HASP: Understanding the relationship between food behaviours and health outcomes

This fully funded PhD studentship is available in the School of Food Science and Nutrition in the Faculty of Environment and is aligned with the research programme within the Healthy and Sustainable Places (HASP) Smart Data Service. <br /> <br /> This scholarship is open to UK and International applicants and covers tuition fees plus a maintenance matching UKRI stipend (currently £20,780 in 2025/26) and a research support fund. <br /> <br /> We are looking for a talented and motivated individual to join a large and dynamic multidisciplinary project called Healthy and Sustainable Places (HASP) Smart Data Service. <br /> <br /> This fully funded PhD place provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research investigating the relationship between local food accessibility, purchasing behaviours (from sales data) and health outcomes (using NHS data). You will work with partner Nesta, and commercial and health data providers to address pressing challenges, using novel data relating to place. Not only will this contribute to the food and health domain evidence, but also unpick inequities in health.<br /> <br /> The award is open to UK or International candidates on a full-time basis, or UK candidates on a part-time basis.

<p style="margin-bottom:11px">Food production and consumption are at the heart of the world greatest challenges, with 1 in 7 deaths globally attributed to poor diet and a third of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from food production.  Measuring population diet has been notoriously challenging, with limited sample sizes and prone to bias, including selection and reporting bias.  Despite this, diets are a convincing risk factor for a variety of health conditions, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.</p> <p>Food purchase data are an emerging source of smart data that present innovative opportunities to understand food purchasing behaviours at scale, in a timely manner.  Using the HASP data service and partnerships with retailers, the NHS Secure Data Environment and social impact organisation Nesta this PhD offers a platform to use data science skills and domain area expertise for public good, driving wide reaching impact.  </p> <p>This PhD project Understanding the relationship between food behaviours and health outcomes will align with the HASP Keystone project Healthy behaviours, Healthy outcomes. The novel use of smart data from food providers, combined with health outcomes within the NHS secure data environment, will for the first time unlock insights into small areas patterns in behaviour and health outcome for places most in need of support and interventions to improve access the healthy and nutritious food, to improve a range of outcomes, including health.</p> <p>During this PhD you will first understand food purchasing behaviours across different types of communities and how these may differ, before investigating the relationship of area demographics and purchasing behaviours with health outcomes.  The final part of the research will investigate the impact of interventions to improve health outcomes.  This may involve testing modelled scenarios using methods such as agent based modelling, or evaluate the impact of real-life interventions using a quasi-experimental design. One example could be investigating whether prescription of weight loss drugs impacts food shopping behaviours and subsequent health outcome – obesity – at a neighbourhood level. </p> <p><strong>Information about the Award</strong></p> <ul style="margin-bottom:11px; list-style-type:circle"> <li style="margin-bottom:11px">We are offering one scholarship in the School of Food Science and Nutrition, matching the UKRI maintenance stipend (currently £20,780 in 2025/26) and UK tuition fees for three and a half years, subject to satisfactory progress. </li> </ul> <p><strong>Duration of the Award</strong></p> <ul> <li>Full-time (3.5 years). The award will be made for one year in the first instance and renewable for a further period of up to 2.5 years, subject to satisfactory academic progress.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Other Conditions</strong></p> <ul> <li>Applicants must not have already been awarded or be currently studying for a doctoral degree.</li> <li>Awards must be taken up by 1st October 2025.</li> <li>Applicants must live within a reasonable distance of the University of Leeds whilst in receipt of this scholarship.</li> </ul>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px">To apply for this project you will need to make a formal application for research degree study through the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-applying/doc/applying-research-degrees">University's website</a>. You will need to create a login ID with a username and pin password.</p> <ul> <li>For ‘Application type’ please select ‘Research Degrees – Research Postgraduate’.</li> <li>The admission year for this project is 2025/26 Academic Year.</li> <li>You will need to select your ‘Planned Course of Study’ from a drop-down menu. For this project, scroll down and select ‘PhD Food Science and Nutrition Full-time’</li> <li>The project start date for this project is 1^st October 2025, please use this as your Proposed Start Date of Research.</li> <li><strong>Please state clearly in the research information section that the research degree you wish to be considered for is ‘HASP: Understanding the relationship between food behaviours and health outcomes’ as well as <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/staff/12192/professor-michelle-morris">Professor Michelle Morris</a> as your proposed supervisor.</strong></li> </ul> <p>You will be required to provide a personal statement which outlines your interest in the project you are applying for, why you have chosen it and how your skills map onto the requirements of the project. You will also need to provide the following documents:</p> <ul> <li>certificates and transcripts of any academic qualifications</li> <li>English language qualification certificates, if applicable</li> <li>a copy of your CV</li> <li>visa and immigration documents, if applicable</li> </ul> <p>More information on how to apply is available on our website <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-applying/doc/applying-research-degrees" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p>If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence that you meet the University's minimum English language requirements (below).</p> <p><em>As an international research-intensive university, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. We foster an inclusive environment where all can flourish and prosper, and we are proud of our strong commitment to student education. Across all Faculties we are dedicated to diversifying our community and we welcome the unique contributions that individuals can bring, and particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to Black, Asian, people who belong to a minority ethnic community, people who identify as LGBT+ and people with disabilities. Applicants will always be selected based on merit and ability.</em></p>

Applicants to research degree programmes should normally have a Bachelor degree in a relevant subject (2.1 or above or equivalent) or a good honours degree together with a Masters degree. Applicants who are uncertain about the requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the Postgraduate Research Admissions team prior to making an application.

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.5 overall with at least 6.0 in each component (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.

<p>One full PhD scholarship is available in the School of Food Science and Nutrition in the Faculty of Environment. The successful applicant will be part of a cohort of four PhDs connected by the Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service. This scholarship is open to UK and international applicants and covers fees plus maintenance and a research support fund.</p>

<p>For further information please contact the Postgraduate Research Admissions Team by emailing <a href="mailto:env-pgr@leeds.ac.uk">env-pgr@leeds.ac.uk</a>.</p>