Evidence to inform targeted infection testing strategies for migrants to high-income countries

About the Project

A 3.5-year teaching PhD Studentship in infectious disease epidemiology and health economic modelling is available within the Institute of Health Informatics. The studentship will commence from 1 October 2026, under the supervision of Dr Rebecca Baggaley and Dr Johan Thygesen.

The PhD project

Project Title: Evidence to inform targeted infection testing strategies for migrants to high-income countries

The Institute of Health Informatics is looking to recruit a PhD studentship to join our welcoming and vibrant Institute. The purpose of this studentship is to generate evidence to support a wider programme of work aimed at designing a primary care-based targeted testing approach for key infections (tuberculosis (TB), HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)) among migrants to high-income countries. The student will contribute to this programme by undertaking some or all of the following activities:

• Adapt existing health economic models of infection screening (HIV, HBV, HCV and Interferon-Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) testing to identify individuals with latent TB or prior exposure to TB) to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of approaches to infection testing of migrants in primary care.
• Update estimates of the number of chronic HBV cases among foreign-born populations in EU/EEA countries.
• Build on previous work linking administrative immigration data with electronic health records to explore healthcare utilisation related to HIV, TB, HBV and HCV among migrants in the UK.

This position presents a unique opportunity to join a multidisciplinary research team working across epidemiology, health economics and qualitative research.

Beyond the research-focused deliverables outlined above, which will form the basis of the candidate's PhD thesis, the successful applicant will also contribute to the development, delivery and support of teaching across our two institute programmes.

This PhD position offers a highly competitive and attractive salary and working conditions. The studentship is fully funded for 3.5 years, starting 1 October 2026.