HASP: Identifying priority places for increasing physical activity in the UK

One full PhD scholarship is available in the School of Geography. 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.<br /> <br /> We are looking for a talented and motivated individual to join a large and dynamic multidisciplinary project called the Healthy and Sustainable Places (HASP) Smart Data Service. <br /> <br /> This fully funded PhD provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research investigating where increasing opportunity for physical activity will have the greatest positive impact on health and environmental sustainability indicators in the UK population. You will work with colleagues in the School of Geography and School of Food Science and Nutrition.<br /> <br /> The award is open to UK or International candidates on a full-time basis, or UK candidates on a part-time basis. <br />

<p style="margin-bottom:11px">Globally, a third of all adults do not meet physical activity recommendations.  For adolescents this is much higher, with eight in ten not meeting recommendations. In the UK, 34% of men and 42% of women are not active enough for good health and one in six deaths are associated with physical inactivity. At the same time, we need to reduce emissions from motorised transport, which is a key contributor to the climate crisis. Shifting behaviour towards increased physical activity, including active travel, presents an opportunity for intervention and innovation that would reduce emissions, and promote health.</p> <p>It is known that there are many barriers to physical activity, ranging from access to affordable facilities to safe places to exercise. These barriers do not impact all communities equally. This may be due to physical features of the environment in which they live, or the demographic composition and culture in neighbourhoods.</p> <p>Open data relating to land use, green space and points of interest can be used to identify places with the greatest number of barriers to being physically active.  Novel smart data sources from apps, wearables and mobility behaviours present opportunity to supplement open data resources, for an innovative approach to understanding human behaviours relating to physical activity.  Through HASP partnership with the NHS Secure Data Environments, there is potential to extend this work to understand the association between activity behaviours and health outcomes at a neighbourhood level.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">This PhD project Identifying priority places for increasing physical activity in the UK will align with the HASP Keystone project Priority Places.</p> <p>During this PhD you will first use a combination of open and smart data sources on activity behaviour to develop an understanding of variation in activity levels across different types of communities how these may be associated with features of the local activity environment.  You will use these insights to develop a composite measure indicating where across the UK are priority places in need of support to access physical activity spaces, from a combined health and wellbeing and environmental sustainability perspective.  The final stage will be to model the impact of different hypothetical interventions to improve activity levels, which can be used to inform future policy and investment.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">Information about the Award</p> <ul> <li>We are offering one scholarship in the School of Geography, 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>Duration of the Award</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>Other Conditions</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 Geography 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: Identifying priority places for increasing physical activity in the UK’ as well as <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/geography/staff/1064/professor-nik-lomax">Prof Nik Lomax</a> as your proposed supervisor.</strong></li> </ul> <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 at least a first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline. 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 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 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 style="margin-bottom:11px">We are offering one full-time PhD scholarship in the School of Geography for one candidate, 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. </p>

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