Medical Sciences MPhil/PhD

PhD year by year

After receiving your application, we try to establish if we have the necessary expertise to supervise your project and we begin to form a supervisory team for you. This will normally consist of a Director of Studies (DoS), who will be your lead supervisor, and at least one other supervisor, who will offer you additional support and guidance throughout your studies. If, following a successful interview, you are offered a place as a full-time student, your programme of study will look something like this:

Part time students follow the same structure as full-time students but normally complete the PhD over a period of five to six years. Part-time students take two modules in each of their first two years, and will normally Transfer to PhD in their fourth year.

Supervisors

Professor Rachel Ashworth
Expertise: cell signalling research.

Dr Leo Donnelly 
Expertise: quantitative research in light and electron microscopy in relation to microvascular permeability as well as nerve regeneration; the establishment of ‘safe zones’ to minimise iatrogenic damage during surgical interventions.

Dr Lindsey Fellows
Expertise: nutritional therapy and human behaviour (motivating clients to change); functional medicine, behaviour change and motivational interviewing; gender, health and physical activity; nutritional therapy and COVID-19; health and wellbeing in schools; motives and barriers to physical exercises during pregnancy; qualitative research methodologies and philosophies.

Dr Helen Holder
Expertise: nutritional risk and screening; student nurse perceptions of nursing; malnutrition; self-interviews.

Professor Lisa Jones
Expertise: adult severe mental illness, in particular the aetiology of major mood disorders; quantitative research methods.

Professor Kay Mohanna
Expertise: conversation analysis of video recorded data  qualitative methods that share a thematic analytical approach; identity formation, diversity and inclusion, leadership and the use of humanities in teaching and learning.

Professor Sandra Nicholson
Expertise:  medical educational research and scholarship that enhances the experience of both students and tutors, and ultimately seeks to improve the care and satisfaction of patients; interdisciplinary approach to research including work with policy holders; quantitative and qualitative educational methodologies.

Professor Rebecca Stack
Expertise: health psychology and behavioural medicine, including public health, help seeking behaviour, adherence to medicines, stress and coping with illness and patient perceptions of new medical treatments and technologies; qualitative research and analysis, meta synthesis, survey-based research and statistical analysis of quantitative data; a particular interest in PGR student projects on:

• Service user and healthcare professional perceptions of help-seeking behaviour for new onset mental health conditions (barriers and facilitators of help-seeking behaviour).
• Service user and healthcare professional perceptions of help-seeking behaviour for perinatal mental health conditions.
• The impact of financial hardship on health and wellbeing.
• The impact of financial hardship on decisions about health and wellbeing.

Dr Erica Thomas
Expertise: public health, health psychology and behavioural medicine; quantitative and qualitative research methods including quasi-experiments, survey-based research and focus groups; the socioecological determinants of health and health behaviours and how behavioural interventions can be used to encourage physical activity, healthy eating and good mental health

Dr Elizabeth Walden
Expertise: biochemistry; cell-based lab methodologies and an interest in cell signalling, cellular metabolism, and the cellular basis of disease.

Dr Joanne Whittaker
Expertise: immunology; leukaemia; clinical biochemistry; stem cell transplantation; flow cytometry; immunohisto-chemical training; fluorescent staining.

All students engage with our Researcher Development Programme (RDP). The RDP aims to develop and enhance the skills, both generic and specific, that you will need to complete your research degree but also to become an effective researcher. The RDP is organised around thematic clusters, consisting of modules, and workshops, delivered face-to-face by subject specialists from across the University and the dedicated Researcher Development Team, or online through our virtual learning environment.

As part of the RDP, you will complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods (PG Cert). All students must complete the PG Cert in order to progress on their MPhil/PhD Programme. The PG Cert is strongly focused on developing your programme of research, starting from establishing your development needs, and preparing you for the planning and subsequent delivery of your programme of research.

Full-time students will complete the PG Cert in 12 months and part-time students in 24 months.