SPHeRE PhD Programme

SPHeRE is Ireland’s national research training programme for population health, policy and health services research (PHPHSR) and is funded by the Health Research Board in Ireland. SPHeRE means ‘Structured Population health, Policy and Health-services Research Education’.

The SPHeRE concept captures our approach to the inter-relationship of research, translation and practice.

Our aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of groups or populations through high-quality research, and stakeholder engagement, addressing current and emerging issues in population health, health policy and health systems.

Our vision is to embed a culture of research in population health, health policy and health systems, grounded in principles of scientific inquiry and inclusion.

The programme is ‘structured’ because we want all our scholars to receive the same training, regardless of their previous experience. This is because improvements in population health and health service delivery can’t be achieved without co-operation across disciplines. SPHeRE connects scholars from diverse backgrounds and gives them a common language to work together.

We aim to develop the research leaders of tomorrow: a cadre of networked academics with a common training but diverse skills. We match excellent scholars with the best supervisors to carry out research of strategic importance to the Irish population. To do this we have developed a wide network of academics from disciplines such as biostatistics, economics, nursing, psychology, medicine, occupational therapy, sociology, speech and language therapy, management, geography and physiotherapy.

SPHeRE Scholars bring a diverse range of life experiences to each class and many have worked as clinicians, managers or policymakers in the Irish health system. Their research is conducted to the highest standards and has been widely published in prestigious international journals.