PhD Studentship: Dementia and Diabetes: the Challenges Posed by Comorbidity.

About this project

In older people, diabetes often coexists with dementia. The student on this project will investigate the challenges of providing care to a person living with dementia and diabetes in a care home setting. The project will explore how patients, care home staff and family carers understand diabetes, how they monitor for signs of illness progression and how they adapt the support and care they provide.  

The key objective of this project will be to evaluate: 1) health-related quality of life and well-being parameters; 2) compliance with healthcare routines (e.g. personalised nutritional strategies, exercise, foot care, and blood glucose monitoring); 3) disease progression (e.g. blood glucose control and complication onset). Taken together, by assessing the correlation of well-being, healthcare routines and disease control, this project will identify weaknesses in the current clinical standards and improve the healthcare guidelines for people living with both dementia and diabetes within care homes.

For informal inquiries, please contact e.wolverson@hull.ac.uk

About the research cluster / about the research environment

Diabetes is a multifaceted disease that reduces life quality and expectancy through a plethora of health complications and comorbidities. As the number of people living with diabetes is increasing, the societal impact of this disease is predicted to rise significantly in the next decades.

This project will be part of a PhD cluster that will bring together a multidisciplinary team from five different Schools within the University of Hull to investigate four fundamental aspects of diabetes: 1) the effect on blood clotting and vascular health; 2) the association with kidney diseases; 3) the impairment of wound healing leading to peripheral limb diseases; 4) the combined effect of diabetes and dementia on life quality and disease progression.

Funding

• The successful applicant will receive a fee waiver and a maintenance grant / stipend for three years (full-time) or five years (part-time), which covers the research period of the PhD. The fee waiver for 22/23 is £4,596 (Home fee) and the maintenance grant is £17,668 per annum. This rises each year in line with the UKRI’s recommended stipend allowance.

• If you need to move into a fourth year (full-time) or sixth year (part-time) to complete your thesis, please note that you will not receive a tuition fee waiver or maintenance grant during this period and you will be required to pay a continuation fee.

Submission of thesis

Submission of your final thesis is expected within three years and three months from the start of your PhD scholarship for full-time and within five years and six months if studying part-time.

Eligibility and entry requirements

Applicants should have a minimum 2:1 degree in a biomedical science, health science, or a related subject. A taught MSc or Masters by Research in a relevant subject or relevant laboratory experience would be an advantage. 

International applicants

This opportunity comes with a Home fee waiver only, which will not cover the full International fee. You will therefore need to pay the difference between the Home fee and the International fee and will need to provide evidence that you have sufficient funds to cover this. 

How to apply

Applications are via the University of Hull webpage  

Closing date for applications 

10 February 2022

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