About HEAL
The Health and Environment Across the Life-course (HEAL) Doctoral Training Programme will establish a new generation of world-class researchers capable of investigating the mechanistic pathways linking environmental exposures to health and disease, and translating insights into equitable, effective approaches to improve the health-span.
Our environments shape our health and wellbeing. HEAL Fellows will comprehensively investigate how the environment – through the multitude of experiences and exposures across the life-course – influences health and disease, and drive a step-change in disease prevention and healthcare delivery.
Our vision is to cultivate a new cadre of clinician-researchers equipped to assess, integrate and interpret a broad range of environmental contexts – from physical and biological to psychosocial and cultural – into clinical research and healthcare delivery.
A life-course perspective is essential for mechanistic, translational, and clinical insight, because environmental exposures differentially shape health trajectories from conception to old age. Environmental factors rarely operate in isolation; rather, multiple exposures (the ‘exposome’) act synergistically with genetics and behaviours, to increase the risk and severity of diseases. HEAL Fellows to gain a holistic understanding of how and when environmental exposures interact, to inform new approaches to enhancing the health-span.
HEAL Fellows can leverage the breadth of environment and health research at QMUL. HEAL is organised into five cross-cutting life-stages (prenatal, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, ageing) and three themes: i) Culture and Society; ii) Pollution, Climate and Urbanisation; and iii) Nutrition and Behaviour.
Our DTP reflects a genuine partnership between our three faculties, uniting expertise from molecular biology to the arts in one place. This breadth provides an unrivalled opportunity to work across disciplines that are typically siloed, to understand how diverse environmental factors influence health. We will create unparalleled opportunities for interdisciplinary training, and we encourage Fellows to combine methods in new ways to tackle complex problems.
HEAL will forge a strong cohort identity through an intensive induction period, and monthly Researcher Development afternoons which combine a seminar, methods workshop, generic skills training and networking with other Fellows. HEAL Fellows will develop a research culture plan and an impact plan at the start of their Fellowship, and all projects include a community member or person with lived experience as part of the Fellow’s supervisory team from the application stage onwards. We will also match you with a careers mentor and a peer mentor to help guide you through your HEAL Fellowship.
We want to attract a diverse cohort of Fellows, from a broad range of healthcare professions, including professions that are often under-represented in research. We welcome applicants at all stages of their research journey – including those who have had less experience, but who show great promise. We have a small number of pre-doctoral Fellowships available, providing 6 months of research time for those who have had little research experience to date, to undertake some Masters modules and work up a PhD proposal with a potential supervisor.
HEAL provides 3 years of salary support at the equivalent NHS grade or band to a clinical post at the same level; a generous research consumables package; home PhD fees; and an overseas living allowance for those undertaking global health research. Fellows can also apply for an additional post-doctoral placement at the end of their HEAL Fellowship, providing an opportunity for additional research time, a placement in industry, or an attachment to a partner organisation to gain additional experience.