Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Chronic Disease Prevention (CDP-CDP)

According to the WHO, chronic disease prevention is one of the major health challenges of the 21st century. Prevention programmes are urgently needed to reduce burden on patients and health services.

In Ireland, there is a national deficit in skills, leadership and capacity in the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based prevention. This Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Chronic Disease Prevention (CDPCDP) addresses this deficit. A transdisciplinary consortium, including clinical therapies, health psychology, nursing, medicine and implementation science, will deliver the CDP-CDP. The consortium includes national leaders and internationally recognised experts in diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease prevention; these are the leading chronic diseases in Ireland.and share the same behavioural risk-factors.

The CDP-CDP is a structured doctoral programme combining elements of the HRB doctoral training Programme in Population Health and Health Services Research (SPHeRE) with tailored CDP-CDP specific components, including:

  1. Induction Event.
  2. Annual two-day Expert-led Summer Schools, delivering training in specialist preventionrelevant knowledge and competencies, and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI).
  3. Three annual trainee-led cohort meetings, facilitating peer-learning and collaboration.
  4. End-of-programme Knowledge Translation Event, to develop implementation strategies and disseminate research findings.

Five high-calibre multi-disciplinary trainees will lead projects, developed in collaboration with national stakeholders, in patient-focused research in chronic disease prevention across the lifespan, including:

  1. Implementation and scale-up of diabetes prevention.
  2. Optimising digital cardiac rehabilitation using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy.
  3. Development of a diabetes prevention program for women with previous gestational diabetes.
  4. Enhancing the role of Clinical Nurse Specialists to prevent stroke.
  5. Testing feasibility of a structured peer-support adjunct to Irish cardiovascular prevention.

Projects will be underpinned by a PPI strategy to enhance relevance, quality and impact. Graduates of the programme will be future national and international leaders in evidence-based chronic disease prevention research, research implementation, and policy development.

Award Date
11 November 2019
Award Value
€1,499,420.13
Principal Investigator
Professor Molly Byrne
Host Institution
National University of Ireland, Galway
Scheme
Collaborative Doctoral Awards