Subject areas:
Psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience.
Funding type:
Research Training & Support Grant.
Tuition fee.
Conference.
Awarding body:
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS DTP).
Using data linkages to understand inequalities in mental health and social care pathways.
Award details
There are longstanding concerns that racially minoritised people in the UK are more likely to be compulsorily admitted to mental health units and are over-represented in crisis/ acute mental healthcare pathways. There are also concerns that social care pathways are not accessed equitably, and access to social care may play a role in preventing later adverse mental healthcare experiences.
Research in this area is usually through health records however our understanding has been hampered by a lack of information on people’s social and economic experiences, which are frequently missing or captured poorly in healthcare records. In addition, it is clear that people may take multiple and diverse pathways into mental healthcare, an understanding of these care pathways, in particular the interacting role of social care with mental healthcare, has been limited.
Understanding interactions between mental health and social care providers could help to illuminate ‘protective’ factors which may prevent crisis inpatient mental health unit admissions.
To address these gaps in knowledge, this project will utilise two ethically approved linked datasets, covering a large catchment area of 1.3 million people in southeast London. The first dataset brings together more than 220,387 mental health records, linked to census from England at person-level. The second linkage brings together social care data from Lambeth at person-level linked to mental health service provision data.
Both linkages are the first of their kind in the UK, helping to bridge gaps in knowledge, relating to mental healthcare service provision, and providing service providers unique insights into health inequities in service provision. For this PHD studentship, being able to work with these data will provide unique training opportunities in analyses with large-scale linked data, and in advanced quantitative methods.
Our non-academic/CASE partner, Lambeth Council/Lambeth Health Determinants Research Collaboration-HDRC will work closely with the student to support all elements of the research, provide training opportunities, alongside a work internship in local government, and additional funding support towards the studentship. The student will work with local communities in south London (through Lambeth’s community knowledge network) to develop research questions, inform study design, interpret study findings and co-produce dissemination plans.
The main objectives of this study will be to understand how differing social positions which intersect with race/ ethnicity, (e.g. by gender, age, religion and other indicators) are associated with inequities in pathways into mental healthcare and involuntary admissions. In addition, the analyses will help to identify indicators in social care (eg. social care contacts and use, carer involvement) which may be ‘protective’ or preventative of crisis inpatient mental health unit admissions.
We envisage that the partnership with Lambeth Council may lead to actionable policy recommendations which will attend to inequities impacting access and outcomes of secondary mental healthcare, amongst racially minoritised people. Findings from this study could inform local government policy-making and commissioning, ultimately improving the quality and equity of services provided to local populations.
This opportunity will start on 1 October 2025.
See the link below for more information.
Postgraduate research degrees at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
Supervisors
Professor Jayati Das-Munshi
Professor Stephani Hatch
Professor Robert Stewart
Dr Hiten Dodhia (Lambeth Public Health & HEART)
Award value
This opportunity is available as a +3.5 (PhD only). CASE studentships include UKRI Home Tuition Fees, plus a stipend at the UKRI rate costs of research consumables. There will also be opportunities to apply for additional funding in aid of the student’s training development and research activity. The CASE partner (Lambeth HEART) will provide a further contribution towards the studentship.
*International students may apply but if successful the LISS will only cover Home Fees and acceptance is dependent on independently securing funding for the difference between home and international fees.
Eligibility criteria
Applicants applying to a CASE studentship must meet the ESRC eligibility guidelines in terms of residency and academic qualifications, specifically core social science research methods training that must already have been undertaken (up to +3.5 awards). Please check these guidelines before making an application.
Applicants should have a bachelor’s degree with 2:1 honours (or Overseas equivalent). A 2:2 degree may be considered only where applicants also offer a master’s with Merit. An appropriate Masters degree (at distinction or at least high merit level) is expected.
Award conditions
More details on the award can be found on the LISS-DTP website.
Application process
Applicants should submit a completed application form (please download the form below) and CV prior to the closing date. Successfully shortlisted applicants will be invited to undertake a data analysis test using relevant statistical software (eg. STATA, R, Mplus or equivalent) and invited to an in-person panel interview in March.
Please send your completed application to Virginia.Elgar@kcl.ac.uk by midnight on 24 February 2025.
Application forms
CASE Application Form_2025 Entry HEART FINAL_Jayati Das-Munshi (0.13 MB)
Selection process
Interviews are planned for either week commencing 10 March 2025 or 17 March 2025. Candidates will be selected on the basis of application, CV, results of the skills test and interview.