target-trial emulation to determine which are most likely to influence MS onset. The goal is to identify actionable prevention strategies for future clinical trials and NHS prevention programmes. Work will span 3 leading centres: the Cambridge Clinical MS Research Group (Will Brown), the Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine (Mihaela van Der Schaar) and The University of Bristol (Jonathan Sterne).
Project Aims
- Identify candidate modifiable factors associated with MS risk. Use population-scale OpenSAFELY data, existing evidence and machine-learning approaches to investigate environmental, lifestyle and therapeutic factors associated with incident MS.
- Estimate the causal effects of promising exposures on MS onset. Apply contemporary causal-inference methods and target-trial emulation to determine whether selected exposures are likely to causally influence the subsequent development of MS.
- Prioritise interventions for future MS prevention trials. Identify modifiable exposures with the strongest evidence for a preventive effect and prioritise candidate interventions for testing in prospective prevention trials.
Research Themes: Multiple sclerosis prevention and epidemiology; Artificial intelligence and machine learning; Causal inference and target-trial emulation; Population-scale electronic health records and real-world data; Modifiable environmental and lifestyle risk factors; Precision and preventive medicine
Funding Notes
For academic year October 27/28;
Gates US applications (round 1) close 14th October 26, further information available via Gates Website;
Cambridge Trust, Gates Cambridge (round 2) deadline 8th December 26 to be eligible for funding. If you apply after the funding deadlines you will not be eligible for the Cambridge Funding competition, please indicate in your application all the funding you are eligible for. You can also check funding search.
Funding is not available for Lent or Easter 27 places as the funding deadline for these has already passed, you will need to have other funding in place to support your studies
References
Open Days
17 September 2026 — Multiple dates
University of Cambridge — Postgraduate College Visit Days
Cambridge (United Kingdom)
View event
