PhD Studentship: Dementia prevention through large-scale policies: Using natural experiments to evaluate the role of retirement on cognitive ageing and dementia risk
Area Medicine
Location UK Other
Closing Date Friday 09 January 2026
Reference MED2041
Principal supervisors:
* Martin Orrell, School of Medicine, Professor – M.Orell@nottingham.ac.uk
* Magdalena Opazo B., School of Medicine, Senior Research Fellow – Magdalena.Opazo@nottingham.ac.uk
* Tricia McKeever, School of Medicine, Professor – Tricia.Mckeever@nottingham.ac.uk
Programme description Dementia is a growing global public health concern with substantial social and economic consequences. Although the number of people living with dementia continues to rise due to population ageing, evidence from high‑income countries such as the UK shows that age‑specific incidence has declined in recent decades. This suggests that prevention is possible and may partly reflect the influence of population‑level policies targeting health behaviours and social conditions. Retirement policies are among the most consequential and widespread social policies affecting older adults and can impact health, cognition, lifestyle, and social engagement. Studying its link to cognitive function and dementia risk provides a unique opportunity to understand how large‑scale social policies shape healthy ageing and to generate evidence to support population‑level prevention strategies.
Further information Applicants should have either a minimum 2.1 undergraduate degree in a relevant area (public health, epidemiology, economics, statistics, data science, or a related quantitative field), or a minimum 2.2 undergraduate degree with a Masters degree (or expected to gain a Masters within 6 months).
Application procedure To apply, candidates should send their CV and a short cover letter (under 1000 words) outlining why they are applying to be part of this PhD programme and what they believe they can offer to Magdalena.Opazo@nottingham.ac.uk. The email subject line should be: “[FULL NAME] PHD APPLICATION”. Candidates should also provide the contact details for two referees, one of whom should be their most recent academic supervisor (or line manager in relevant employment, if applicable). Offers of study will be subject to two satisfactory references being received.
Provisional Interview Date 22 January 2026
PhD Start Date 01 February 2026 (or as soon as possible thereafter)
Email details to a friend: Magdalena.Opazo@nottingham.ac.uk
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