ARC NENC PhD Creating tailored retinal screening pathways for people with diabetes
Institution and location
University of Sunderland, Sunderland
Award summary
100% of home tuition fees paid, annual stipend of £21,805 and additional funding given to cover research costs of £15,000. This studentship is only available to those eligible for UK home tuition fees.
To be classed as a Home student, candidates must:
Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
have settled status, or
have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
have indefinite leave to remain or enter.
If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student and would not be eligible.
Applicants will need to be in the UK and fully enrolled before stipend payments can commence.
Overview
Diabetic retinopathy is a potential complication of diabetes that can lead to sight loss if untreated. The NHS Diabetes Eye Screening Programme supports early detection and treatment, but the programme is evolving through optical coherence tomography, digital surveillance and emerging approaches such as non-mydriatic imaging. Changes in diabetes treatments may also affect retinopathy risk.
Uptake of diabetic eye screening varies substantially. This PhD will explore how screening pathways could be tailored to patient groups or individuals to provide a more patient-centred service, improve uptake and support timely detection of retinopathy.
The successful candidate will use mixed methods and implementation science to:
- Examine current diabetic eye-screening pathways and influences on screening engagement, using a structured framework such as the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
- Engage patients, carers, healthcare professionals and service leaders across ophthalmology, eye screening, primary care and specialist diabetes services
- Combine qualitative enquiry, case-study methods, pathway mapping and analysis of routinely collected healthcare data
- Work with stakeholders to co-design potential tailored screening models
- Develop evidence-informed recommendations for policy, practice and future implementation within the NHS
The student will be embedded within a multidisciplinary research environment spanning academia, the NHS, and regional health and care partners, with access to NORI’s developing ophthalmic research infrastructure and both the ARC and NORI’s expertise in implementation science, digital health, population health, and healthcare innovation.
Public involvement, co-production, research inclusion, knowledge mobilisation, and impact planning will be integral to all stages of the project. The successful candidate will work closely with interest-holders to ensure that the research generates actionable evidence capable of informing the future design and delivery of retinal screening.
Number of awards
One
February 2027
3.5 years, full time
04/11/2026
Sponsors
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria and the Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation Institute
Name of supervisors
Professor Matthew Campbell
Eligibility criteria
Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a first-class or upper second-class honours degree, or equivalent, in a relevant health, social or behavioural science subject. Those with an upper second-class degree should also have a master’s degree or relevant professional experience. Experience of qualitative or mixed-methods research and implementation science, would be advantageous. Applicants whose first language is not English will normally need an IELTS overall score of 6.5, with at least 6.0 in each component.
Additional information
We will be offering a pre-application support workshop for candidates who wish to apply for one of our PhD studentships.
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