approaches such as non-mydriatic imaging. Changes in diabetes treatments may also affect retinopathy risk.

Uptake of diabetic eye screening varies substantially. This PhD will explore how screening pathways could be tailored to patient groups or individuals to provide a more patient-centred service, improve uptake and support timely detection of retinopathy.

The successful candidate will use mixed methods and implementation science to:

• Examine current diabetic eye-screening pathways and influences on screening engagement, using a structured framework such as the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
• Engage patients, carers, healthcare professionals and service leaders across ophthalmology, eye screening, primary care and specialist diabetes services
• Combine qualitative enquiry, case-study methods, pathway mapping and analysis of routinely collected healthcare data
• Work with stakeholders to co-design potential tailored screening models
• Develop evidence-informed recommendations for policy, practice and future implementation within the NHS

The student will be embedded within a multidisciplinary research environment spanning academia, the NHS, and regional health and care partners, with access to NORI's developing ophthalmic research infrastructure and both the ARC and NORI's expertise in implementation science, digital health, population health, and healthcare innovation.

Public involvement, co-production, research inclusion, knowledge mobilisation, and impact planning will be integral to all stages of the project. The successful candidate will work closely with interest-holders to ensure that the research generates actionable evidence capable of informing the future design and delivery of retinal screening.

Number of awards

One

Start date

February 2027

Award duration

3.5 years, full time

Application closing date

04/11/2026

Sponsors

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria and the Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation Institute

Name of supervisors

Professor Matthew Campbell

Gemma Donovan

Eligibility criteria

Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a first-class or upper second-class honours degree, or equivalent, in a relevant health, social or behavioural science subject. Those with an upper second-class degree should also have a master's degree or relevant professional experience. Experience of qualitative or mixed-methods research and implementation science, would be advantageous. Applicants whose first language is not English will normally need an IELTS overall score of 6.5, with at least 6.0 in each component.

How to apply

Applications should include a full academic CV, two academic or professional references, degree certificates and transcripts, and a supporting statement. The statement should be of around 750 words and explain your motivation for joining NORI and how your research experience, techniques and skills make you a strong candidate.

Applications should be emailed to [email protected] , with the full project title in the subject line.

Contact details

Informal enquiries about the research or NORI prior to application are encouraged and can be directed to NORI Director Professor Matthew Campbell via [email protected]

Additional information

We will be offering a pre-application support workshop for candidates who wish to apply for one of our PhD studentships.

Thursday 15 October 9.30am until 11am (in person at Darlington University campus, exact location TBC) Please complete form if interested:- NIHR ARC: NENC PhD Pre-Application Workshop Registration (in-person) - Fill in form