PhD Studentship

Closure Date - 30th January 2026

We are looking for exceptional students to apply for a funded PhD opportunity at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE).

CHE will fund a studentship from the following seven topic areas:

Topic 1 - Socioeconomic inequalities in unmet needs for mental healthcare

Supervisors - Vijay Gc, Laura Bojke, Mike Doyle 

Topic 2 - Leveraging routine data and generic decision models to inform rapid evidence-based decision making

Supervisors - Sebastian Hinde, Shainur Premji and Laura Bojke 

Topic 3- Preventive care and the use of mental health services

Supervisors - Maria Ana Matias, Adrián Villaseñor, Rowena Jacobs 

Topic 4- Machine Learning for Causal Inference in Health Policy Assessment for Decision Making

Supervisors - Dr Julia Hatamyar and Professor Andrea Manca

Topic 5 - The use and impact of Digital Health Technologies in mental health care service delivery in the English National Health Service

Supervisors - Adriana Castelli, Anastasia Arabadzhyan and Rowena Jacobs 

Topic 6 - Understanding lifecycle medicines value

Supervisors - Beth Woods and Jessica Ochalek 

Topic 7 - Exploring the value of in-silico trials in Health Technology Assessment and policy Supervisors - Marta Soares and Dina Jankovic 

Proposals relating to other areas of research in health economics will be considered. However, the best opportunity to get a funded studentship is to take note of the prioritised topics listed above.

Further details are available on our webpage.

Supervision and research environment

The successful candidate will be supervised in CHE and will be registered through the Department of Economics and Related Studies at the University of York. This is an opportunity to work with researchers in one of the most successful health economics research groups in the UK.  CHE has a leading international reputation, and is one of the world’s largest health economics research centres. Its mission is to undertake “high quality research that is capable of influencing health policy decisions”. The Centre attracts some of the best and brightest people in the field in the form of PhD students and visitors from overseas, creating a vibrant research environment. The University of York is widely recognized as one of the leading research universities in the UK and is also at the top of the teaching quality rankings.

CHE has an Athena SWAN Silver award which recognises our commitment to good practice in recruiting, retaining and supporting the careers of women. We strive to provide a supportive culture and family friendly work environment and to offer equal opportunities to all staff members. We seek to ensure the policies and procedures in the department are fair and support good work practices for everyone.

The award

The award will cover academic fees for the 2026/27 entry, at UK or international rates as appropriate, plus a maintenance stipend for 3 years at UKRI rates (£20,780 for 25/26).

Students are welcome to register Full Time. 

Applications should be received no later than 30th January 2026 before 16.00h (UTC).

Interviews

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in person or via zoom.  Interview date to be confirmed.

At the interview, candidates will be expected to give a short presentation on their proposed project including relevant literature, potential data sources and applicable methods.  It should also focus on their plans for the studentship and the skills they would bring to their doctoral research.

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