Scholarship overview

  • Degree level

    Postgraduate doctoral

  • Value

    Tax-free stipend of £22,780 per year (UKRI stipend rate), home tuition fees, and research/travel expenses.

  • Number of awards

    1

  • Academic year

    2026/2027

  • Tuition fee status

    Home

  • Mode of study

    Full time

  • Available to

    Prospective students

  • Application deadline

    18/01/2026

  • Additional information

    Scholarship page

    e.farrow@imperial.ac.uk

  • Available to applicants in the following departments

    • School of Public Health

Eligibility criteria

PhD title: The health, economic and educational impacts of respiratory pandemics in the UK

PhD Project Description

The world needs to get better prepared to respond to emerging respiratory threats and prevent a catastrophic pandemic from occurring again. The objective of this PhD is to provide evidence to UK decision-makers on the returns to investing in pandemic preparedness and help them navigate the complex and varied trade-offs of epidemics when implementing mitigation.

To achieve this, the PhD candidate will develop modelling tools to:

  • Project the health, economic and educational gains of investments into pandemic preparedness.
  • Project the losses to population health, economic welfare and social fabric under hypothetical UK-based pandemic scenarios.

The candidate will utilise existing integrated economic-epidemiological models (e.g., DAEDALUS) developed at Imperial, UKHSA and LSHTM to build a UK version of an integrated model for real-time modelling to support policymakers in emergency outbreak response. A particular focus will be to build in fiscal impacts considering alternative fiscal relief interventions, such as government transfers (e.g., furlough payments) and subsidies to businesses. The exact scope of the PhD can be refined with the candidate.

 

This PhD is embedded in a research programme that integrates epidemiological, economic, and social disciplines using advanced data science and analytics, including modelling of infectious transmission dynamics, micro- and macro-economic analyses, econometrics, behavioural science, and health economics.

 

Supervisory team:

  • Imperial - Katharina Hauck (primary supervisor): k.hauck@imperial.ac.uk 

  • London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) - John Edmunds: John.Edmunds@LSHTM.ac.uk 

  • UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) - Michael Borowitz

Please note: This scholarship is not available to continuing students.

Course specific information

Available to those applying to the School of Public Health.

Application process

Please complete the online application form by 18 January 2026.

 

For queries contact, Project Manager Ellie Farrow: e.farrow@imperial.ac.uk.

 

Interviews are expected to take place in February 2026.

Additional information

The candidate will develop modelling tools to project health, economic, and educational gains of pandemic preparedness investments and losses under hypothetical UK pandemic scenarios. Will utilise integrated economic-epidemiological models (e.g., DAEDALUS) and focus on fiscal impacts. Candidate will work closely with Imperial, LSHTM, and UKHSA teams.

 

Contact

If you have any additional questions, please contact us at e.farrow@imperial.ac.uk.