Joint NIHR PhD Studentship - Understanding Pathways of Care for People with Multiple Long-term Conditions (MLTC) in NHS Hospital Care

Award summary

100% of tuition fees paid, annual stipend of £21,805 and research funding (£7,500). Only available to those eligible for UK home tuition fees.

Overview

Interested in reshaping care delivery in NHS hospitals for patients with MLTCs?

MLTCs are increasingly common among hospital inpatients, yet care pathways often remain focused on single-organ conditions. Improved management for patients with MLTCs is vital to reduce costs and improve outcomes, but little is known about how healthcare professionals make decisions at presentation, how patients move through hospital systems, or how people with MLTC experience hospital care.

This PhD offers a unique opportunity to advance understanding of hospital care pathways for people with MLTC. You will work alongside world-leading NIHR research teams, including:

• Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC)
• HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation
• Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)

The PhD will draw on the strengths of the ARC (health‑system challenges and implementation), the HRC (evaluation of clinically valuable HealthTech), and the BRC (translational and experimental medicine). Together, they will provide training to generate findings with potential to reshape NHS hospital care. The PhD aligns with NHS priorities around integrated care for people with complex needs.

The project offers methodological flexibility (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods). Possible areas of focus include:

• Quantitative analysis of electronic health records to examine social determinants, inequalities, or multimorbidity clusters.
• Advanced statistical modelling to identify unmet needs or high‑risk MLTC profiles.
• Re‑analysis of existing qualitative data from patients and healthcare professionals.
• Developing recommendations on how insights from routine datasets can inform scalable decision‑support tools.
• Additional data collection.

You will embed patient and public involvement throughout and join a wider PhD cohort with shared training. The PhD is UK‑based and primarily face‑to‑face.

Number of awards:

1

Start date:

21/09/2026

Award duration:

Three years

Sponsor:

NIHR HRC DTE and NIHR ARC NENC

Supervisors:

Professor Amy O'Donnell Professor Miles Witham Dr Jana Suklan Dr Kile Green Dr Sara Pretorius

Eligibility criteria:

A 2:1 honours degree, or international equivalent, in a relevant subject. A Masters degree with strong research training element is desirable.

• Interest/experience in mixed methods including qualitative research and data science