Evaluating complex innovations in health and social care (RDF25/HLS/SWECW/DALKIN)

The InterDisciplinary Evaluation of complex innovations in heAlth and Social care (IDEAS) Team, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), evaluates complex innovations in the organisation and delivery of health and social care services. The IDEAS Team is based at Northumbria University, a research-intensive modern university, a former Times Higher Education University of the Year (2022) and current Times Higher Education Modern University of the Year (2025).

The IDEAS Team draws on and seeks to continually develop the updated MRC framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions, as presented by Skivington et al. (2021) and referred to in The Magenta and Green books (HM Treasury, 2011; 2018). This framework sets out an integrated approach to evaluation to guide substantive, in-depth evaluations of large-scale health and social care service innovations. This drive towards more comprehensive and integrated evaluation is met with the drive for integrated care in practice, as conceptualised in the three-tiered model recently adopted in national policy, guidance and system reform – ‘neighbourhood, place and system’ (Department of Health and Social, Care 2022). This conceptualisation should also be applied to understanding complex interventions and therefore shape how we undertake evaluations.

Complexity has many implications for evaluation, not least, requiring methodological approaches and designs that embrace and account for complexity. This has been referred to as the ‘complexity turn’ (Urry, 2005), conceptualised as a growing recognition of the importance of 1) systems level effects in understanding health problems 2) interventions as interruptions in systems (Paparini et al., 2020) and 3) context and mechanism as explanatory causal processes impacting outcomes in complex systems (Wong et al., 2018).

Within this complexity turn, evaluations must consider tensions between generalisability and transferability. In order to develop transferable lessions, we first need to understand how interventions work at a neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods have specific contexts surrounding them, which impact on what is delivered, how it works, for who, and the outcomes achieved. These can then be considered at place levels, to understand whether interventions should be scaled up and the best ways to do this. The system strategy can then be considered, with research at the neighbourhood and place levels allowing the distillation of key contexts for consideration at system-level roll out. This way of working, from the micro- to the macro-level, allows for the development of findings that have transferability, i.e., an understanding of the extent to which an intervention’s effectiveness could be achieved in another population and/or setting. This is opposed to generalisability, which can be criticised for assuming a ‘one size fits all’, without sensitivity to variation (de Leeuw, 2022).

This PhD studentship is a unique opportunity to contribute to methodological innovation in cutting edge, system-level evaluations of health and social care services, while being embedded within the IDEAS Team. Specifically, we are seeking applications for projects that will use innovative, mixed methods approaches, such as Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to evaluate health and social care provision. QCA uses mathematical approaches from quantitative research with inductive and comparative case-based techniques from qualitative research. It’is theory based and describes relationships and outcomes in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. The PhD will have a specific focus on equality, diversity and inclusivity.

Academic Enquiries

This project is supervised by Prof Sonia Dalkin. For informal academic queries, contact [email protected] . For enquiries relating to eligibility or application process, email [email protected]

Eligibility Requirements:

•       Academic excellence i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities with preference for 1st class honours); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.

•       Appropriate IELTS score, if required.

•       Applicants cannot apply if they are already a PhD holder or if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.

•       Must be able to commit to campus-based full-time or part-time study.

To be classed as a Home student, candidates must:

•       Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or

•       have settled status, or

•       have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or

•       have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student. 

Applicants will need to be fully enrolled in the UK before stipend payments can commence, and be aware of additional costs that may be incurred, as these are not covered by the studentship, such as the immigration health surcharge, visa costs and English Language requirements. More detail can be found under the Funding Notes about these costs on our RDF webpage.

International applicants (including EU) must have valid immigration permissions to live and study in UK if they wish to study on a part-time basis. Northumbria University does not sponsor part-time student visas.

Apply now at https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/  (Select Full-Time PhD or Part-Time PhD depending on your preference)

In your application, include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words and also the advert reference (e.g. RDF25/…).

Application Deadline: 24 January 2025

Start date of course: 1 October 2025

Northumbria University is committed to creating an inclusive culture where we take pride in, and value, the diversity of our postgraduate research students. We encourage and welcome applications from all members of the community. The University holds a bronze Athena Swan award in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality, we are a Disability Confident Leader, a member of the Race Equality Charter and are participating in the Stonewall Diversity Champion Programme. We also hold the HR Excellence in Research award for implementing the concordat supporting the career Development of Researchers and are members of the Euraxess initiative to deliver information and support to professional researchers.