Population Health projects
Consult this page for a list of research projects based in the Division of Population Health.
Haemodynamic and autonomic profiling from reconstructed right heart catheterisation waveforms in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Can detailed reconstruction and analysis of right heart catheterisation (RHC) waveforms provide haemodynamic and autonomic indices that predict clinical outcomes in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)?
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Supervisors
Dr Marcelle De Paula Ribeiro (m.depaularibeiro@sheffield.ac.uk)
Professor Alex Rothman (a.rothman@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease driven by vascular remodelling and right heart dysfunction. This project aims to reconstruct and analyse right heart catheterisation (RHC) waveforms from a large clinical database to extract detailed haemodynamic and autonomic parameters.
Using advanced signal processing and statistical modelling, students will derive pressure-based indices and heart rate variability metrics, integrating these with demographic, functional, and outcome data (survival, functional class). The study will assess how autonomic and haemodynamic patterns interact to predict clinical outcomes and disease progression. The project combines computational physiology with outcome-based research to identify novel prognostic markers in PAH.
Type of project
Clinical or Surgical project: based in the clinical environment with patients/including service evaluation.
Additional training or teaching
Students will receive training in pre-processing and reconstructing RHC waveforms, deriving haemodynamic and autonomic indices, and performing statistical analyses. They will learn to link physiological metrics with clinical outcomes through data integration and modelling.
The project provides multidisciplinary experience in cardiovascular physiology, signal processing, and clinical research, equipping students with skills to explore autonomic and haemodynamic predictors of disease severity and prognosis in PAH.
Ethics requirements
Secondary data or tissue samples: UREC or NHS REC ethics approval already received for the intended research project.
Scoping review of literature on increases in alcohol-specific mortality and mortality in high-income countries since 2019
Why has alcohol-related mortality and morbidity increased in some high-income countries since 2019?
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Supervisors
Dr Laura Fenton (l.m.fenton@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr Abi Stevely (a.stevely@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
The project will involve conducting a scoping or similar form of systematic review of published research on rises in alcohol-specific mortality and morbidity in high-income countries since 2019.
While we are principally interested in literature containing explanations for the increases, an initial aim of the project will to establish the size of the literature to determine if there are a sufficient number of studies to justify this focus. If not, the student may be asked to first conduct a review of literature detailing patterns in alcohol-specific mortality and morbidity, and then to conduct a review of literature containing explanations of these patterns.
Type of project
Qualitative Project/non-lab based - primarily using qualitative methods
Additional training or teaching
The student will be offered 'on-the-job' training and support with conducting literature searches and organising a scoping review or similar form of review.
Ethics requirements
Scoping review - no ethics required.
Understanding the research landscape around missing equalities indicators in routinely collected healthcare data
Missing information regarding equalities indicators in routinely collected healthcare data can have significant impacts for understanding how well disadvantaged or vulnerable people are served by the healthcare system. We wish to to understand how much research has been undertaken around this question, where the research gaps are, and whether mitigating action is being taken by studies using routinely collected data.
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Supervisors
Jen Lewis (jen.lewis@sheffield.ac.uk)
Maxine Kuczawski (m.kuczawski@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
When demographic information is missing from routine healthcare data, any analyses examining access to and outcomes of healthcare may be biased. It is important to understand the extent of this issue and what solutions are used to mitigate its impact. This project will examine published literature to understand the current research landscape into this question. The student will use systematic search methods to identify all potentially relevant literature; screening methods to appropriately narrow the results; and critical appraisal to assess the quality and value of the papers.
In addition to the BSc course, the student will work through material for the Masters in Public Health module MP4108: Systematic Approaches to Evidence Assessment (online). This module and background reading will be the focus from September to November. From December to March the focus will be on searching, screening and documented assessment of papers. From April, the focus will be on finalising the review and writing up the dissertation.
This project will aim to produce a scoping review utilising systematic search techniques to- understand the breadth of existing research
- document identified problems and potential solutions
- determine how well identified solutions are implemented in current studies
- identify research gaps and areas in which typical practice is poor
Type of project
Qualitative Project/non-lab based - primarily using qualitative methods
Additional training or teaching
Students will work through the material for the Masters in Public Health module SMP4108: Systematic Approaches to Evidence Assessment (online) during the autumn semester. The majority of this material is made available online to be engaged with at the student's convenience and pace and should not interfere with scheduled teaching.
