PhD Studentship: Estimating the Economic Impact of Mental Health Effects Due to Flooding Using Advanced Bayesian Machine Learning Methods

Coventry University (CU) is inviting applications from suitably qualified graduates for a fully funded PhD studentship. This research project is funded by the University Alliance Doctoral Training Alliance – Future Societies programme. 

Flooding has been identified as one of the most important climate change adaptation challenges that the UK is being faced, according to the latest UK Climate Change Risk Assessment report. It was further reported that most of the health burden associated with flooding is due to the impacts of flooding on mental health and wellbeing, ranging from anxiety, depression, to post-traumatic stress disorder, which their impacts be very significant and long-lasting. The aim of this project is to estimate the economic impact attributable to mental health morbidity caused following exposure to or disruption from flooding. In this project, flood impacts on people’s mental health will be modelled using appropriate probabilistic machine learning method (e.g., Bayesian network, Gaussian process) to the existing data and calibrating based on the Experts’ opinions/Meta-analysis results. The proposed health economic framework would improve our understanding of the factors affecting people’s mental health and provide an efficient way to calculate the costs/benefits of various proposed health interventions and environmental adaptations. The health economic framework developed in this research would be very helpful to inform health policy and decision making and the development and evaluation of cost-effective interventions to protect people’s mental health and wellbeing, particularly among vulnerable people.  

Entry criteria for applicants to PhD  

• The requirement for admission to this PhD studentship is a minimum of a 2:1 first degree, or a Master’s degree with merit or distinction, in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative discipline. Overseas qualifications of an equivalent standard are also acceptable. 

PLUS  

• the potential to engage in innovative research and to complete the PhD within 3.5 years
• An adequate proficiency in English must be demonstrated by applicants whose first language is not English.  The general requirement is a minimum overall IELTS Academic score of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each of the four sections, or the TOEFL iBT test with a minimum overall score of 95 with a minimum of 21 in each of the four sections.

Additional requirements  

• Competent programming skills (in Python or R) 
• Experienced in Bayesian statistics, machine learning and health economic, and enthusiastic to work on an inter-disciplinary research project.

For further details please visit:  https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-opportunities/research-students/making-an-application/research-entry-criteria/ 

https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-opportunities/research-students/making-an-application/ 

To find out more about the project please contact Dr Alireza Daneshkhah – ac5916@coventry.ac.uk

The PGR+ Link for this project is: 

https://pgrplus.coventry.ac.uk/studentships/mpcs-estimating-the-economic-impact-of-mental-health-effects-due-to-flooding-using-advanced-bayesian-machine-learning-methods

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