Reference Number: PhD Project 04/2026
Director of Studies: Dr James Njunge - KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research program (KWTRP; Kenya)
Names of co-supervisors: Prof. Jay Berkley - KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research program (KWTRP; Kenya) / University of Oxford and Dr. George Praygod - National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR; Tanzania)
Country: Kenya
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children affects >13 million worldwide and is associated with increased risk of mortality through infectious diseases, and has a detrimental impact on cognitive development and morbidity. To effectively target SAM, WHO recommends community-based management of children with SAM with no medical complications, while children with medical complications receive inpatient care. Community management helps prevent hospital-acquired infections, is associated with lower costs of care, and enables caregivers to maintain their income and look after other children at home. However, the community care model has proven challenging to implement in real-life settings. Currently, there is a lack of understanding of why too many children with SAM do not access care, why many are treated late, and why many fail to recover when treatment is provided. Further, relapse to malnutrition after recovery is common. Consequently, there are no evidence-based guidelines for the management of these children.
The PhD will be nested within the RECOVER study, which aims to understand how to increase the uptake and success rate of community-based management of children with SAM. RECOVER links the DFC-supported BrightSAM study, which is currently being implemented by partners at Rigshospitalet (Denmark) and the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Mwanza, Tanzania and the Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network based at KWTRP. BrightSAM is testing the effects of modified nutritional and psychosocial interventions for SAM on child development, while CHAIN focuses on understanding modifiable biological and social risk factors for mortality and poor growth among children with medical complications. RECOVER has four aims: (i) understanding the barriers to uptake of community-based SAM care; (ii) characterising the health systems, community, household, and biological risk factors of unsuccessful SAM treatment; (iii) developing recommendations for improved community-based SAM care, and (iv) strengthening research capacity by training PhD students and early career researchers. The PhD student will develop a project to characterise the clinical and biological risk factors for unsuccessful treatment of severe malnutrition, focusing on infections, immune function, and growth.
Key skills and competencies
The project would suit a highly motivated candidate with a strong interest in child health, malnutrition, infection, immunology, biomarkers, epidemiology and quantitative data analysis. The student will work with complex clinical, anthropometric and biological datasets from children treated for severe malnutrition, including data from Kenya and Tanzania. The role requires someone who is willing to develop strong analytical skills while engaging with biological and clinical questions relevant to child survival and recovery.
Essential training and background
The candidate should have a strong academic background in one or more of the following areas:
- Epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, global health or clinical research.
- Nutrition, paediatrics, infectious diseases, immunology or biomedical sciences.
- Data science, bioinformatics, medical statistics or a related quantitative discipline.
- Laboratory or biomarker-based research, particularly in inflammation, immune function, growth biology or enteric dysfunction.
A master’s degree or equivalent research experience in a relevant discipline would be desirable, particularly if it included quantitative analysis, clinical data, cohort studies or biomarker research.
The student should be able to demonstrate:
- Strong interest in severe childhood malnutrition, infection, immune function and growth recovery, with an ability to interpret biological findings in relation to clinical outcomes.
- Good understanding of epidemiological and clinical research principles, including working with longitudinal clinical, anthropometric and laboratory datasets.
- Basic to intermediate quantitative skills, including data management, regression modelling, interpretation of associations, and use of statistical software, preferably R.
- Commitment to reproducible research, including careful data cleaning, variable harmonisation, documentation and transparent analytical workflows.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work independently and collaboratively with supervisors, statisticians, clinicians, laboratory scientists and field teams.
- Commitment to high-quality, ethical research involving child health data.
Desirable analytical experience. Experience in any of the following would be an advantage:
- Longitudinal data analysis, including linear, logistic and mixed-effects regression models.
- Growth and anthropometric analysis, including z-scores, MUAC, oedema status, weight gain and treatment-response indicators.
- Dimension reduction and pathway modelling approaches, including principal component analysis, structural equation modelling or causal pathway analysis.
- Growth trajectory modelling, including GAMLSS or related approaches for short- and long-term weight-gain patterns.
- Analysis of biomarker, inflammatory, immunological or omics-type datasets.
- Working with multisite or multicountry cohort datasets.
- Development of clinical prediction tools, risk stratification approaches or decision-support thresholds.
The student does not need to be an expert in all these methods at recruitment, but should show strong potential and motivation to develop them during the PhD.
SCOPE OF SUPPORT
This is a three-year PhD studentship based at KWTRP. The selected candidate will be supported in applying to and registering for a PhD at Pwani University. The candidate will be supervised by Dr. James Njunge - KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research program (KWTRP; Kenya), Prof. Jay Berkley - KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research program (KWTRP; Kenya) / University of Oxford, and Dr. George Praygod - National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR; Tanzania). The selected candidate will receive a stipend, medical insurance, and financial support to cover tuition, academic-related fees, travel expenses, and research expenses.
METHOD OF APPLICATION
Interested applicants are required to submit the following.
- One-page application letter.
- An updated curriculum vitae with a contact email address and telephone number.
- A copy of the highest degree and a certified copy of an academic transcript.
- One-page personal statement stating the preferred area of research, reasons for selecting the area, and future career ambitions.
- A letter of support from an academic referee stating the potential of the candidate to succeed in a research career.
SELECTION PROCESS
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview, either in person or via videoconference. The successful candidate in the interview will be offered PhD training support.
NOTE: ONLY ONLINE APPLICATIONS will be accepted.
STARTING DATE: May 2026.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 18, 2026
NOTE: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted