PhD Studentship Opportunities: Lincoln Institute for Rural and Coastal Health

Do you want to shed light on place-based health inequalities and contribute to improving the health and wellbeing outcomes experienced by rural, coastal and remote communities?

Applications are invited for fully funded, three-year PhD Studentships within the Lincoln Institute for Rural and Coastal Health (LIRCH), the country’s first integrated, multidisciplinary research Institute dedicated to rural and coastal health research. With £10.9m of funding from Research England, this innovative centre is striving to understand the intersection between place-based deprivation and poorer outcomes for health and wellbeing. Successful students will work on projects that aim to make a real difference for affected communities, by investigating challenges including but not limited to aging populations, healthcare workforce shortages, housing issues, and transportation challenges.

There are 4 studentship opportunities available in LIRCH from August 2025. Students will focus their research within one of our core research themes, while developing their own skills and knowledge as researchers. The topics we are seeking to explore through PhD studies are below, with full details available at the end of this advert.

• Uncovering the impacts of climate multi-hazards on health outcomes across diverse landscapes
• Understanding and addressing oral health inequalities in rural communities in the UK
• Rural and coastal cancer care
• Geospatial health equity 

The LIRCH fully funded studentship package includes:

• PhD tuition fees paid (home fee rate*).
• Tax-free stipend at UKRI rates to cover living costs.
• Research Training Support Grant (RTSG).
• Additional funding available to support skills development, outreach and dissemination, attendance at summer schools, and research events.

Students can also expect to benefit from the opportunity to develop their career, working alongside and in collaboration with experienced and supportive academic colleagues, as well as joining an existing cohort of students working in a similar field.

This is a fantastic opportunity to support the development of a research agenda to understand and improve the health and wellbeing inequalities faced by rural, coastal and remote communities.

*For international students, the equivalent of home fees will be paid by the Institute. The remainder will be payable by the student.

Applications

If you are a dynamic, focussed graduate with a first or upper second-class honours degree, a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience, then we want to hear from you. The current round of applications closes on 7^th July.

Apply now by sending the following documents to the LIRCH team for consideration: lirch@lincoln.ac.uk with the subject of: PGR Application via the above ‘Apply’ link.

• Your CV (no longer than 2 pages).
• Covering letter.
• Personal statement (no longer than 1 page) that includes information on your research and teaching and professional practice experience and vision for how you would like to develop your research and teaching in the future. The personal statement should outline how your qualifications, skills and experience meet the requirements.
• Contact details for at least two academic references.
• Transcript of your first degree.
• Transcript(s) of any previous degrees.

Project outlines

• Uncovering the impacts of climate multi-hazards on health outcomes across diverse landscapes.

Summary: Climate-driven hazards like high temperatures, flooding and drought have direct and indirect impacts on the physical and mental health of societies. Most research considers the impact of individual hazards (e.g., heatwaves) on discrete health outcomes (e.g., heatstroke). In reality, most if not all climate-driven hazards precipitate additional secondary hazards, such as the impact of flooding on landslides, and the cumulative effect of drought and heatwaves on the physical and mental health of farming communities. Very little is understood about multi-hazard-to-health-outcome transitions, including how pathways vary between urban, rural, and coastal areas. In England, coastal communities are exposed to unique hazards associated with oceanic processes like storm surges, often within immediate landscapes of health service scarcity situated in wider rural hinterlands with similar health access challenges.

The Lincoln Institute for Rural and Coastal Health (LIRCH) welcomes PhD proposals that seek to explore multi-hazard-to-health-outcome pathways across diverse geospatial landscapes including the UK, focusing on challenges that emerge at the intersection of hazard exposure and health service access and availability. Potential projects should involve multi-data analytics (e.g., health and climate/environmental data) and could include a range of data science methods, such as utilising geographical information systems (GIS), statistical analysis, machine learning, deep learning, or a combination of data science and qualitative methods (e.g., interviews and focus groups). Project themes include (but are not limited to) exploring the impact of heat-related meteorological multi-hazards on physical/mental health, investigating associations between meteorological conditions (e.g., temperature),  greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air quality, and health outcomes, and considering the cumulative impact of coastal, fluvial, and groundwater flooding on the physical and mental health of diverse geospatial areas. Multi-region studies involving critically comparing multi-hazard-to-health-outcome pathways it the UK and elsewhere are appropriate. For informal inquiries, please contact Dr Harriet Moore (HaMoore@lincoln.ac.uk).

