Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year

SDHI would like to say ‘Thank you!’ for your support and wish you a peaceful, festive and happy holiday!


Advancing global disability data presentation

The slides of today’s presentation on Advancing Global Disability Data can be found here 

Save the Date: SDHI Symposium ‘Health, Human Rights and Development’ in May 2015

SDHI is pleased to announce a combined symposium and workshop on ‘Health, Human Rights and Development’ to be held on the 7th May 2015. We hope to bring together researchers, practitioners, NGO representatives to focus on health and health care issues from a human rights and development perspective. Please help us make the day interesting and successful. We are planning to hold this interdisciplinary and interprofessional event at the University of Dundee or alternatively at the University of St Andrews. Please see our flyer for preliminary details. If you are interested in contributing, please contact us at sdhi@dundee.ac.uk 

Let us know what you would like to read on this site in the coming year

Now available: Video of SDHI Seminar ‘‘The production of socio-symbolic marginality and the politics of disposability. Challenges for professionals working with marginalised groups’

We are pleased to make available the video recording of Dr Fernando Fernandes SDHI Seminar presentation. 

Job opportunities at the University of Dundee: Scottish Improvement Science Collaborating Centre

Job opportunities, University of Dundee
Mother and Infant Research Unit and Scottish Improvement Science Collaborating Centre

Research Fellow, Improvement in maternal and child health: The Scottish Improvement Science Collaborating Centre is a new Scotland-wide development funded by a £3.25 million grant from the Scottish Funding Council, Chief Scientist’s Office, NHS Education Scotland, and the Health Foundation, with substantial additional investment from partner organisations. Led by the University of Dundee (Prof Mary Renfrew, Director) with NHS Tayside, national partners and collaborators in this extensive and ambitious programme of work include eight universities and seven NHS Health Boards, national NHS organisations, voluntary and community groups, and local authorities. The Collaborating Centre aims to strengthen the evidence base for improving the quality of care; disseminate the improvement science knowledge base to practitioners, decision-makers, and the public; facilitate translation of knowledge into improvement activity, practice and policy; build engagement, capacity and capability across a network of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, advocacy and user groups; and define new approaches to improvement methodology. The first two workstreams of the Centre are Maternal and Child Health, and Older People. This five-year programme of work is intended to develop as a platform for sustainable activity and growth, and to become a national resource for the best research and practice. The Collaborating Centre will be sited with the new Institute for Applied Research in Health and Well-being in the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing. The Mother and Infant Research Unit (MIRU) is a multidisciplinary research unit that aims to improve health and care for women, babies and families. It has a focus on reducing inequalities in health, and has programmes of work on maternal and child nutrition, perinatal loss, and strengthening midwifery. This new post will work within the Maternal and Child Health workstream of the SISCC, and will also develop improvement-related research as part of MIRU’s research programme.

Applications are invited from enthusiastic, experienced researchers who wish to join a world-leading group of collaborators in developing an innovative programme of research, evaluation, and improvement. The successful candidate will have expertise in one or more of a range of health services research skills, including health services research and evaluation methods, epidemiology, statistics, systematic reviewing and meta-analysis, or qualitative methods. He/she will have a background in maternal and child health research, and be committed to the use and application of evidence to improve health and care; to improving the four key outcome domains for this programme: safety and reliability, care and compassion, reducing inequalities, and improving health and care; and to working in partnership with academics, practitioners, advocacy groups, patients, carers and communities. A commitment to multidisciplinary research and active engagement with policy and practice are important requirements of the post.
http://goo.gl/gPQb8E – MDN0941 Research Fellow, Improvement in maternal and child health

