PhD Opportunity

The Royal Children’s Hospital in collaboration with the Health Economics Unit at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health is inviting applicants for a PhD program which will suit candidates interested in gaining expertise in health services research, research translation and health economics.

The Victorian Government provided funding across 2021-23 to support the Improving Childhood Asthma Management (ICAM) - Inner West project which brings together the Department of Health, hospitals (The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Sunshine Hospital- Western Health), community services (Co-Health), asthma peak bodies (Asthma Australia and National Asthma Council), primary care providers (North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN)), quality improvement experts (Safer Care Victoria) and families to improve asthma care for children and their families. After a process of co-design and consultation, the multi-faceted interventions implemented include improving the use of asthma action plans (AAP) in hospitals and general practices, improving the sharing of information between primary and secondary care, early GP follow-up after hospitalisation, referral to community asthma services, monthly community of practice meetings and tailored clinician and family educational resources such as a preschool wheeze guideline, videos made by local adolescents to promote self-management and interactive learning packages for clinical and non-clinical teams (e.g. teachers, sports coaches).

Through support from Asthma Australia, Safer Care Victoria, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network and the Victorian Department of Health, ICAM Inner West is expanding and seeking to embed effective interventions in the next phase of the project - ICAM Sustain. The PhD research project will focus on evaluating if ICAM is effective in improving care, reducing acute health services use and if it is cost-effective and sustainable. It is anticipated that this PhD opportunity will provide experience in:

• Quantitative data analysis – Evaluation of clinical effectiveness using administrative datasets.
• Qualitative data analysis – Data collection, analysis and interpretation of focus group interviews.
• Health economic analysis – Evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of ICAM Inner West and ICAM Sustain.
• Research Implementation – Working with a multi-disciplinary team in designing and implementing evidence-practice gaps.

Supervisors:

Dr Michelle Tew (primary supervisor)
Senior Research fellow, Health Economics Unit, Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Dr Katherine Chen (co-supervisor)
Paediatrician, The Royal Children’s Hospital; Clinician Scientist Fellow, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Dr Shivanthan Shanthikumar (co-supervisor)
Respiratory physician, The Royal Children’s Hospital; Clinician Scientist Fellow, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Pre-requisites:

Applicants should have postgraduate research training/experience in health-related disciplines. Minimum requirements for PhD entry apply (see Entry requirements). Applicants are automatically considered for a range of scholarships, however some other scholarships require a standalone application. More information is available on the University of Melbourne Scholarships website.

Applications are open for 2024 University of Melbourne PhD admission with Round 1 applications closing on 31 October.

There are three MDHS PhD scholarship rounds. Please see below the application closing dates and when scholarships will be announced.

Those who are interested in applying and would like more information about the project please email katherine.chen@rch.org.au