If desired (and if space allows), the student may also engage with the in-person module SMP4109: Systematic Reviews and Critical Appraisal Techniques during the spring semester, to gain a deeper understanding of relevant techniques.
The student will not be assessed on these modules.
Ethics requirements
Not known: contact Carolyn Staton in the first instance.
Supporting the shift in acute care from the hospital to the community with responsive research
How can new care models proposed as part of a 10-year health plan work best to improve patient outcomes?
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Supervisors
Dr Carl Marincowitz (c.marincowitz@sheffield.ac.uk)
Professor Fiona Sampson (f.c.sampson@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
Aim
To produce evidence for how new care models proposed as part of the NHS 10-year plan as an alternative acute hospital treatment can be optimally implemented.
Method
You will be part of the Delivering Care Closer to Home Theme in the Yorkshire and Humber NIHR Applied Research Collaboration and University of Sheffield Centre for Urgent and Emergency Care Research. This gives you the opportunity to work with clinical academics and methodologists who are national leaders in health service research.
You can choose to undertake systematic reviews, service provision mapping exercises, analysis of routinely collected health care data and qualitative methods to provide evidence for how new services providing an alternative to acute hospital care should develop. The type of new care models you can help evaluate includes: Mental Health Emergency Departments, Neighbourhood Health Centres, enhanced models of ambulance service care and interventions to support people after they fall.Type of project
Qualitative Project/non-lab based - primarily using qualitative methods.
Additional training or teaching
Additional training will be provided where required by staff within the section of Health Service Research, ScHARR, through the Yorkshire and Humber Applied research collaboration. Funding will be available to attend relevant conferences where abstracts are submitted.
Ethics requirements
Secondary data or tissue samples: UREC or NHS REC ethics approval already received for the intended research project
Secondary data or tissue samples that was not originally collected for research: UREC or NHS REC approval required
Original research involving human tissues/human participants and/or patient details and information: UREC or NHS REC ethics approval obtained already
The effect of breath holding on renal oxygenation as seen with magnetic resonance imaging
MRI can detected changes in renal oxygenation during a breath hold, as well as the physiological protective response of the kidney at risk of ischemia.
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Supervisors
Professor Steven Sourbron (s.sourbron@sheffield.ac.uk)
Joao Periquito (j.s.periquito@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
The oxygen levels in the kidney play a critical role in the progression of chronic kidney disease, but their exact role as a driver for progression in humans is poorly understood. MRI methods to study renal oxygenation have been used extensively in diseases such as diabetes and renal artery stenosis. These methods rely on subjects to hold their breath during the scan, but as breath holding induces deoxygenation of blood there is a risk that this confounds the observations.
In a recent pilot study in healthy volunteers we have demonstrated that the effect of breath holding on renal oxygenation is measurable with MRI, and reproducible. The effect was mostly linear, but an accidental finding in a single volunteer who managed a very long breath hold (90s) showed a sudden non-linear response, suggesting the activation of a (hitherto hypothetical) physiological switch to protect the kidney from ischemic damage. We want to now perform further experiments to confirm these findings, study them in more detail, and consider possible clinical implications.
A first series of experiments will continue in healthy volunteers, this time specifically aiming to recruit larger numbers of people who can manage long breath holds to see if we can reproduce the physiological switch. The students who take on this project will have to identify and recruit candidates, for instance by contact groups of free-drivers, high altitude runners, or people who practice medication. MRI scans with long breath holds will be performed in these subjects, and students will analyse the scans to see if we can identify and characterise the physiological switch reproducibly. If so, we expect this will generate exciting new insights into renal physiology and renoprotective mechanisms, and any effect their impairment may have in disease.Type of project
Lab/Bench Project - primarily working in a lab environment
Additional training or teaching
- Renal physiology and MRI of the kidney
- Running and optimizing MRI scans
- Interpreting MRI data
- Analysing scans to derive imaging biomarkers
Ethics requirements
Original research involving human tissues/human participants and/or patient details and information: UREC or NHS REC ethics approval obtained already.
Response assessment of neoadjuvant treatment for rectal cancer with functional MRI and photon-counting CT
Novel functional MRI and photon-counting CT methods will provide more accurate response assessment of neoadjuvant treatment in rectal cancers and allow better informed decision of surgical versus conservative management options.
