SocPhilSciPract · @SocPhilSciPract
28th Jan 2016 from TwitLonger
PhD Studentship, HPS, Cambridge
Subject: PhD Studentship -
"Bridging the gap between populations and individuals: philosophical
issues"
Please forward to any interested parties:
PhD Studentship – “Bridging the gap between populations and individuals:
philosophical issues”
Fully funded studentship 2016-20
The Department of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), University of
Cambridge, invites preliminary applications for one Postgraduate
Research
Studentship to support four years of doctoral research at the University
of
Cambridge to start in October 2016.
This doctoral studentship is for a candidate to work on a central issue
in
the philosophy of medicine: the relationship between population-level
epidemiological data and medical decisions about individual patients.
Candidates may consider these issues as they relate to metaphysics,
epistemology, general philosophy of science, moral philosophy, or
philosophy
of other scientific fields (for example, biology or economics).
Applicants
are invited to propose feasible projects, and to demonstrate their
qualification to undertake them. By way of guideline, suitable topics
might
include: the role and limits of mechanistic reasoning in moving from
populations to individuals; the relationship between population-level
measures of risk and individual decision-making; whether
population-level
factors can be treated as causes of individual-level phenomena;
analogies
and disanalogies between risk factor epidemiology and the concept of
fitness
in population biology; the relationship between the goals of public
health
policy and medical care, and how these affect explanatory and predictive
strategies; and the prospects of “personalised medicine”.
The successful candidates will be supervised by Dr Stephen John,
Professor
Tim Lewens or a new Lecturer in Philosophy of the Life Sciences (to
start in
October 2016) in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at
the
University of Cambridge. It is anticipated that the successful candidate
will become a member of Hughes Hall. Candidates must normally have
obtained
at least a first class honours degree (or equivalent) from a recognised
institution of higher education before 30 September 2016. Applicants
should
also normally have, or be studying for, a master’s degree or similar
postgraduate qualification in an area related to the history and
philosophy
of science. If the candidate does not have such experience of formal
graduate study, they must demonstrate evidence of sustained experience
beyond undergraduate degree level specifically relevant to the research
topic that could be considered equivalent to master’s study. The
studentship
pays fees at Home/EU rates, maintenance £12,750 in the first year with
increments in years two, three and four, and research expenses. Students
from outside the EU are welcome to apply, but will need to find extra
funding to cover the difference between EU and non-EU fees. Academic and
residency eligibility for a full studentship award are strictly subject
to
the conditions imposed by the University of Cambridge.
Application Procedure
Interested candidates should begin by contacting Stephen John
(sdj22@cam.ac.uk) or Tim Lewens (tml1000@cam.ac.uk) to discuss the
suitability of their intended project. They should then send a
preliminary
application to David Thompson (dt243@cam.ac.uk), to arrive by 15
February
2016. This should include the following:
A full CV, including details of academic training and results
A statement of proposed research, of not more than 1000 words
Two samples of recent work in a relevant field
Two letters of reference, to be sent directly to Mr Thompson
Shortlisted candidates will then be interviewed by Dr John and Professor
Lewens. The successful candidate will then be required to submit a
separate
formal application for admission to the University of Cambridge, stating
Hughes Hall as their first choice college. Further information can be
found
on http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/studying/graduate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tamara Hug
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge
Free School Lane
Cambridge CB2 3RH
Tel: 01223 334540/07799405394
www.hps.cam.ac.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~