Occupational therapy PhD

As an occupational therapy PhD student you will be able to develop your expertise in an area of clinical or professional practice and advance your knowledge, understanding and application of research methodologies.

The diversity of PhDs in occupational therapy is as broad as the profession itself. You may wish to focus on an aspect of clinical practice such as physical/mental health, learning disabilities, older people, paediatrics, diverse practice, social care. Alternatively you may wish to explore a leadership/management/educational or professional issues or policy/theory development. As such, occupational therapy research is open to a wide variety of research questions and designs, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed method approaches.

The occupational therapy staff work collaboratively with doctoral students to create a community of learning which fosters the development of occupational therapy research and practice. Examples of staff areas of interest and expertise include; older people, occupational science, understanding the lifeworld of individuals experiencing the need for occupational therapy, the use of creative activities, pedagogic approaches, impact of technology, occupational therapy in diverse settings, resilience, learning disabilities, paediatrics.

Staff are also able to offer support through their expertise in various research methodologies, including case study, ethnography, phenomenology, IPA, narrative, mixed methods.

The University of Brighton offers interdisciplinary study across a range of allied health and health care practice areas. Programmes are focused on practical wisdom with research students playing an important role in exploring, developing and improving professional practice. There are opportunities to engage with a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives.

Graduates with a PhD in occupational therapy from the University of Brighton proceed to employment in various organisations including NIHR, NHS, university lecturer posts and consultancy, as well as further research.

Apply to 'health SCIENCES' in the applicant portal

Key information

As an occupational therapy PhD student at Brighton, you will benefit from:

a team of two or sometimes three supervisors (from both within and outside occupational therapy) and a range of developmental opportunities to help challenge and broaden their academic and professional thinking. desk space and access to a desktop PC.
access to a range of electronic resources via the university’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Aldrich Library and other campus libraries.

Academic environment

PhD students are provided with supervisors (from both within and outside occupational therapy) and offered a range of developmental opportunities to help challenge and broaden their academic and professional thinking. They will have the opportunity to network with other doctoral students and staff across the university to share ideas and expertise. They will be supported with conference presentation preparation, with research planning and publication activities as well as grant applications. The School of Sport and Health Sciences has established links with clinicians and other academics at the University of Brighton and also invites doctoral students to attend doctoral discussion areas.

The profile of the area includes midwives, nurses, physiotherapists, podiatrists, occupational therapists, sports scientists and osteopaths. We also collaborate with staff from other parts of the university, eg. Brighton and Sussex Medical School and with departments in other universities together with clinicians and managers locally. Students are encouraged to meet for informal discussions and supportive activities and on an annual basis for research conference/celebrations. We value all personal input from researchers and those interested in becoming researchers, and those who are interested to find out more about research and share ideas and knowledge.

We welcome research related to any aspect of occupational therapy or occupational science. Staff have particular expertise and interest in:

Transition from adolescence to adulthood for those living with cerebral palsy
Occupational therapy in diverse settings
The impact that technology has on the therapeutic environment within areas related to occupational therapy.
The practice of embroidering in relation to health and well-being
Occupational therapy with people with intellectual disabilities (learning disabilities), in particular those with complex needs/ profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.
Supporting and enabling people with intellectual disabilities to engage in occupations and promoting occupational justice, in particular through improving the quality of support provided.
Ethical means of involving those who may not have capacity as research participants in order that their needs may be researched and their support improved.
Lived experiences of older lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people: issues of human occupation, exclusion, isolation and health and social care.
Human occupation and older people
Patients who have Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) and their health care workers
The psychosocial issues of physical illness and trauma
HIV the self and human occupation
Students with disabilities/dyslexia: practice placements and learning in higher education
Occupational therapy practitioner research and practice innovation
Diabetes the self and human occupation
Having a disability and engaging in human occupation in public arenas
Flow and occupational science
Resilience
Effectiveness of pedagogic approaches in occupational therapy education.

Supervisory interests

Dr Paul Boyle

Paul values public involvement in research and is interested to support rights-based research in: living with disability; user experiences of health, social care and education services; adolescent development and working with the family; disability, human rights and rehabilitation; understanding physical disability and mental health. He supervises Masters and doctoral students undertaking qualitative research and is particularly keen to support phenomenological research.

Dr Channine Clarke

Channine is an experienced research supervisor at both Masters and Doctoral level. She has a particular interest in pedagogic research, including problem-based learning and practice education. She is known internationally for her research and publications on role-emerging placements and diverse practice and is interested in further research in these areas.

As an occupational therapist, Channine is also interested in understanding the influence of occupations on health and well-being.

Channine is a qualitative researcher, with expertise in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Dr David Haines

David’s PhD supervisory interests include occupational therapy and occupational science, particularly (though not exclusively) in relation to people with intellectual (learning) disabilities. He is also interested in research related to ensuring high quality support and care of people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities and others with complex and high support needs.

His primary expertise is in qualitative research with particular interests in action research and case study and ethnographic methodologies. If relevant to his research interests and expertise, he would be very interested in supporting those wishing to undertake a PhD at Brighton with development of their research proposal.

David is exploring the potential of a PhD Studentship to take forward the evaluation of the clinical reasoning tool currently being developed (see Research Interests above).

David is currently supervising the following PhD students:

Esther Dark: More than calories? Exploring the meaning of food and eating for individuals with lived experience of anorexia.

Elspeth Clark: Belonging and people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

Denise Harris: Supervision practices in an English NHS organisation: Complexity and Paradox

He is also supporting Audrey Yong's PhD by publication related to home environment design for people with autism and intellectual disabilities.

Tara Sims

Tara is interested in supporting PhD studies which involve children and young people in reviewing or developing the healthcare services they receive and healthcare technologies they use. She has experience carrying out research with young people with limb difference, spinal cord injury and autism. She is particularly interested in participatory and emancipatory research.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Making an application

Once you have prepared a first-rate application you can apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We strongly recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2024–25

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
	Full-time	Part-time
UK	£4,786	£2,393
International (including EU)	£15,900	N/A
International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law	£14,500	N/A

PhD by Publication
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,393

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.