The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast (ARC NWC) has opened the first round of its Doctoral Research Programme. There are 76 funded PhD projects on offer across its research themes, each with a supervisory team already in place, and two of them are built squarely around dementia. Several more give plenty of room for a dementia focus.
Applications close at 1pm on 13 October 2026. This is applied research: every project is linked to an ARC NWC theme, has been developed with health, public health and social care partners, and is expected to involve the people and communities affected and to tackle health inequalities. Successful students will start no later than 1 February 2027.
Dementia projects
A digital platform to support the dementia workflow: reducing clinician burden through co-designed technologies (ARC ref 009)
Dementia services are under growing pressure while clinicians spend more and more time pulling information together from different systems before they can make decisions about assessment and care. Working with clinicians, patients and carers, this project will design and evaluate a digital system that brings that information into one place, and test whether it cuts administrative time, improves staff wellbeing and frees clinicians up to spend more time with patients.
- Supervisors: Dr Davide Bruno, Dr Lisa Knight and Dr Rhys Davies
- Host: Liverpool John Moores University (Workforce and Systems Resilience theme)
- Contact: d.bruno@ljmu.ac.uk
Identifying training needs in the health and social care workforce on rarer dementias and pilot testing a new training intervention (ARC ref 022)
People with rarer dementias, such as dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementias, often wait too long for a correct diagnosis and then struggle to get the right support afterwards, largely because the workforce knows too little about them. This PhD will map what health and social care staff across the UK know about rarer dementias and where the gaps are, then co-produce and pilot a training intervention to improve diagnosis and care. It combines a systematic review, a mixed-methods study with the workforce and a pilot, with two public contributors involved throughout. The student will be based in the Dementia Health and Social Care Inequalities Research Group at Liverpool.
- Supervisors: Dr Clarissa Giebel and Dr Eduard Shantsila
- Host: University of Liverpool (Social Care theme)
- Contact: Clarissa.Giebel@liverpool.ac.uk
Projects with a strong dementia angle
These projects are not dementia studies by title, but they deal with issues that sit at the heart of dementia care. Talk to the supervisors about whether a dementia focus would fit before you write your proposal.
Decision-Making Capacity Assessment: Professional Preparedness, Practice and Support (ARC ref 012) – Looks at how health and social care professionals are prepared and supported to assess whether a person can make a particular decision, and develops and tests a practical education or decision-support resource. Capacity assessment is a daily reality in dementia care, and the professional groups and settings are still to be refined with the student. Our blog on mental capacity and consent in dementia research is useful background. Supervisors: Dr Scott Lamont and Dr Kathryn Berzins, University of Lancashire. Contact: slamont@lancashire.ac.uk
Addressing job satisfaction and reducing staff turnover in the adult social care workforce (ARC ref 019) – A mixed-methods study of what drives job satisfaction, wellbeing and turnover among paid carers in domiciliary, day and residential care, a workforce that supports a large share of people living with dementia. Supervisors: Dr Clarissa Giebel and Dr Lisa Knight, University of Liverpool. Contact: Clarissa.Giebel@liverpool.ac.uk
The impacts of unpaid caring on education, employment and well-being in young adult carers (ARC ref 020) – Explores how caring affects 16 to 25 year olds at the point they are making decisions about education and work, and develops ways to help them join and stay in the workforce. The student will sit within the Dementia Health and Social Care Inequalities Research Group. Supervisors: Dr Clarissa Giebel and Professor Mark Gabbay, University of Liverpool. Contact: Clarissa.Giebel@liverpool.ac.uk
Supporting People with Advanced Illness to Live Well at Home: an evaluation of the Integrated Mersey Palliative Care Team (ARC ref 024) – An implementation science evaluation of how integrated palliative care across health, social care, hospice and community services works in practice, and how patients and carers experience it. Supervisors: Dr Stephen Mason, Dr Clare Greenbaum and Professor John Ellershaw, University of Liverpool. Contact: stephen.mason@liverpool.ac.uk
Revealing inequalities in care of people dying in hospitals (ARC ref 041) – Uses National Audit of Care at the End of Life data to test whether age, gender, ethnicity, language and place of death shape the quality of care people receive when dying in hospital. Supervisors: Professor John Ellershaw, Dr Stephen Mason and Dr Mary Miller, University of Liverpool. Contact: j.e.ellershaw@liverpool.ac.uk
Understanding the health effects of fraud across the population (ARC ref 067) – Looks at the health harms of fraud, which falls hardest on older adults, and how neighbourhood and service support can help people recover. Supervisors: Dr William Whittaker, Professor Paul Kingston and Dr Paul Taylor, University of Liverpool. Contact: william.whittaker@liverpool.ac.uk
The full list of 76 projects, with lay summaries and supervisory teams, is in the ARC NWC Doctoral Research Project Directory.
What the award covers
Awards are full time for up to three years, subject to satisfactory progress. They cover tuition fees at UK Home rates only, pay a tax-free stipend at the UKRI rate of £21,805 a year, and include a Research Training and Support Grant of up to £1,000 a year for approved research and training costs. Students are registered at and hosted by the university of their primary supervisor: Edge Hill University, Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Lancashire or the University of Liverpool.
Who can apply
Applicants need at least a 2:1 UK honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject, awarded by 1 January 2027, and must meet the entry requirements of their host university. EU applicants need IELTS 6.5 with no sub-score below 6.0, or an equivalent. Because fees are only covered at the Home rate, check your fee status before applying. NIHR particularly encourages applications from groups under-represented in the health and care research workforce.
How to apply
This part matters: applications from anyone who has not first spoken to the primary supervisor, or another member of the supervisory team, will not be shortlisted. Pick your project, get in touch early, and use that conversation to shape your proposal. Our blog on assessing and approaching a new lab covers how to make that first contact count.
Stage 1 is an application to ARC NWC, made on the Doctoral Award application form and sent to ARCNWC@Lancashire.ac.uk. It includes your preferred project and a research proposal of up to 1,000 words, which must show how you have applied the FOR Equity Toolkit. Supervisors can help with this. Shortlisted applicants are interviewed on fixed dates at the host university, and there is no flexibility on them:
- University of Lancashire: 16 and 17 November
- Liverpool John Moores University: 18 and 19 November
- University of Liverpool: 23 and 24 November
- Edge Hill University: 25 and 26 November
Successful applicants then move to Stage 2, the host university’s own registration and enrolment. For the proposal and interview, see our blogs on making your PhD application stand out and preparing for a PhD interview.
Read the full details and apply
Visit funding web page
(https://arc-nwc.nihr.ac.uk/opportunities/phd-opportunties/arc-nwc-doctoral-award-round-1-open/)
Emily Spencer
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