HDR Scholarship - In hospital experiences for people with diabetes

In Australia approximately 1.2 million hospitalisations are associated with diabetes, which corresponds to about one in three people hospitalised having diabetes. Diabetes is not always the main reason for hospital admission and the health professionals involved in the person’s care may not be a diabetes specialist, while the person with diabetes may have decades of self-care experience. This can cause challenges for both the person with diabetes and the treating health professional(s); often resulting into suboptimal glucose levels. Initiatives have been taken to improve treatments and glucose management while in hospital, including electronic monitoring systems of glucose levels. However, the person’s preference about their diabetes treatment and in-hospital experiences are equally important and less researched. Therefore, the proposed PhD research will progress this research field.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team of research and clinical experts across multiple universities and partner organisations who form the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI). ACADI was launched in 2022, with the purpose of delivering novel interventions for timely diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diabetes and its complications. ACADI (established through the Medical Research Future Fund from the Australian Government’s Targeted Translation Research Accelerator program, delivered by MTPConnect) is a virtual collaborative diabetes centre led by researchers at University of Melbourne, and uniting >70 partners including Deakin University. Deakin’s Dr Hendrieckx co-leads the ACADI behavioural platform, providing expertise across the eighteen current ACADI research projects.

This scholarship opportunity is provided by Deakin University and the successful candidate will be enrolled at Deakin University. The candidate will be situated within the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (ACBRD) (a partner between Diabetes Victoria and Deakin University) and will work closely together with researchers and clinicians at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. We invite expressions of interest from eligible applicants to complete a full-time PhD in behavioural / psychosocial diabetes research.Time will also be spent at the office of the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (Melbourne CBD).

This scholarship is available over 3 years.

• Stipend of $28,900 per annum tax exempt (2022 rate)
• Relocation allowance of $500-1500 (for single to family) for students moving from interstate

To be eligible you must:

• be a domestic candidate. Domestic includes candidates with Australian Citizenship, Australian Permanent Residency or New Zealand Citizenship.
• meet Deakin's PhD entry requirements
• be enrolling full time and hold an honours degree (first class) or an equivalent standard master's degree with a substantial research component.