Exploring factors important to retention in Parkinson's disease clinical trials using remote/hybrid delivery methodologies

About the Project

Clinical trials are only as good as the people who stay in them. Yet up to one in five participants drops out before a trial ends - introducing bias, undermining results, and potentially distorting the evidence base that clinicians and patients rely on. Why do people withdraw? What keeps others engaged? And could trial design itself be part of the answer? This PhD project sets out to find out.

Based at Newcastle University and embedded within one of the UK’s most ambitious Parkinson’s disease research programmes - the EJS ACT-PD platform trial, recruiting 2,000 participants across over 40 NHS sites - you will investigate how participant expectations and hybrid trial delivery shape the experience of taking part in research. EJS ACT-PD uses an innovative hybrid model combining home-based and clinic participation, digital outcome measures, and direct-to-home medication supply. It is exactly the kind of trial design that is reshaping how research is done. Your job will be to understand what that means for the people inside it.

This is a genuinely mixed-methods project. You will conduct a national evidence review, lead qualitative interviews with participants, care partners, and research staff, and analyse large-scale questionnaire data using advanced statistical methods. In the final phase, you will co-develop the evaluation of a real-world intervention - a Study Within A Trial - designed to improve retention. The findings will matter immediately: not just for Parkinson’s disease, but for the growing field of decentralised and hybrid clinical research more broadly.

You will be supervised by an exceptional team: Professor Camille Carroll and Dr Marie-Louise Zeissler, both leading figures in Parkinson’s disease clinical research and trial design at Newcastle University. You will be embedded in the DIAN Research Group, connected to the ACORD national partnership, and working at the heart of a major international trial consortium.

If you are motivated by research that is both methodologically rigorous and directly relevant to patients, and excited by the prospect of working across qualitative, quantitative, and co-design methods, this studentship offers a rare opportunity to contribute to science that changes how clinical trials are designed and delivered.

Funding

Students who have, or are expecting to attain, at least an upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject, are invited to apply. Funding is available for Home (UK) students to cover tuition fees, a tax-free stipend at the UKRI rate (indicative amount in year 1 in 2026-27, £21,805) and research costs, for four years. Applicants normally required to cover International fees will have to cover the difference between the Home and the International tuition fee rates. There is no additional funding available to cover NHS Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) costs, visa costs, flights etc.

Funding for this studentship is awarded on a competitive basis and is not guaranteed; availability will depend on the outcome of the selection process and subject to final approval by the University.

HOW TO APPLY

Please complete the following application form – Google Form

Applicants can only apply for 1 project; any additional applications will not be accepted.

Applicants should send the following documents to FMSstudentships@newcastle.ac.uk:

• a CV (including contact details of at least two academic (or other relevant) referees).
• a Cover letter – stating your project choice, as well as including additional information you feel is pertinent to your application.
• copies of your relevant undergraduate degree transcripts and certificates.
• a copy of your IELTS or TOEFL English language certificate (where required)
• a copy of your passport (photo page).

A GUIDE TO THE FORMAT REQUIRED FOR THE APPLICATION DOCUMENTS IS AVAILABLE

Please submit your documents in the following format only:

• each document should be submitted as a separate attachment and should be named as follows: candidate surname, candidate name – document type. For example: Jones, Jamie – CV; Jones, Jamie – cover letter.
• Please submit .pdf documents where possible for your CV, cover letter, transcripts and certificates. Do not submit photos of certificates.
• Do not combine documents into one pdf. You may zip separate documents into a zip file to send via email if required.
• When emailing your application, please use the email subject header: FMS PhD Application 2026

Applications not meeting these criteria may be rejected.

Informal enquiries may be made to the lead supervisor of the project you are interested in.

The deadline for all applications is 12 noon BST (UK time) on Wednesday 20th May 2026.