PhD title: The health, economic and educational impacts of respiratory pandemics in the UK

Start date: October 2026 (an earlier start date can be considered at interview)

Supervisory team:

• Imperial: Katharina Hauck (primary supervisor)
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM): John Edmunds
• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA): Michael Borowitz

PhD project description
The world needs to get better prepared to respond to emerging respiratory threats and prevent a catastrophic pandemic from occurring again. The objective of this PhD is to provide evidence to UK decision-makers on the returns to investing into pandemic preparedness and help them navigate the complex and varied trade-offs of epidemics when implementing mitigation.

To achieve this, the PhD candidate will develop modelling tools to (i) project the health, economic and educational gains of investments into pandemic preparedness, and (ii) project the losses to population health, economic welfare and social fabric under hypothetical UK-based pandemic scenarios.

The candidate will utilise existing integrated economic-epidemiological models that are being developed at ICL, UKHSA and LSHTM (e.g., DAEDALUS model) to build a UK version of an integrated model that can be used for real-time modelling to support policymakers in emergency outbreak response. A particular focus will be to build in fiscal impacts considering alternative fiscal relief interventions, e.g., government transfers like furlough payments, and subsidies to businesses. The exact scope of the PhD can be further refined with the candidate.

This PhD is embedded in a research programme that integrates epidemiological, economic, and social disciplines by drawing upon advanced methods of data science and analytics including modelling of infectious transmission dynamics, micro- and macro-economic analyses, econometrics, behavioural science, and health economics.

The PhD programme:
The PhD studentship advertised is one of 11 offered by the NIHR funded Health Analytics and Modelling Health Protection Research Unit (HAM-HPRU), a partnership between Imperial, LSHTM, and the UKHSA, creating an unparalleled environment for PhD candidates to thrive while being supervised by infectious disease analytics and modelling experts. The candidate will work closely with other HPRUs and within the HAM-HPRU to integrate the latest epidemiological research findings and automate data streams.

The candidate will be based at Imperial, with the possibility of placements at UKHSA. Katharina Hauck will act as lead supervisor; however the candidate will be mentored by their full supervisory team.

Application information:
The following eligibility criteria apply:

• Applicants must be eligible for home fees
• Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain before the PhD, a relevant Master’s degree awarded with good grades. Relevant degrees should demonstrate an aptitude for mathematics, such as pure maths, economics, epidemiology or another quantitative subject. Applicants with a combination of qualifications and experience demonstrating equivalent ability and attainment will also be considered.
• The position is based at Imperial’s White City Campus, with on-site presence expected in line with hybrid-working policies.

Application next steps:

• Please complete the online application form by 18 January 2026
• For queries contact, Project Manager Ellie Farrow: e.farrow@imperial.ac.uk
• Interviews are expected to take place in February 2026.