PhD studentship in biostatistics: investigating operating characteristics for rare disease clinical trials https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/fees-funding/search-funding/?code=TC122 Award Summary This is a 4-year studentship. Stipend of £18,873 (stipend may be uplifted subject to confirmation) and home fees are covered. Overview With typically much smaller populations of eligible participants, clinical trials in rare diseases often cannot achieve the standard 80% or 90% power requirements, alongside a 5% type I error rate, in the final analysis. There is widespread acceptance that this does not mean such trials should not take place. This implies the usual operating characteristics are not appropriate. However, there is no agreement on which alternative characteristics are suitable. The aims of this project are to 1. Review operating characteristics proposed for rare disease trials 2. Develop novel Bayesian operating characteristics for different types of rare disease trials 3. Apply the operating characteristics developed, alongside others in the literature, to case study rare disease trials at Newcastle 4. Make recommendations for standard operating characteristics for rare disease clinical trials A key outcome will be recommendations on generally applicable operating characteristics for clinical trials in rare diseases, enabling researchers and funders to understand when trials are feasible with sufficient statistical justification to proceed, given the available population and resources. The recommendations will also provide a tailored framework for sample size calculations specific to rare disease trials. This PhD studentship is part of LifeArc ARDT, a UK-wide £12m partnership between Newcastle, Birmingham, and Belfast to accelerate rare disease trials. Students will receive training, conduct translational research, and collaborate across institutions. More: https://rarediseasetrials.org.uk/ Start Date September 2025 Award Duration 4 years Application Closing Date 10/08/2025 Sponsor This PhD project is funded and sponsored by LifeArc<https://www.lifearc.org/> under grant no. 10747. LifeArc is a registered charity in England and Wales (1015243) and Scotland (SC037861). Supervisors Professor Kevin Wilson (kevin.wilson@newcastle.ac.uk), School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics Dr Holly Fisher (holly.fisher@newcastle.ac.uk), Population Health Sciences Institute We encourage applicants to contact supervisors before submitting their application. Eligibility Criteria * You must have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent, in Statistics, Mathematics or a related subject with a strong statistical component * A relevant Master’s degree is advantageous. * Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in all sub-skills. * Successful international candidates will be required to fund the difference between home and international fees. Contact Details Professor Kevin Wilson (kevin.wilson@newcastle.ac.uk<mailto:kevin.wilson@newcastle.ac.uk>), Dr Holly Fisher (holly.fisher@newcastle.ac.uk<mailto:holly.fisher@newcastle.ac.uk>).
