Closing date: 17/11/2025
Non-Clinical Studentship Project: Exploring women’s decision-making about surgery or active surveillance for the management of low-risk ductal carcinoma in-situ
Lead Supervisors: Dr Stuart Wright
Co-Supervisors: Prof. Cliona Kirwan, Dr Lorna McWilliams, Prof. Katherine Payne
Applications Deadline: 12:00pm Monday 17th November 2025
Interviews: Week commencing 12th January 2026
Start date: September 2026
Project Keywords: Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ, Surveillance, Preferences
Research Opportunity: Non-Clinical Studentship leading to the award of PhD
Project Outline
Mammographic breast screening has resulted in a dramatic increase in the diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a largely asymptomatic pre-cancerous condition. Standard treatment is complete surgical excision (possibly mastectomy), often followed by radiotherapy and/or endocrine therapy. However, data suggests that less than half of DCIS will progress to invasive breast cancer, with potentially only 10% of low-grade DCIS becoming invasive. Concerns regarding overtreatment, have resulted in several international clinical trials investigating the safety and acceptability of active surveillance as an alternative to surgery.
These ‘no treatment’ trials can be challenging to recruit to. The recent UK Low Risk DCIS Trial of surgery compared to active surveillance failed to recruit sufficient women for statistical analysis.
In the absence of data on the potential clinical outcomes of active surveillance for DCIS, this PhD will seek to address the choice of surgery or active surveillance from a different perspective: under what circumstances would women choose active surveillance compared to surgery?
This project will use qualitative research methods, systematic reviews, and a discrete choice experiment survey to explore which attributes of DCIS management would drive patient choice. The student will first conduct qualitative interviews to explore which factors influence women’s choice of DCIS management. They will then design a Discrete Choice Experiment survey in a sample of women previously treated for DCIS recruited from NHS breast clinics (n=~100) and members of the public (n=2000). They will analyse the data to provide evidence as to under which circumstances women would choose surgery or active surveillance and how this may differ in different groups. Finally, they will explore how the predictions of models estimated in this survey compare to the actual choices that women made in the ongoing Dutch LORD patient-choice trial.
Applications for this project are now open. Please complete your application on The University of Manchester website.
About Dr Stuart Wright (project Lead Supervisor)
Dr Stuart Wright is a Research Fellow at the Manchester Centre for Health Economics. His main research interest relates to how to incorporate and quantify the impact of imperfect implementation, uptake, and wider service delivery issues (such as information provision) of interventions into economic evaluations. Dr Wright is particularly interested in implementation issues in cancer early detection, precision medicine and genomics.
Key information
Before submitting an application, please ensure you have read the information below about the funding arrangements and eligibility for Non-Clinical Studentships.
We also encourage you to get in contact with the lead supervisor to discuss the project and any particulars.
Further information is available on the Non-Clinical PhD Studentships webpage.
Our Non-Clinical PhD Studentships are usually funded for four years, with funding covering:
- Project running costs
- University tuition fees university tuition fees (at the UK rate, with some scholarships available for high-performing EU/International candidates)
- An annual stipend of £22,113 help with living costs
Studentships are highly competitive and so we encourage you to contact any supervisors who you are interested in working with before applying for our Non- Clinical PhD Studentships.
International Candidates
The University of Manchester aims to support the most outstanding applicants from outside the UK.
We are able to offer a limited number of bursaries to high-performing EU and international candidates, covering PhD fees only. Bursaries do not include financial support for visa/health surcharges.
We assess each EU and international candidate’s suitability for a bursary at the application and interview stages.
You must hold, or be about to achieve, a First or Upper Second-class honours degree in a relevant subject. A related Master’s degree is also an advantage.
International applicants (including EU nationals) must ensure they meet the academic eligibility criteria (including English Language) before contacting potential supervisors to express an interest in their project. Eligibility information can be found on the University’s Country Specific information page.
Applications for this programme are now open. Please submit your application on The University of Manchester application portal.
Key dates
- Applications open: Monday 6th October 2025
- Application deadline: 12:00pm Monday 17th November 2025
- Interviews: Week commencing 12th January 2026
- Start date: September 2026
Useful Links
Submit your application
Interested in applying for this opportunity? Submit your application on The University of Manchester application portal.
Non-Clinical PhD Studentships
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