Dear All, Below are some details (also attached) about five £60,000 International Development PhD Studentships for 2009. Please contact me if you would like more information about these research opportunities. Best wishes, Guy Guy Collender Communications Officer London International Development Centre 36 Gordon Square London WC1H 0PD Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7958 8260 Fax: + 44 (0) 20 3073 8303 New approaches towards international development www.lidc.org.uk £60,000 International Development PhD Studentships for 2009 Talented students eager to contribute to international development research are invited to apply to leading colleges in London for scholarships worth more than £60,000 each. Five three-year PhD Studentships are available and cover a range of specialised areas, including HIV/AIDS and human rights in sub-Saharan Africa, workforce migration, and Rift Valley Fever in Senegal. Each project will begin this autumn and will involve field work abroad. The five development-related Studentships are part of a larger scheme of 12 annual Studentships offered by The Bloomsbury Colleges - a consortium of six University of London colleges. Successful applicants on the joint PhD programmes will study at two of the Bloomsbury Colleges (Birkbeck, Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Royal Veterinary College, School of Oriental and African Studies, and The School of Pharmacy). Each student will be guided by two academics - a lead supervisor from one of the Bloomsbury Colleges and a collaborating supervisor from another. Funding for the Studentships, including tuition fees and a stipend, is provided by The Bloomsbury Colleges* consortium. Field costs totalling £29,000 across the five development-related Studentships are provided by the London International Development Centre (LIDC) - a collaborative initiative which brings together social and natural scientists. The total value of each of the development Studentships is more than £60,000. Research questions The five development-related PhD research areas and the academics responsible for supervising them are set out below (lead supervisor listed first): The role of professional education and training in workforce migration Professor Richard Smith, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Dr Moses Oketch, Institute of Education, and Professor Felicity Smith, The School of Pharmacy Read more at: www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/studentships_09/role_prof_ed_train_workforce_migr Rift Valley Fever: a mathematical and spatial modelling approach to understanding disease dynamics Professor Dirk Pfeiffer, Royal Veterinary College, and Dr Richard White, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Read more at: www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/studentships_09/rift_valley_fever Assessing the role of structural drivers in the HIV/AIDS pandemic: A Tanzanian case study of the link between socio-economic indicators and prevalence patterns Dr Deborah Johnston, School of Oriental and African Studies, and Dr Justin Parkhurst, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Read more at: www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/studentships_09/hiv_aids_tanzanian HIV and AIDS, Human Rights and Development in sub-Saharan Africa Dr Michael Jennings, School of Oriental and African Studies, and Dr Matthew Weait, Birkbeck Read more at: www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/studentships_09/hiv_aids_subsahara Aristolochia (snakeroot) - toxicological risk assessment using a biosystematic and phytochemical-analytical approach Professor Michael Heinrich, The School of Pharmacy, and Dr Martin Ingrouille, Birkbeck Read more at: www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/studentships_09/aristolochia_snakeroot Terry Bishop is the facilitator of The Bloomsbury Colleges* consortium, which began the PhD Studentships initiative in 2007. He said: *The consortium*s priority is to encourage new areas of interdisciplinary and intercollegiate research and one of these main areas is international development.* Background The Bloomsbury PhD Studentships were created to promote cross-college collaboration, particularly in areas likely to benefit from interdisciplinary work. A total of 12 are awarded every year for a range of topics, including international development. Guillaume Fournie and Sam Meijas were awarded Studentships in 2007 and their work is related to international development. Fournie is studying bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam at the Royal Veterinary College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Mejias is studying human rights education at the Institute of Education and Birkbeck. Mejias said: "I am being matched with two supervisors who are incredibly accomplished in the field and they have an interest in what I am doing. The Bloomsbury Studentship has been great for my academic and professional development". Applications For more information and to apply for a Studentship visit www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships , or contact The Bloomsbury Colleges* facilitator Terry Bishop: +44 (0) 7974 684162 , [log in to unmask] .The deadline for applications is 25 February 2009. The Studentships cover the cost of UK/EU tuition fees and a maintenance stipend. Applications are welcome from students of all nationalities. Notes to editors * The Bloomsbury Colleges* consortium was set up in 2004 and consists of the following six colleges of the University of London: Birkbeck, the Institute of Education, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Royal Veterinary College, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and The School of Pharmacy. The aim of the consortium is to collaborate in academic and administrative matters so as to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and to gain the benefits of critical mass while maintaining the independence to pursue specialist missions. The physical proximity of the colleges is a key factor in facilitating contact. * The London International Development Centre (LIDC) is the first major intellectual project to emerge from the cross-college collaboration fostered by The Bloomsbury Colleges* consortium. LIDC was established in 2007 with start-up funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to undertake original interdisciplinary research and training to tackle complex problems in international development. It brings together social and natural scientists from across the colleges making up The Bloomsbury Colleges consortium to pursue this goal. LIDC aims to: o Develop high quality interdisciplinary research between the colleges and other partners o Develop new and innovative teaching programmes to support development goals o Inform national and international policies on development through linking research, policy and practice o Build capacity in low- and middle-income countries to address the needs of higher education and research institutions, NGOs and governments * For further information about the PhD Studentships and The Bloomsbury Colleges* consortium visit www.bloomsbury.ac.uk or contact The Bloomsbury Colleges* facilitator Terry Bishop: +44 (0) 7974 684162 , [log in to unmask] . * For further information about the London International Development Centre (LIDC) visit www.lidc.org.uk or contact LIDC*s Communications Officer Guy Collender: +44 (0) 20 7958 8260 , [log in to unmask] . www.lidc.org.uk