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Supervisors
Professor Steven Sourbron (s.sourbron@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr Nadhirah Kahar (nnabdkahar1@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
Patients that are offered surgical removal of primary rectal cancers typical undergo a course of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery, with a view of downstaging the cancer before surgical removal. In some cases the routine assessments that are performed after this course of chemotherapy find that the cancer is no longer visible. In that case, the patient may be offered a more conservative watch-and-wait management option, with frequent follow-ups to check for recurrence. The decision is critical as the surgery itself often has significant impact on quality of life, but also because a conservative management may allow for recurrence if the cancer has evaded detection but has not been fully destroyed.
We believe that novel MRI methods developed in Sheffield may increase confidence in these decisions by allowing us to say with more confidence whether or not a tumour has indeed been fully obliterated. These methods include diffusion- and perfusion weighted imaging, which in other application areas have demonstrated capability of early detection of recurrence. Additionally new cutting edge photon-counting CT (pCT) scanners also have shown higher sensitivity to subtle changes that could indicate early recurrence.
We are currently running a pilot study to verify this hypothesis. In this study we are recruiting patients selected for surgery, who will undergo and extra MRI and pCT before chemotherapy, and extended MRI and pCT after chemo. The images will be analysed with a view of detecting signs of recurrence that are not visible on conventional clinical assessment. The student(s) who take this project will be integrated in the study, assist the clinical fellow in performing assessments, collecting data and analysing MRI images.Type of project
Clinical or Surgical project - based in the clinical environment with patients/including service evaluation
Additional training or teaching
- MRI and pCT acquisition
- Visualisation and analysis of images
- Statistical analysis and interpretation of data
Ethics requirements
Original research involving human tissues/human participants and/or patient details and information: UREC or NHS REC ethics approval obtained already.
A critical appraisal of potential phenotypes in Borderline Personality Disorder
The aim of the research will be to advance our understanding of the nature of Borderline Personality Disorder, and whether this comprises distinct and temporally stable phenotypic sub-groups. This is an important precursor to developing and delivering effective treatments.
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Supervisors
Professor Scott Weich (s.weich@sheffield.ac.uk)
Professor Chris Burton (c.burton@sheffield.ac.uk)
Abstract and methodology
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), sometimes called Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), is a diagnosis that is sometimes given to people who experience the complex difficulties mentioned above. Because these can be so complicated, no two people with BPD have the exact same symptoms. That is one reason why we want to do this research. Sadly, around 10% of people who are diagnosed with BPD die by suicide, making it a life-threatening condition.
BPD is most common in people who have experienced traumatic events, especially at a young age. It is thought that trauma early in life affects brain development and especially the response to stress, and some people have suggested that complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is a more helpful diagnosis because it acknowledges people’s experiences of trauma.
We still don’t know enough about how to help people who experience these problems, or about whether this is best viewed as one or more conditions. Psychological treatments help but are hard to access and although over 90% of people diagnosed with BPD are prescribed psychiatric medications, there is no scientific evidence that these actually help but this might be because they are not being targeted at the right patients.
The aims of this project are two-fold:- To identify different theories about the aetiology of BPD and to search for evidence to support these.
- To identify and synthesis empirical evidence for differences and similarities between people who experience problems associated with BPD, to establish whether there are clear, distinct and temporally stable sub-types (phenotypes), as a precursor to developing appropriate treatment strategies.
The student will undertake two secondary research sub-studies based on different evidence synthesis methods. Aim (1) will be achieved using a systematic approach to evidence synthesis referred to as an evidence and gap map. This is a method for considering diverse sources of evidence (in this case for evidence supporting or refuting different theories about the nature and aetiology of BPD) and rating the quantity and quality of evidence. Aim (2) will be achieved by means of a systematic review, augmented by different approaches to data extraction and analysis including qualitative methods.
Type of project
Clinical project - based in the clinical environment with patients/including service evaluation
Additional training or teaching
The student will join a large research team as part of a £3.2m UKRI-funded programme (). This programme has been funded from 2024–2029 to inform better treatment and care for people who experience the complex emotional problems associated with Borderline Personality Disorder.
As part of this team, the student will have access to a wide range of methodological and supervisory expertise, including support with evidence synthesis, quantitative and qualitative research methods. The student will also have opportunities for related clinical experience, and to engage with people with lived experience of BPD.
Ethics requirements
Secondary data or tissue samples that was not originally collected for research: UREC or NHS REC approval required