| Project Supervisor | Gaby Judah and Anam Ayaz-Shah (please email both) |
| Institution & Department | Imperial College London – Institute of Global Health and Innovation, Department of Surgery and Cancer |
| Research Area | RA1: Global Health Innovation |
| Project Start Date | End of June/ early July 2026 – flexible start date offered. |
| Project Duration | 3 months |
| Application Deadline | 4th June 2026 |
| Working Pattern | Either full-time or part-time. Please discuss and agree on Working Patterns with the Project Supervisor. |
| Working Arrangements | Hybrid |
| The role will involve 2–3 days per week on-site at St Mary’s Campus, with the remainder undertaken remotely. | |
| How to Apply | View Guidance Here |
Project Description
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Context:
This project will be supporting part of the work on a 3.5 year grant, funded by the NIHR Public Health Research scheme titled ‘A community champion-led breast cancer screening intervention for underserved groups’. This study is being conducted in partnership with Hounslow Local authority.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK. Breast screening detects cancer at earlier stages when survival outcomes are better. Despite the benefits of breast screening, uptake in London remains below national targets, with marked inequalities by ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation. The broader study will assess the impact of a scalable, community champion–led behavioural intervention for improving breast screening uptake overall, and within underserved communities. This internship will focus on evaluating community champion’s engagement with the public. It will also assess public exposure to the broader intervention components and seek to understand their influence on intentions to attend breast screening through a mixed-methods approach.
The study is taking place in the London Borough of Hounslow, given high ethnic diversity, deprivation, and low breast screening uptake. The intervention includes co-designed resources, translated into ten languages: animated videos, leaflets, wallet cards, posters and bus stop adverts. Resources are being disseminated through 52 trained community champions, council advertising, and dissemination through local authority outreach.
Aims:
The primary aim of the broader study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a six-month, behavioural science-informed, co-produced intervention delivered through trusted community champions in increasing breast cancer screening uptake, both across the borough as a whole and within underserved subgroups.
This internship will likely support the analysis of the screening site and champion evaluation surveys. Therefore, the specific aims of this work are to;
(1) examine the extent of exposure to the intervention and analyse which parts of the intervention had greatest reach.
(2) examine how community champions disseminate intervention materials and patterns of sharing across the intervention period.
Anticipated contribution:
The broader study will assess whether the intervention is effective, but also generate insight into the mechanisms through which community-based, culturally responsive approaches may influence engagement with preventive health services .
The anticipated contributions of the project are that (1) it will generate novel UK-based evidence on whether a community champion model can reduce inequalities in breast cancer screening uptake in a diverse urban population (2) will contribute to behavioural and implementation sciences by improving our understanding of how cultural tailoring and community delivery may influence preventive health behaviours and (3) it may provide evidence for a scalable model for improving equitable uptake of screening and other public health interventions. This study will also serve as an exemplar of the effectiveness of recruiting participants and evaluating health interventions in partnership with local authorities.
The work undertaken during the internship will contribute to understanding how community champion engagement was operationalised in practice, and the extent to which this influenced public exposure to the intervention. This represents a key strand of work contributing to the interpretation of the wider project outcomes.
Internship Details
The internship will be based within the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) which brings together researchers, clinicians and policymakers to develop, evaluate and translate innovations that improve health systems and patient care. IGHI includes interdisciplinary centres such as the Centre for Health Policy and NIHR patient safety research collaboration, reflecting its focus on applied research.
Activities and responsibilities:
- Opportunity to participate in developmental activities within the Behavioural Research in Health Group (BRIHG), including presenting findings at group meetings and networking with the wider behavioural health research community at Imperial.
- Analysis of the champion evaluation surveys and production of a detailed report of champion activities
- Support with some data collection of screening site surveys
- Analysis of screening site surveys
- May also support with data collection and analysis of focus groups of community champions, to get a broader context of the work reported in the surveys.
- Subject to capacity and interest, the intern will be supported to engage in day-to-day project activities to gain insight into the operational management of a large research grant.
The intern will be based at the St Mary’s Campus and will join the Behavioural Research in Health Group (BRIHG), led by Dr Gaby Judah. They will work alongside behavioural scientists and researchers working in behavioural oncology and public health intervention research.
The internship will follow a hybrid working model, with the intern expected to work approximately 2–3 days per week on campus and the remainder remotely. The role will involve both independent and collaborative working. The intern will take ownership of defined tasks with appropriate supervision, while also contributing to wider project activities with the postdoctoral researcher, Hounslow Local Authority and public partners. This will provide experience of working within a multidisciplinary academic environment and engaging with external stakeholders involved in the delivery and evaluation of a community-based intervention.
Outputs:
- Potential co-authorship on publications arising from the community champion evaluation survey/focus groups, and/or screening site survey report.
- Written report summarising the analysis and key findings from the community champion evaluation survey.
- Written report summarising the analysis and key findings from the screening site survey.
- With appropriate support, contribution to the analysis and interpretation of qualitative data from community champion focus groups.
Anticipated Benefits for the Student
Through this internship, the student will develop the following doctoral-level research and transferable skills:
- Data collection in NHS settings
- Quantitative survey data analysis
- Qualitative data collection and analysis
- Report writing in plain English, for a local authority/charity target audience
- Contributing to academic writing for papers submitted for publication in journals
- Potential use of participatory research methods with community champions
- Experience of working collaboratively with a local authority to support the evaluation of a community-based public health intervention.
- Development of applied recommendations for practice based on screening site survey findings, including identifying which components of a multifaceted intervention appear to have the greatest reach and considering their relative cost, time requirements, and potential impact.
- Opportunities to draw on training and support from Imperial’s Policy Forum to strengthen the communication of findings and recommendations to relevant stakeholders, including local authorities and Cancer Alliances.
- Experience of participatory research methods through meetings with public partners to discuss emerging findings and shape the analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of results.
- Opportunities to network with, and learn from, the wider Behavioural Research in Health Group (BRIHG) at Imperial.
- Close collaboration with the project postdoctoral researcher, providing insight into postdoctoral research roles and career pathways following the PhD.
- Experience of working both independently on defined strands of the project and collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team delivering a large-scale research grant.
Skills, Experience and Knowledge Requirements
Essential Requirements:
- A strong foundation Demonstrable understanding of basic statistical methods (e.g. regression, chi-squared tests, t-tests).
- Experience using at least one statistical software package (e.g. SPSS, R, or Stata).
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a research team.
Desirable Requirements:
- Prior (medical) education Experience or familiarity with qualitative data analysis.
- Background in behavioural science, public health, or a related social science discipline.
- Interest in health inequalities, health communication, and/or research involving underserved populations.