Clinical Epidemiology – (Ph.D.)

Research in clinical epidemiology seeks to generate evidence to guide practice, inform policy and make an important difference to patient care. The Group evaluates developments in fundamental science and other specifically designed interventions and innovations as they enter healthcare practice, assessing their effectiveness in real world contexts.

Research Areas:
Research within the Clinical Epidemiology IRG is focused on three broad domains:

* Applied Infection - the epidemiology, diagnosis, decision making, treatment and prevention of infection and antibiotic resistance as well as the behaviour change required to modify clinical practice.
* Encounter Research - Care encounters are the points where care is delivered, negotiated, agreed, implemented - they may be mediated by different media - web, voice, video, face to face etc and they may also occur asynchronously - e.g. email and similar messages. There are therefore multiple modifiable elements – the skills and behaviours of the agents involved, including the clients or patients, the structures and the context where care is delivered, and the tools, technologies and artefacts used as additional support to these encounters. Research which aims to better understand how these elements contribute to effective care or attempts to intervene to change/improve the care that is received is considered to be encompassed in the term ‘encounter research’.
* Large Scale Epidemiology - Research conducted by the Large Scale Epidemiology group involves the development and application of approaches that integrate understanding of the influence of social, economic, biological and physical environments on the health of individuals within families, neighbourhoods and communities especially studying generational and life course effects.

PhD projects for October 2012 entry will be advertised in January 2012.

Special Features:
The Group includes two trials units, South East Wales Trials Unit and Wales Cancer Trials Unit, a participant resource centre (Biobank), an internationally recognised learning disability research centre (WCLD) and specialists in statistics, psychology, sociology and systematic reviews. In addition, The IRG is also the Cardiff School of Medicine home to Wales School for Primary Care Research and the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement.