Full-time PhD position in the EU Horizon 2020 project ‘RE-SAMPLE’ on effective disease management and personalised prediction and decision making for patients with COPD and complex chronic conditions.

Are you ready to work on state-of-the-art tailored eHealth interventions for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and multi-morbidity? In RE-SAMPLE, a European Horizon 2020 project, we aim to take a giant leap in the field of chronic disease management building upon and going beyond existing initiatives, towards evidence-based, inclusive, preventive care and targeted treatment. This enables to “treat a person, not the disease(s)”. Multi-morbidity is highly prevalent in patients with COPD. Timely and preventive care is essential, as exacerbations of COPD and complications are detrimental to patients. The RE-SAMPLE objectives are to:

• increase the understanding of COPD and multi-morbidity;
• identify individual multi-morbid exacerbations;
• establish evidence of effective interventions for chronic disease management;
• develop tailored referral to a multidisciplinary, adaptive eHealth programme for COPD patients with comorbidities.

RE-SAMPLE is a collaboration between multidisciplinary partners from the Netherlands (University of Twente, Medisch Spectrum Twente, Roessingh Research and Development) and other European countries (Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain).

We are seeking a PhD candidate for the full-time 4-year RE-SAMPLE project within Health Technology and Services Research (HTSR), TechMed Centre, the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS), University of Twente. The PhD candidate at HTSR focuses on effective disease management in patients with COPD and comorbid conditions by:

• Creating a clinical-scientific knowledge base of multimodal data from e.g. health records, clinical studies, expert knowledge, and state-of-the-art literature research;
• Identifying patient profiles for tailored interventions, and developing a shared-decision making methodology and treatment algorithms for actual implementation;
• Evaluating the feasibility and potential impact on clinical outcomes, user adherence, uptake and costs.

In addition, the PhD candidate supports the design of an observational cohort for real-world data collection and develops a personalised eHealth programme, and is an active member of the RE-SAMPLE consortium. The PhD candidate is expected to perform high quality and internationally visible research with publications in high rank peer-reviewed journals. The candidate will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Carine Doggen, Dr. Anke Lenferink and Dr. Marjolein Brusse-Keizer, HTSR at the University of Twente. The candidate will be appointed for a period of four years, at the end of which a PhD thesis needs to be delivered. During this period, the PhD candidate broadens her/his knowledge by joining European RE-SAMPLE consortium meetings and participates in (inter)national conferences and workshops.

We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic and curiosity-driven researcher:

• You have, or are about to receive, a master’s degree in Health Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Epidemiology, Health Technology Assessment, Data Science or a related field;
• You have a solid background in (medical) data analysis and prediction modelling;
• You have affinity with personalised medicine in the field of pulmonary diseases and health technology to improve disease management;
• You are an excellent team player in an enthusiastic and hardworking group of scientists, epidemiologists, engineers, physicians, working on a joint assignment;
• You are proactive, analytical, creative, and highly motivated to address major (clinical) scientific challenges in long-term pulmonary care;
• You are proficient in Dutch and English, and able to collaborate intensively with patients with complex chronic conditions, healthcare professionals as well as with industrial and academic parties in regular meetings and work visits;
• You are able to do independent research, and have excellent writing and publication skills.

Are you interested to join our RE-SAMPLE team at HTSR, University of Twente?

We offer a four-year fulltime PhD position, starting May 17, 2021;

• We provide excellent mentorship and a stimulating research environment with excellent facilities;
• You are offered a professional and personal development program within the Twente Graduate School;
• A starting salary of € 2.395 gross per month in the first year and a salary of € 3.061 in the fourth year gross per month;
• Excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%, minimum of 29 holidays per year in case of fulltime employment and a solid pension scheme;
• A training program in which you and your supervisor will make up a plan for additional suitable education and supervision;
• We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other university staff, as well as with other partners within the RE-SAMPLE consortium.

At Health Technology and Services Research (HTSR), expertise in clinical epidemiology, health technology assessment, behavioral research and data science is combined to support decisions on process and innovation development, evaluation and implementation, based on (clinical) effectiveness. HTSR research aims to evaluate the impact of new health technologies to optimise healthcare: the effects of innovations (including innovative technology and processes) on clinical and health outcomes, quality and safety of healthcare, delivery of health services and associated healthcare. HTSR is located in the Technical Medical Centre (TechMed centre), a leading Innovation Hub equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, ranging from research labs, preclinical testbeds and simulated hospital environments, aiming to improving healthcare by personalised technology.