• Understanding and addressing oral health inequalities in rural communities in the UK

Oral health inequalities represent a significant public health concern in the UK. These disparities are particularly pressing given the largely preventable nature of many oral health problems. Research consistently demonstrates a disproportionately higher burden of oral health inequalities in rural communities throughout the UK when compared to their urban counterparts. This manifests as significantly elevated rates of periodontal disease, dental caries, tooth loss and worse oral health-related quality of life among rural populations. Several interconnected risk factors contribute to the observed oral health inequalities in rural communities. These factors are not isolated but form an intersection of disadvantage including geographic isolation, prevailing socio-economic conditions and deprivation, ‘lifestyle’ factors and health literacy, cultural factors, and challenges in the availability of dental care professionals. While rurality itself presents vulnerabilities, the evidence suggests that specific sub-populations within rural areas, such as children and older adults, face even greater disparities highlighting the importance of an intersectional lens in understanding these complex challenges.

The overall aim of this PhD is to understand the drivers and lived experiences of oral health inequalities in rural UK communities and to make recommendations for evidence-based, context-specific interventions and policy approaches to reduce these disparities. The PhD project will employ a mixed-methods approach, in two distinct phases that logically progress from quantifying the problem to understanding lived experiences and informing solutions. Phase 1 focuses on quantifying the landscape of oral health inequalities, utilising secondary analysis of large-scale datasets and GIS mapping. Phase 2 explores the lived experiences of these inequalities, seeking to explain and contextualise the quantitative findings through interviews with diverse rural residents in Lincolnshire. Concurrently, interviews with local dental policymakers in selected rural areas will gather insights on existing initiatives, policy gaps, and resource allocation, providing a multi-stakeholder perspective for developing evidence-based solutions and recommendations. For informal enquiries, please contact Prof Sarah Baker (sbaker@lincoln.ac.uk).

• Rural and coastal cancer care

It is widely recognised that inequalities exist between people affected by cancer from rural and coastal areas when compared to their urban counterparts. Coastal and rural areas suffer from reduced access to cancer services, socio-economic deprivation, workforce staffing issues and poor transport links and infrastructure. While recent studies have begun to explore the impact of ‘place of residence’ on cancer outcomes, the unique ecosystem of rural and coastal communities in the context of UK cancer care, policy and research has been largely neglected.

The Lincoln Institute for Rural and Coastal Health (LIRCH) welcomes PhD applications within this area that seek to address place-based cancer inequalities in the UK and/or across Europe where the evidence-base is comparatively smaller compared to the wider international literature. Potential topics can use a range of methods (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) and could include: rural and coastal inequalities in access to cancer care and outcomes, rural and coastal cancer systems and services research, priorities for rural and coastal cancer policy and research development, the development and implementation of policy and place-based social science approaches to rural and coastal cancer care, improving patient and public involvement and engagement in rural and coastal cancer research. There is flexibility for the candidate to shape their own study as long as it falls within the remit outlined above. For informal inquiries, please contact Dr David Nelson (dnelson@lincoln.ac.uk).

• Geospatial health equity 

Unequal and poor health outcomes in rural and coastal communities represent a pressing public health concern in the UK. Typical challenges in rural and coastal areas include socio-economic deprivation, geographic and social isolation, limited transport and infrastructure. How do these factors collectively shape health and health inequities across rural and coastal communities in the UK and beyond?

The Lincoln Institute for Rural and Coastal Health (LIRCH) welcomes PhD applications that address geospatial health inequities with a focus on rural and coastal communities. The overall aim of this PhD is to understand the multi-dimensional and intersectional drivers of health inequities for context-specific interventions to reduce health inequities in the UK and beyond. Topics may include but are not limited to geospatial inequalities in health, life expectancy, physical activity, and access to health services. Experience in participatory research approaches and spatial analytical techniques would be of particular interest. There is flexibility for the candidate to shape their own study within the remit outlined above. For informal inquiries, please contact Prof Yang Li (yali@lincoln.ac.uk).

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