PhD Studentship : Suicide Prevention: Fully Funded PhD studentship within the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research Scholarship

Swansea University - Medical School

The National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research in Wales is a national hub for research and innovation, ensuring that policies, interventions, and support systems are informed by the best possible evidence. This fully-funded studentship is part of the centres goal to advance research excellence, inform policy and practice and to develop future research leaders.

This PhD project will be centred on the use of Near Real-time suicide surveillance (RTSSS) in Wales. This data enables rapid evaluation of interventions and timely action when increases in suicides might be anticipated (e.g. as result of unemployment or media reporting). The successful student will be closely aligned with Public Health Wales and will link RTSSS data with routinely collected data held within the SAIL databank at Swansea University (including health, education, social care, criminal justice) to explore targeted prevention and intervention opportunities for example, in women and girls, those who have experienced domestic violence or individuals in contact with social care or criminal justice. Work will be guided by emerging themes within RTSSS. Co-production with lived experience experts will be embedded in the project from the outset. A key outcome of this PhD will be translation of research into real world impact and providing evidence for policy and practice.

As a PhD student at the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research you will benefit from:

• a supervisory team comprised of experts in the fields of suicide prevention and data science
• joining the team and the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research in Wales, which is an advisory body to Welsh Government, facilitating the translation of research into real-world change
• possibility of an honorary contract with Public Health Wales
• experience and training with the SAIL databank, a world-class secure research environment with some of the richest population data in the world
• being positioned in a diverse and thriving team of skilled researchers
• opportunities for collaborative research as part of the Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Research Institute at Swansea University
• a range of social and research events and activities, including the annual post-graduate student conference.