[Air-l] PhD Studentship available (University of Essex, UK)

[Ben Anderson]

This is an EPSRC CASE award (joint funded by the EPSRC and BT) so please
note that to be eligible applicants must either:

- be a UK national or
- be a non-UK EU national having been resident in the UK for three or more
years prior to appointment

In other words non-EU nationals are unfortunately automatically
ineligible.

http://jobs.ac.uk/jobfiles/SH391.html
 
Please feel free to forward this to potential students and mailing lists.

----
Dr Ben Anderson
Deputy Director, Chimera
the University of Essex's Institute for Social and Technical Research
+44 (0) 7710 187 806
Homepage: http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/team/bena.html
Chimera blog: http://istr.wordpress.com/

> 
> *******************
> Applications are invited for a PhD studentship entitled ³Digital UK Data:
> Re-using data from personal health and wellbeing technologies for social
> research², jointly sponsored by the EPSRC and British Telecommunications plc
> (BT), and supervised by Dr Ben Anderson. The studentship provides an
> opportunity to carry out research and industrial training in a three-year
> programme leading to a PhD.
> 
> One of the greatest challenges facing governments and society today is
> improving the health of the population while reducing the costs and burden
> on health sector resources. Empowering people (and organisations) to take
> greater ownership of their health, wellbeing and lifestyle is an essential
> precursor to achieving that goal. Today¹s emerging telecare technologies are
> early enablers for such empowerment and over the coming years assistive
> technologies will become commonplace as society grows more conscious of
> long-term health and lifestyle.
> 
> Implicit in the growing use of assistive technology is the wide scale
> deployment of technologies that capture data on relevant human activities
> and behaviours, ostensibly for the purposes of the health and lifestyle
> related services. However, that behavioural data contains an information
> richness that has value in a diversity of sectors in addition to health. The
> objective of this research programme is to explore the potential academic,
> commercial and policy value of analysis of this data for purposes other than
> pure healthcare. Attention will be given to issues of confidentiality,
> security, data protection and ethics as well as potentially experimenting
> with new analytic and data visualisation techniques. Part of the research
> will also assess the potential value of such analyses to a range of market
> sectors and carry out investigative fieldwork with appropriate households
> using mixed-method approaches. It is anticipated that behavioural data
> collected in the University¹s innovative i-Dorm facility (please see:
> http://digital-lifestyles.essex.ac.uk/) and through a number of innovative
> BT trials will also be available for experimental analysis.
> 
> Whilst the successful candidate will be based at Chimera at Adastral Park,
> Suffolk, time will also be spent working within the BT 2010 research
> activity (who are also located at Adastral Park) gaining industrial
> experience and access to unique datasets and technologies. Chimera also
> supports full interaction with departments and research activities on the
> main University campus at Colchester.
> 
> Applications are invited from graduates with a first or upper second class
> degree (or equivalent) in Sociology, Human and Health Sciences, Management,
> Law, Computer Science or other demonstrably relevant course. Candidates with
> an additional Masters level qualification, in a relevant area, are
> encouraged to apply.
> 
> Desirable experience, skills and attributes of the post holder would also
> include one or more of the following:
> 
>     * Socio-technical, legal or ethical issues of information and
> communication technologies
>     * Experience of qualitative and quantitative data collection and
> analysis
>     * An interest in behavioural data visualisation
> 
> The position offers funding for a period of three years for research towards
> a PhD starting as soon as possible up to, but no later than, 1 October 2007.
> 
> The studentship covers fees and a tax-free stipend of around £17,300 in the
> first year, rising in future years. (Please note that qualification for this
> form of EPSRC award is dependent on the candidate being a UK national or a
> non-UK EU national having been resident in the UK for three or more years
> prior to appointment).
> 
> For more information, please visit: www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/
> 
> For informal enquires, please contact Dr Ben Anderson, e-mail:
> benander at essex.ac.uk
> 
> Formal applications should be made in writing to:
> Mrs A Lealman
> Chimera, University of Essex
> pp1 Ross Building
> Adastral Park
> Ipswich
> Suffolk
> 
> Applicants should supply a full CV, a covering letter which should explain
> their suitability for the studentship and a 1 page statement of their
> proposed research in response to the above information. References should be
> provided by academic staff who have known you recently and are familiar with
> your work. If you have done a Masters degree please ensure that at least one
> of your references is from a member of staff who has taught you during this
> programme.
> 
> Closing date for applications: Friday 30 March 2007.
> 
> University of Essex Profile:  http://www.jobs.ac.uk/ep/links/68/
>