Postdoctoral research assistant, maternal and child health: We are seeking to appoint a talented postdoctoral research assistant to work in the Mother and Infant Research Unit and to contribute to the research programme of the School of Nursing and Midwifery and of the newly-forming Institute for Applied Research in Health and Well-being. Candidates will be expected to bring expertise in one or more of a wide range of methodological areas, which could include a range of social science and/or health services research methods. A commitment to interdisciplinary research and active engagement with policy and practice are important requirements of the post. This new post forms part of a major new strategic investment to strengthen research in applied health research in general and in maternal, infant and early years research in particular. This is a unique opportunity to build a career in a rich research environment that includes the Scottish Improvement Science Centre (SISCC), the Social Dimensions of Health Institute, and the Academic Health Sciences Partnership in Tayside. The successful applicant will work within the programme of the Mother and Infant Research Unit (MIRU), which is med by Prof Mary Renfrew. MIRU aims to generate evidence to inform policy and practice in maternal, infant and early years health and care, and to reduce the impact of inequalities; our work includes research, postgraduate education, and improvement/evidence-based practice work. Key themes are strengthening midwifery, maternal and child nutrition, with a focus on reducing inequalities in vulnerable and marginalised communities. We collaborate widely with academic and professional colleagues, and with service users and advocacy groups, locally, nationally and internationally.
http://goo.gl/x8F364 – MDN0940 Post Doctoral Research Assistant – Maternal and child health and care

Post-doctoral research assistant, Centre for Evidence Synthesis: The Centre for Evidence Synthesis is a new initiative, internally funded by the University of Dundee. Led by Dr Steve MacGillivray, the Centre aims to provide a focal point for methodological innovation in evidence synthesis methods within the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing. Evidence syntheses are employed and valued across a wide range of fields including: psychology, nursing, dentistry, medicine, public health, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, educational research, sociology, business management, environmental management, conservation biology and international development. Regardless of the field of enquiry, the conduct of high quality reviews requires highly skilled individuals to plan, execute, critique and report them. Founding a specialist Centre will allow the gathering together of people with a range of literature review design and analytical skills. The benefits of such a grouping are likely to be manifold: increased likelihood of high quality evidence syntheses; increased ability to lever funding to conduct evidence syntheses; promotion of the development of novel methodologies; increased ability to ask novel questions via multidisciplinary working; allow the co-ordination of teaching and training of review skills at undergraduate and post-graduate level; provision of an academic environment which fosters, encourages and celebrates excellence in reviews.

Applications are invited from enthusiastic and highly motivated postdoctoral researchers with experience of conducting systematic reviews and other forms of evidence synthesis to help found this new and important centre of excellence. The post will support a Senior Lecturer in Evidence Synthesis to set up the Centre and to develop applications for funding to support activity. The successful applicant will also be supported to develop their own portfolio of research. The post-holder will be based in the School of nursing and Midwifery and attached to the Institute for Applied Research in Health and Wellbeing, a recently formed grouping within the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, University of Dundee.
The main purpose of this post is initially to work with the Centre Director and colleagues across the University to help establish the Centre. This will involve undertaking work to establish the range and nature of evidence synthesis skills within the University, and in developing systems and procedures to establish working groups. The balance of the workload will fluctuate according to demands, and flexibility will be essential in this post.
http://goo.gl/ZwcYu9 – MDN0942 Post Doctoral Research Assistant, Centre for Evidence Synthesis

Glasgow University PhD studentship available on Health Inequalities and Multimorbidity

School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow

Project title: Health inequalities and multimorbidity: exploiting administrative data to understand the role of social care

Type of award: Scottish Government/ESRC Collaborative Studentship (+3) Closing date for applications: Friday 16 January 2015

