Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
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Scottish Graduate School of Social Science

Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba

Studentship opportunity

All Studentship Opportunities

Evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing on alcohol consumption and harm using record linked datasets

This studentship is funded by the ESRC through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS)

Institution
University of Glasgow
Pathway
Social Inequalities
Studentship
Steers – Datasets
Mode of study

Full-time / Part-time

Application deadline
4pm, 14 April 2022
Applications are due 24 June, 5 pm BST and
References are due 1 July, 5 pm BST

Project details

A key public health issue in Scotland and the rest of the UK is the high and rising number of alcohol related hospitalisations and deaths. Alcohol consumption and its associated harms are strongly socially patterned, making it essential to accurately estimate changes in consumption and harms across subgroups to understand the effects of policy changes, such as the 50p minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol introduced in Scotland in 2018. Achieving reliable estimates of alcohol consumption and harm, and of how they vary across the population, requires methods that minimise nonresponse bias to ensure representativeness and address underreporting bias. However, high nonresponse rates in health surveys, coupled with measurement errors from respondents, interviewers, and data processors, hinder our ability to obtain accurate estimates using existing approaches. We find fewer alcohol related hospitalisations and deaths among participants in the Scottish Health Survey (linked to morbidity and mortality data) than we would expect given numbers of these events in the general population. We have developed novel multiple imputation methodologies that adjust for survey non-representativeness by creating synthetic observations for non-respondents based on record-linked alcohol related hospitalisations and deaths. Yet, alcohol consumption remains under-estimated compared to sales data, likely due to residual non-response and measurement errors in the survey data.

The successful candidate will apply Bayesian and other approaches to adjust for non-representativeness and measurement errors in alcohol consumption measures within Scottish Health Survey, linked to alcohol related hospitalisations and deaths. The adjusted datasets will then be used to evaluate how the impact of Scotland’s 50p MUP policy varies across sociodemographic groups (e.g. by age, sex and deprivation). Using Scottish data, the studentship will provide opportunities for learning advanced methods for dealing with non-response and measurement biases and for evaluating policies in UK countries using linked survey and administrative data.

You will be part of a supportive and stimulating research environment at the School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow. The supervisory team of Professor Peter Craig, Professor Jim Lewsey, and Dr Eliud Kibuchi have wide experience of policy evaluation using population surveys and administrative data, and of methods for addressing non-response and other biases in survey data.

Supervisory Team:

About the University

The School of Health & Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow aims to prevent disease, improve health and wellbeing, and reduce inequalities on a local and global scale. Established in 2012, we are one of eight Schools that sit within the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences. We have strong links with a number of associate Social Scientists in Health academics based in the School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences and elsewhere in University of Glasgow.

We are strongly committed to the principles of equality and diversity, and in 2018 won a coveted Athena Swan Gold award. Through our inter-disciplinary programme of world-leading research and excellent research-led teaching we aim to improve population health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities in health. Our research spans three research themes and is delivered across six research groups.

Our academics have a wide range of skills and expertise and our external collaborators include academics, the Scottish and UK Governments, the NHS, local authorities, and the voluntary and private sectors.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Applicants will have a degree (undergraduate) at 2:1 or above and have a demonstrable interest in the topic area under investigation.
  • Applicants can have a Masters degree, however this is not a requirement.
  • Applicants can study part-time or full-time

Other criteria include:

  • Candidates should possess a postgraduate or undergraduate degree with a strong quantitative background (e.g. Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, Computer Science or Epidemiology).
  • Applicants should have coding experience in R and/or Stata.

Funding

As per guidance published by UKRI in October 2020, a maximum of 30% of all studentships awarded can be made to international students, with the remaining 70% going to home students. 

IMPORTANT: The international awards have now been distributed. This studentship is only available for ‘home’ students. 

Residential Criteria

To be classed as a home student, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • 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.

For more on the UKRI eligibility guidance, click here

As per guidance published by UKRI in October 2020, a maximum of 30% of all studentships awarded can be made to international students, of which SGSSS has now awarded for the 2021/22 round of studentship awards. As such, this opportunity is only open to home students.

Residential Criteria

To be classed as a home student, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • 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 you do not meet the criteria above, you will be classed as an international student and will not be eligible to apply. To establish if you would be classed as a home student, please see pages 4 and 5 of the UKRI eligibility guidance here.

Award details

The scholarship is available as a +3.5 (3 year PhD and placement) or a 1+3.5 (Masters year, 3 year PhD, and a placement) studentship depending on prior research training. This will be assessed as part of the recruitment process, however you can access guidance here to help you decide on which to apply for. The programme will commence in October 2025. The full ESRC studentship package includes, as advised by ESRC:

  • An annual maintenance grant (stipend)
  • Fees at the standard institutional home rate
  • Students can also draw on a pooled Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)

Other information

N/A

How to apply

  1. Applicants must register on SGSSS Apply, completing their Equal Opportunities data.
  2. Applicants must apply via SGSSS Apply, uploading the following documentation:

    • Application Questions (answered within SGSSS Apply, no upload needed)
    • Academic transcripts
    • Academic prizes
    • Referee information
    • CV
    • Other information (if required by the advert)
We strongly encourage applicants review the applicant guidance document for more on the process. 

Please Note:

  • This is not an application to the relevant University, this is an application for SGSSS (ESRC) funding.
  • Students do not need a Masters/PhD offer from the relevant University before they can apply for funding, i.e. this studentship.
  • If successful in obtaining the SGSSS (ESRC) studentship, students can only start the funded studentship once they have an unconditional Masters/PhD degree offer from the relevant University. It is your responsibility to find out the University’s application process, including when you need to secure your offer, as SGSSS plays no role in this process.

This studentship opportunity will open for applications on 9th June.

Apply now via SGSSS Apply

Selection process

Applications will be ranked by an internal institutional selection panel, and you will be notified if you have been shortlisted for interview on or around 1 July. Interviews will take place 24 July.

This studentship award is subject to the successful candidate securing admission to a PhD programme within the University of Glasgow. The successful candidate will be invited to apply for admission to the relevant PhD programme.

Contact details

Name
SGSSS Team (for questions on the application portal, only), for any questions on the project, email the first & second supervisors (see details in abstract above)
Email
team@sgsss.ac.uk

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