The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is pleased to invite applications for a PhD studentship as part of the NIHR-funded Health Protection Research Unit in Health Analytics and Modelling, held jointly at LSHTM and Imperial College London. The studentship will start in September 2026 and come with 3.5 years of funding.
The award will cover a tax-free stipend of £23,805 per year, tuition fees at home rates and research and travel expenses.
Only those applicants who meet all the eligibility criteria outlined below can be considered for the studentships.
This PhD studentship offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to a collaborative, high-impact research programme focussed on developing transmission models that include information on ethnicity and the downstream impacts on infection transmission and control. The student will be based within the HPRU team and will join a cohort of PhD students working on projects in the area of Health Analytics and Modelling. The project will equip the student with advanced epidemiological and modelling skills, experience in data analysis and fitting models to data, and the opportunity to participate in relevant patient and public involvement and engagement.
The research training environment
Students, academics, and professionals come to LSHTM from all over the world because of its international presence, collaborative ethos, research excellence and prestigious study programmes in public and global health. Find out details of the School's rankings and awards as well as current research in action.
General information about the MPhil/PhD programme structure at LSHTM can be found on the Research Degrees and Doctoral College pages. Students will be mentored by a supervisory team composed of three members. Students are expected to take part in the academic life of their department and can also be members of Academic Centres. All research seminars and journal clubs are open to PhD students from across LSHTM. Students are able to take up to four master's level study modules per academic year, subject to approval from their supervisor. The PhD programme also facilitates national and international conference attendance by students.
Support for research students' future career development is covered through the supervision process, through the Transferable Skills Programme (in the School and the Bloomsbury Postgraduate Skills Network) and the LSHTM's Careers Service. The studentship also comes with a flexible training budget to support external training and development opportunities.
The successful applicant will have unprecedented opportunities to network and establish professional contacts through formal and informal interactions with members of staff at LSHTM and other students.
Doctoral research project
- Faculty: Epidemiology and Population Health
- Supervisor: Prof Rosalind Eggo, LSHTM ([email protected])
- Co-supervisor: Prof Neil Ferguson, Imperial College London ([email protected])
- Co-supervisor at UKHSA to be identified
Background
Respiratory viruses, such as RSV, influenza and Covid-19, exhibit disparities in impact by ethnicity in England [1. The reasons for these differences are not fully elucidated and evidence is needed to understand drivers of disparities and to design strategies that could mitigate them [2].
Social contact data are frequently used to parameterise transmission models of respiratory viruses, but until recently, social contact data stratified by ethnicity or socioeconomic status have not been available. This project will analyse new data from the UK Social Contact Survey survey, in which participants have reported their own and their contact's ethnicity. This will allow the student to estimate mixing matrices stratified by age and ethnicity and characterise resulting assortativity.
Project objectives
The student will work on research in some of the following topics, in the context of respiratory virus dynamics:
- Development of methods to characterise social mixing across dimensions of age, ethnicity and potentially other factors (e.g. geography, socioeconomic status [3]).
- Construction and interpretation of models that include heterogeneities in social contact patterns by age and ethnicity. This could include differences in household structure in different ethnic and demographic groups using Census data.
- Efficient methods for simulating epidemics across age and ethnicity.
- Fitting models to available data on respiratory virus circulation in a Bayesian framework [4], with special consideration of health inequalities, inequities and the role of vaccines.
The exact focus of the PhD will be finalised with the successful candidate depending on their interests and prior expertise. Applicants are asked to contact the project supervisors for an informal discussion prior to applying.
Support structure
- Initially, supervisory meetings will be every week as we work together to define the project, then supervisory team meetings will move to a fortnightly schedule
- The lead supervisor has weekly team meetings on this and other research projects within the team, and on general disease dynamic topics
- PhD-specific advisory panel meetings every 3 months.
In addition, The successful applicant will be part of the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health at LSHTM as well as a unit at UKHSA. The applicant will join the vibrant Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at LSHTM which has a focused early-career researcher seminar and team-learning series. The student will also benefit from interacting with other national experts e.g. through the HPRU in Vaccines and Immunisation.
References
- Mathur et al 2020 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-67362100634-6/fulltext
- Wing et al 2022 https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/51/6/1745/6665821
- Goodfellow et al 2024 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-024-03387-y
- Baguelin et al 2013 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001527
Financial support
The studentship award covers:
- tuition fees (at the LSHTM Home fee rate); and
- a tax-free stipend at the UKRI studentship rate.
Eligibility criteria
Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain before the start of the PhD, a relevant Master's Degree (e.g. in Epidemiology, Disease Control) awarded with good grades, or have a combination of relevant qualifications and experience which demonstrates equivalent ability and attainment. Applicants should ideally have some experience of transmission modelling, some experience writing code, ideally in R or C++ with enthusiasm for learning new skills.
Applicants must meet the criteria for home fees to be eligible to apply. The studentship is not available to candidates who would be liable for overseas fees. Your fee status is determined in accordance with the Fee Assessment Policy of LSHTM and regulations defined by the UK Government.
How to apply
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the primary supervisor for an informal discussion before applying. Applicants must confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria before contacting the primary supervisor. When contacting the primary supervisor, applicants are encouraged to write a short paragraph about their experience and research interests, including ideas for the PhD and explaining how these match the aims of the project, and to provide a short CV.
To apply, submit a completed research degree application online using the LSHTM application portal by the scholarship deadline of 23:59 (BST) on 11 May 2026.
- academic transcripts (official transcripts for all completed study; interim transcripts for any ongoing programmes of study);
- a two-page Curriculum Vitae; and
- a research proposal (the research proposal should identify a specific research question or hypothesis, expanding on the scope of work listed on the website, summarise the relevant background information [with no more than five key references] and should outline an appropriate research methodology by which the question can be addressed); and
- References.
In addition, applicants for this scholarship must upload the following documents:
- A personal statement outlining why you are interested in, and suited to, undertaking a PhD in this area at LSHTM; and
Applicants must indicate that they wish to apply for this funding by writing 'NIHR HPRU HAM Ethnicity Studentship' in the funding section of the application form.
Incomplete applications will not be considered for this studentship. This includes any applications missing supporting/supplementary documents (e.g. transcripts or references) at the deadline. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the application is complete and therefore applications should be submitted as early as possible to give referees time to submit their references prior to the deadline.
By submitting an application for this funding applicants agree to its terms and conditions.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview.