MS Research Scholarship

Please read on for a very exciting announcement from Dr Susan Coote, Physiotherapy Lecturer, Deaprtment of Clinical Therapies at the Univeristy of Limerick. 

"I'm delighted to announce that we have funding for three postgraduate studentships starting in January 2015 with the team at UL. There are two 4 year PhD scholarships, and one 2 year scholarship.

All three scholarships are funded by MS Ireland through The Ireland Funds. The scholarships consist of a stipend, fees and a small amount of project expenses, and will be administered on the same basis as the IRC scholarships. The students will be enrolled on the Structured PhD programme in the Education and Health Sciences Faculty.

The first PhD studentship is a continuation of the Activity Matters project. This project aims to create web resources for people with MS to become active. It is in collaboration with MS Ireland and the pages will be in the Living with MS section of their website. The project combines behaviour change, knowledge translation and evidence based practise. The student will be involved in reviewing the evidence, listening to the experience of participants, evaluating the website, and embedding the above three theories in the websites.

The second PhD studentship is in the area of falls prevention programmes for people with MS. The student will work on projects within the International MS Fall Prevention Research Network, of which Dr Susan Coote is a founding member. In the first instance outcome measures for use in the trial will be explored and the input of people with MS into the programme design will be sought. Subsequently the student will input into the design and evaluation of the programmes.

The 2 year studentship (initially MSc with possibility of transfer to PhD after 12 months) will investigate a smart phone app as a predictor of falls for people with MS. The student will be based in St Vincents Hospital on Mondays and Wdnesdays and in UL for the remainder of the time. Data collection includes the TUG, TUG-cognitive and various movement parameters captured by the smart phone."

How to apply

If you are interested please submit a cover letter (2 pages maximum) outlining why you are interested and what skills and knowledge you bring to the project.

Please email your CV and cover letter to susan.coote@ul.ie.

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