Date for interviews: Thursday 29 January

Start date: by 1st October 2015

Summary: Applications are invited from outstanding quantitative social scientists (or from other relevant disciplines) with an interest in pioneering the use of administrative data to examine the problems of multimorbidity (the co-existence of 2 or more chronic conditions within an individual) and the role played by health and social care services. The PhD studentship is funded collaboratively by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Doctoral Training Centre on behalf of the ESRC.
The successful applicant will have an interest in the substantive problems of multimorbidity and in the challenges of understanding the role of health and social care services in the development of health conditions. They will be keen to exploit the potential offered by rapidly-expanding access to linked administrative datasets but also keen to explore critically the strengths and weaknesses of such data. They will need to meet the ESRC research training and residency requirements (see ‘Eligibility’ below).
The studentship will provide an unrivalled opportunity to develop valuable expertise and experience in this kind of work through close links with three major centres for the analysis of administrative data:
• the ERSC-funded Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC), located in the University of Glasgow and the base for this studentship, and focussed on local authority and business data;
• the ESRC-funded Administrative Data Research Centre for Scotland (ADRC Scotland), focussed on national administrative datasets, including those for health and social care; and
• the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, part of the Farr Institute for Scotland, which provisions local health data for research.
The student will benefit from excellent supervisory support. The lead supervisor, Professor Nick Bailey, is Associate Director of the UBDC and is also involved in the ADRC Scotland. He is located within Urban Studies, one of Europe’s leading centres for inter-disciplinary urban research, with a strong interest in the role played by public services in producing equitable outcomes for citizens. The student will also besupervised by: Professor Stewart Mercer, General Practice and Primary Care and National Lead for Multimorbidity Research within the Scottish School of Primary Care; and Professor Colin McCowan, Robertson Centre for Biostatistics with 10 years experience working with routine health and care datasets.
Studentship award: Funding will be available for a 3 year PhD programme and will cover fees, research and training expenses and an annual stipend of £14,002 (tbc).
Eligibility: Applicants must have a good first degree (2.1. or higher) in the social sciences or another relevant discipline (such as statistics, psychology, or other health-related subjects). They should also be able to demonstrate that they meet the ESRC research training requirements: successful completion of Masters-level courses in basic quantitative methods, in basic qualitative methods and in social theory for social scientists. Students with strong quantitative skills who do not have the required training in qualitative methods and/or social theory may be considered. In these cases, the award of the studentship will be conditional on them successfully completing agreed training during their first year. A good grounding in quantitative methods is essential, however, given the nature of the PhD.
Students due to complete a Masters programme prior to October 2015 are encouraged to apply although any award may be contingent on final results. In exceptional cases, applicants may be exempt from the research training requirement if they can demonstrate excellent research skills obtained through previous employment.
The studentship has residency requirements in addition to academic requirements. Funding for fees is only available to people who are ‘ordinarily resident in an EU state’ while the stipend is only payable to people who are also ‘ordinarily resident in the UK’. For further information on these requirements, please see: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/postgraduates/prospective- students/eligibility/index.aspx
The selected candidate will need to be approved by the Scottish Graduate School Doctoral Training Centre.
How to apply:
The closing date for applications is Friday 16 January 2015 with interviews to be held with short-listed candidates on Thursday 29 January. Applications should be made online to the College of Social Sciences Graduate School and should include a two- page statement of your interest in the advertised topic. http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/opportunities/howtoapplyforaresearchdegree/apply online/
For general information including suitability of existing research training or eligibility, please contact Dr Mhairi Mackenzie, Convenor of the Doctoral Programme at mhairi.mackenzie@glasgow.ac.uk. For specific information on the PhD, please contact Nick Bailey at nick.bailey@glasgow.ac.uk.

SDHI Flyer ‘Interdisciplinary Research and Innovative Thinking’

‘Interdisciplinary Research and Innovative Thinking’ for download here SDHI flyer.

Jason Prior on dilemmas in the planning, mapping and design for health and wellbeing

Dr Jason Prior, Associate Professor and Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology (UTS)

, Sydney presented an inspiring and thematically wide-ranging seminar on the understanding of the complex socio-spatial contexts for health and wellbeing. An audio-podcast of the event can now be found here.

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the SDHI Research Showcase and Fair on 1 December 2014

We were pleased to see so many colleagues, students and friends join us at our recent Research Showcase and Fair in St Andrews. The event marked a cross-section of current and recent research and activities that SDHI affiliated researchers have been involved in and also created opportunities for cross-disciplinary and inter-university discussions. For 11 years SDHI has been working with NHS colleagues and NGOs and the business sector to generate high quality research of impact. The day also generated refreshed impetus to work across institutional and disciplinary boundaries in the future and to ‘connect to transform lives’ locally and globally in line with SDHI’s current strategy.