PhD Studentship: Supporting system-level implementation and uptake of online health education for chronic kidney disease

PhD studentship, University of Bradford, Faculty of Health Studies

Application Deadline:

16 June 2025

Project Title:

Supporting system-level implementation and uptake of online health education for chronic kidney disease

Project Supervisors:

Professor Rebecca Randell, Dr Joshua Pink

Project Description:

Technology increasingly helps support patients managing long-term health conditions. One example is Kidney Essentials: CKD, an avatar-led training programme for people with CKD, aiming to improve patient knowledge, self-management, and encourage healthier lifestyle behaviours. In West Yorkshire, GPs have begun recommending this resource to people with CKD. Online education may also reduce the carbon footprint of the health and care system, by decreasing in-person appointments, and enabling more efficient use of clinical time. Ensuring digital resources meet the needs of diverse communities is essential to avoid widening health inequalities. There is a desire to roll-out the training across West Yorkshire, raising questions regarding implementation and uptake, and the impact on patient behaviour, outcomes, and healthcare utilisation. CKD has higher prevalence among black and Asian populations, raising important questions about the cultural acceptability and accessibility of this resource.

This project will explore implementation and impact, beginning with a review of implementation frameworks relevant to digital health education, focusing on long-term conditions and system-level adoption. You will then interview key stakeholders about supports and constraints to wider implementation and uptake, what they consider the impacts of wider implementation would be, and how and in what contexts those impacts would be achieved. You will test these ideas by conducting in-depth case studies of selected practices or places with varied uptake. Data collection will include a combination of interviews, focus groups and analysis of routinely collected quantitative data related to uptake, changes in patient behaviours, and healthcare use. The research will lead to evidence-informed recommendations to guide future scale-up.

Based within the Centre for Digital Innovations in Health & Social Care, you will join a research centre designing and evaluating technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of the health and care system. You will spend time at the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, a collaboration between the Universities of Bradford and Leeds, and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. You will also have access to researcher development sessions organised by the University and the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership. 

The studentship is up to 4 years; you may spend time as a ‘researcher in residence’ with GPs in West Yorkshire, undertaking exploratory research to develop the research questions, and/or time to support translating your research into practice.

Eligibility:

You should hold a first degree equivalent to at least a UK upper second class honours degree, or suitable postgraduate degree in computer science, human factors, psychology, social science or a health or social care related subject.  

Funding notes:

This PhD scholarship is available for home students only. The scholarship will attract an annual tax-free stipend of £20,780 and will cover the tuition fees.

Funding for:

UK Students

Enquiries email name and address: 

For informal enquiries, please contact research@bradford.ac.uk

How to apply:

Potential candidates should apply directly online through the online application portal.

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