​​Exploring the trends in mortality across the island of Ireland​

  • Self-funded MRes opportunity
  • Life and Health Sciences
Apply and key information  

Summary

​​Observation of the trends in causes of death is long established as an approach to monitoring public health.  Identification of a high level of mortality from cardiovascular disease led to a transformation in our understanding of CVD across the 20th Century and further led to dramatic innovations ranging from lifestyle interventions to drug development (Dalen et al, 2014; Bennet et al., 2006).  The recent COVID-19 pandemic saw a surge in public interest in morbidity and mortality statistics (Ivankovic et al., 2021; Gleeson et al, 2022) and high demand for up-to-date data.

​Mortality as an indicator of public health has not been well surveyed in Ireland and there has been little to no work completed to compare and contrast mortality trends between diseases and conditions across the geography of Ireland.

​Here, we will attempt to address those gaps in our understanding, bringing together data from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, exploring the local, regional and national trends, comparing and contrasting regions and identifying outliers across the geography of Ireland.

​Data will be sourced from the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency (NISRA) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO).  We will explore trends in raw mortality and also in data standardised to facilitate comparisons between regions with differing demographics.

​It is expected that the outputs of these analysis should be highly publishable.  Analysis of the data will be significantly advanced programming/coding skills.

Objectives of the research:

  1. ​Compare RoI/NI internationally.
  1. ​Extract, normalise and compare current proportional causes of death using ICD10 chapter and block data across NI, RoI, UK, EU and globally.
  1. ​Extract and present trends in these data sets from 2010 to present.
  1. ​Explore local/regional geographic trends across Ireland using ICD10 chapter and block data.
  1. ​Extract and normalise data sets on a county (RoI) and LGD (NI) level.
  1. ​Identify trends in the local data.
  1. ​Present Island wide comparison with PCA plots.
  1. ​Explore correlating features from within the data.
  1. ​Identify measurements that correlate with the observed trends (air quality, poverty indexes, etc).

Methods to be used:

  1. ​​Programming/Coding to manage data sets
  1. ​Data extracted from Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency, Central Statistics Office (RoI), Eurostat and WHO Global Health Observatory
  1. ​Data normalisation/standardisation
  1. ​Statistical assessment and visualisation (eg principal component analysis).
  1. ​Parsing of ICD10 disease/condition classification

Skills required of applicant:

1. Programming/Coding skills, ideally in Python or R

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

  • Experience using research methods or other approaches relevant to the subject domain
  • A comprehensive and articulate personal statement
  • A demonstrable interest in the research area associated with the studentship

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

  • First Class Honours (1st) Degree
  • Use of personal initiative as evidenced by record of work above that normally expected at career stage.
  • Applicants will be shortlisted if they have an average of 75% or greater in a first (honours) degree (or a GPA of 8.75/10). For applicants with a first degree average in the range of 70% to 74% (GPA 3.3): If they are undertaking an Masters, then the average of their first degree marks and their Masters marks will be used for shortlisting.
  • Relevant professional qualification and/or a Degree in a Health or Health related area

Equal Opportunities

The University is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community, particularly from those with disabilities.

Appointment will be made on merit.

Funding and eligibility

Recommended reading

  1. ​​Bennett K et al., Explaining the recent decrease in coronary heart disease mortality rates in Ireland, 1985–2000. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 2006, 60(4):322-7.
  1. ​Dalen JE et al., The epidemic of the 20th century: coronary heart disease. The American journal of medicine. 2014, 127(9):807-12.
  1. ​Gleeson J, et al.. Dashboards and Public Health: The development, impacts, and lessons from the Irish Government COVID-19 dashboards. American Journal of Public Health. 2022 112(6):896-9.
  1. ​Ivanković D et al., Features constituting actionable COVID-19 dashboards: descriptive assessment and expert appraisal of 158 public web-based COVID-19 dashboards. Journal of medical Internet research, 2021 23(2), p.e25682.

The Doctoral College at Ulster University

Key dates

Submission deadline
Friday 2 August 2024
04:00PM

Interview Date
Early August 2024

Preferred student start date
16 September 2024

Applying

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Contact supervisor

Dr Steven Watterson

Steven Watterson

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Email
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