The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) at the University of Nottingham invites applications from qualified applicants for a funded PhD scholarship concerning the employment of prisoners with mental health problems. 

The IMH is a partnership between Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and the University of Nottingham. It was launched in 2006 and has grown rapidly to become one of the leading mental health research centres in the UK. Its members include 30 University of Nottingham full professors who provide supervision to PhD students. Our externally funded grant income is now £6.5 million per year. This comes in from research councils (for example, the Medical Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council), the National Institute of Health Research (via Programme Grants, Health Technology Assessment and Service Delivery and Organisation), government agencies, and through charities (for example the Wellcome Trust and the Burdett Trust).

The Henry Smith Charity and the John Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust have graciously funded the Central for Mental Health (a London-based charity with a national remit) to pilot a programme of Individual Placement and Support (IPS), placing and supporting prisoners with mental health problems in employment. As part of this project, funding has been provided to the IMH for a doctoral scholarship to evaluate the success of the IPS programme. It is anticipated that this evaluation will involve both quantitative and qualitative methods.

While the successful student will have an academic home at the IMH, he or she will be registered in the School of Sociology of the University of Nottingham. Supervision for the project will be provided by Professor Justine Schneider (School of Sociology and Sociology) and Professor Eddie Kane (School of Community Health Sciences). Ongoing liaison will be available with the Centre for Mental Health as required.

The position is open to students with a good undergraduate degree (2:1 or higher) in any discipline and will also have an MA in social science research methods at Merit or above.  Some travel is required and the applicant must therefore be able to travel in the UK.

It is a condition of this post that satisfactory Enhanced disclosure is obtained from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

The scholarship is for three years, and due to funding restrictions is open to either home or EU applicants. The scholarship is for the equivalent of full HEU fees (£3,900), maintenance stipend of £13,726 and £750 towards research costs. An additional £1000 will also be available for travel and other expenses. Continuation of the scholarship is subject to annual review of academic progress. 

The successful student will be expected to commence doctoral studies on or about 13th January 2014.

To apply, students should send a covering letter, full CV and addresses of two academic referees to Alison Haigh, Postgraduate Administrator, School of Sociology and Social Policy by email to: Alison.Haigh@nottingham.ac.uk.

Please quote ref. LSS363

Closing date: 18 November 2013

Please note that the “Apply Online” facility (below) is not available for this post.