[PHILOS-L] PhD Studentship at the University of Manchester
Joel Smith
A multidisplinary approach to understanding whether recent increases in mental health problems in young people are ‘real’
Details
Youth mental health is one of the defining public health challenges of our time. Multiple sources show worsening trends over recent decades and around one in five young people report symptoms indicating probable mental health disorder. Yet a fundamental question remains unresolved, with major implications for science, policy and practice: do these trends reflect genuine deterioration in underlying mental health, or are changes explained by changes in awareness, language, stigma and willingness to report symptoms as society and culture shift?
This PhD studentship offers an unusual opportunity to tackle that question directly, combining conceptual depth with rigorous quantitative analysis. The project is explicitly cross-disciplinary, bringing together philosophy, psychometrics and epidemiology to develop a defensible account of what would count as “real change” in mental health, and then to test competing explanations using large-scale UK population data.
Entry Requirements
Applicants should hold (or be about to obtain) a First class UK honours degree and ideally hold a master’s level qualification at merit or distinction, or international equivalent, in a relevant subject, such as psychology, epidemiology/public health, statistics/biostatistics, data science, psychometrics, or philosophy (especially philosophy of mind or philosophy of psychiatry). Applicants with a strong interest in Mental Health are encouraged to apply. Given the project’s interdisciplinary nature, candidates should be able to demonstrate strong analytical skills and an interest in working across disciplines. Prior experience in one or more of the following is desirable: analysis of large survey or cohort datasets (eg Understanding Society), psychometric methods, or conceptual/theoretical work relevant to mental health.
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