PhD Studentship: Using Wearables to Advance Evidence on the Health Benefits of Physical Activity in People in Low-middle Income Countries

Primary supervisor - Dr Andrew Atkin

Physical activity is often described as a ‘wonder drug’, capable of enhancing physical and mental health at all stages of life. The evidence behind this claim, however, relies heavily on people self-reporting their behaviour habits, which is limited in numerous ways, and was obtained predominantly from studies conducted in high-income countries. Wearable devices are typically superior to self-report measures in terms of data accuracy and resolution. For this reason, wearables are being used increasingly in physical activity–related research, but their use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) or other low-resource settings remains limited. This matters because findings from research conducted in high-income countries may not be applicable to people living in low-resource settings due to differences in where, when and how people are active. The University of East Anglia (UEA), Faculty for Medicine and Health Sciences, is offering a fully-funded PhD studentship to address these gaps in the evidence. Specifically, the aims of the PhD are to identify existing data and the barriers and enablers to the use of wearables in LMIC settings and, using the best available LMIC-based data, examine the association between physical activity and non-communicable disease morbidity and mortality. 

Supervisors for this studentship will be Dr Andrew Atkin and Dr Karen Milton, leading physical activity and health researchers at UEA. The proposed project aligns with the goals of a recently established academic network, co-led by Drs Atkin and Milton, which will facilitate opportunities to collaborate with numerous international partners. 

This studentship is open to applicants with a good first degree (at least 2:1) and preferably a Masters in a related topic area, such as epidemiology, public health, physical activity/exercise science or health science. Formal training or prior experience of evidence synthesis and/or the analysis of large-scale epidemiological data would be advantageous. Contact Dr Andrew Atkin (a.atkin@uea.ac.uk) for further details and to discuss your application. 

Entry requirements

The studentship is open to applicants with first degrees or masters in the social, health or sport sciences. Preference will be given to applicants who are qualified to Master’s level, particularly in the areas of epidemiology, public health or physical activity/exercise science. 

Mode of study: Full-time

Start date: 1 October 2026

Additional Funding Information 

This project is fully funded for 3 years. Funding includes tuition fees, an annual tax-free maintenance allowance and a research training support budget.

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