Seeking a PhD candidate for the Active-Prem group
The Active-Prem group at the University of Melbourne’s School of Health Sciences is seeking a PhD candidate to join their team on a project investigating exercise participation in early childhood for children born very preterm.
About the project
Active-Prem is a research project that aims to support preschool age children who were born very preterm to participate in physical activity in their local community.
Research shows that preschool-aged children born very preterm participate in less physical activity than children born at term. Supporting children to be physically active during the preschool years is important. Not only does physical activity have physical and mental health benefits, it provides opportunities for children to build their social and motor skills, try new things, and have fun! Active-Prem has two phases.
Phase 1 aims:
- To co-design the Active-Prem coach program; an online program to upskill coaches so that they can better include children born preterm in their classes.
- To co-design the Active-Prem parent program; an online program to support parents to help their child get involved in community-based physical activity.
Both programs will be co-designed by teams that include parents of children born very preterm, healthcare professionals and coaches.
Phase 2 aims:
- To determine the effectiveness of Active-Prem compared with a control intervention.
- To determine the cost-effectiveness of Active-Prem compared with the control intervention measured using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.
- To determine the implementability of Active-Prem including measures of acceptability, feasibility and fidelity from the perspectives of participating children, their parents, and coaches.
The PhD project will sit within phase 2 of the project. The PhD candidate will have the flexibility to focus on a question of their interest within the topic of physical activity in the context of this project.
About the Active-Prem team
The Active-Prem team is a multidisciplinary research group, with expertise in the long-term follow-up of children born preterm. Our team also includes parents and young people with lived experience of preterm birth, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, neonatologists, implementation scientists, and researchers who specialise in health economics and biostatistics. Professor Alicia Spittle is the chief investigator of this project and she will work closely with the Active-Prem steering committee to oversee the project.
The Active-Prem group offers:
- Supervision from experienced researchers
- A multidisciplinary team environment
- Research training and support opportunities through the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
- PhD and early career researcher peer support
- A PhD stipend for 3.5 years (equivalent to UoM RTP https://scholarships.unimelb.edu.au/awards/research-training-program-scholarship)
We welcome expressions of interest from prospective students with degrees in behavioral sciences, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, sports and exercise science, exercise physiology, respiratory medicine and other relevant clinical or scientific backgrounds.
The potential candidate will need to enroll through the Department of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne and meet the Universities entry requirements for a PhD.
The chief investigator for this study is Prof Alicia Spittle.
If you have any questions about this project or would like to express your interest in this PhD opportunity, please contact
Dr Kate Cameron (project coordinator): k.cameron@unimelb.edu.au
