PhD Studentship: Developing Public Health Advice for Farm Workers Facing an Infectious Disease Outbreak

We are excited to offer this fully funded PhD studentship.

1st supervisor: Professor James Rubin (gideon.rubin@kcl.ac.uk)

2nd supervisor: Dr Alex Martin (alex.f.martin@kcl.ac.uk) 

The studentship focuses on understanding the challenges that farm workers face during an infectious disease outbreak, particularly when it comes to acting on public health recommendations such as wearing personal protective equipment or taking medication. Ensuring that this advice is followed can help reduce the risk of infections spreading from animals to people, but the advice can sometimes be difficult to communicate and hard to follow.

Working within a friendly and supportive team of psychology and infectious disease experts from King’s and UKHSA, the student will tackle these issues using a combination of systematic reviews, participatory research and evaluation methods, surveys and experimental studies. We expect the student to work with farming communities to help develop and test new ways of communicating public health advice that will reduce the risk of disease outbreaks occurring.  

The studentship is likely to be most suitable for someone with an undergraduate or masters degree in psychology, social science or a related subject. 

Applicants must complete and submit an online admissions application, via the admissions portal by midnight (23:59 GMT), 18 May 2025.

On the ‘Choosing a programme’ page, please select Department of Psychological Medicine Research MPhil/PhD (Full-time).

More information on the department and the programme is available at the departmental prospectus page here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/areas/psychological-medicine-research-mphil-phd

In your application, you will be asked to include:

• Academic Transcripts - where applicable, academic transcripts must be submitted with the online admissions application
• Details of your qualifications - you will need to attach copies
• Details of previous employment - please include your CV
• A personal statement describing your interests and why you wish to apply for this project. Please include this as an attachment rather than using the text box.
• Academic References – all admissions applications require one supporting reference. If the applicant is relying on their referees to submit a reference directly to the College after they have submitted their admissions application, then the applicant must ensure that (1) their chosen referee is made aware of the funding deadline (i.e. 7 days from application deadline) and (2) that the reference needs to be sent from an institutional email address.

In the Funding section, please tick box 5 and include the following reference: (GJR-HPRFA-Farms-25)

Please note there is no need to complete the Research Proposal section in your application as the project has already been set. You are welcome to email Professor James Rubin (Gideon.rubin@kcl.ac.uk) for more information regarding the project and studentship.

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact the Education support team at ioppn.pgr@kcl.ac.uk.

References must be received by the deadline for the applicant to be eligible. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Interview date: 6 June 2025

Additional Funding Information

The student will be fully funded for three years full-time, to include home tuition fees (studentship not available to Overseas applicants), annual stipend and all research and travel costs. Additional funding is also available from within the team to cover ‘added value’ activities that might arise during the course of your studies.

To be treated as a Home student, candidates must meet one of the following criteria:

• A UK national (meeting residency requirements)
• Settled status
• Pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements)
• Indefinite leave to remain or enter

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