Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a threat to human health and modern medicine. Antibiotic use drives the development of resistance. Understanding how to safely reduce use is crucial in tackling AMR. This interdisciplinary research will develop and evaluate statistical prediction and machine learning models to improve prediction of antibiotic effectiveness for individual patients. This personalised medicine approach could lead to increasing the chances of choosing effective antibiotics, while also minimizing the risk of AMR.

This project will involve:
• Development of novel statistical/machine learning models for predicting antibiotic resistance
• Evaluation of the clinical impact of infections
• Evaluation of the health-economic impact of introducing a decision-support tool (based on the prediction models) into the NHS

This PhD offers a valuable opportunity to: work in both academic and policy environments (with supervisors at both the University of Oxford and Public Health England); learn a unique skill-set in an area of shortage (yet high demand); and use developed models to inform policy in a high priority area.

This is 4 year fully-funded PhD studentship funded jointly by the Medical Research Foundation National PhD Training Programme in AMR (led by the University of Bristol) and Public Health England.

Benefits of joining the Medical Research Foundation National PhD Training Programme in AMR Research:
• All PhD projects will be based within interdisciplinary research consortia funded by the UKRI Cross-Council AMR Initiative.
• All students will have access to enhanced training opportunities including residential skills and training courses, cohort-building activities, and annual conferences. All are designed to expose students to a range of discipline-specific languages and interdisciplinary research skills, which are essential for enabling them to thrive as multidisciplinary AMR researchers.
• PhD students will undertake a fully-funded 3-month interdisciplinary AMR project allowing them to work outside of their primary research area or an elective placement in industry, publishing, media, policy development or in AMR-relevant charities and organisations.
• All Medical Research Foundation-funded PhD students will also be part of a wider cohort of 150 PhD students from across the UK who are also studying AMR. The cohort will have access to a bespoke, innovative online learning environment, which will facilitate peer-to-peer networking, question setting and mentoring.

Potential applicants wishing for further information are encouraged to contact Dr David Eyre at david.eyre@bdi.ox.ac.uk and further information can be found at: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cellmolmed/study/postgraduate/amr/