Dear members of the palliverse,

We have been informed of a new funding opportunity by the Improving Palliative Care through Clinical Trials (ImPaCCT) NSW network.  Here are the details that they provided.

Palliative Care (Full-Time, $30,000 per annum for 3 years, Based in Sydney) focusing on sleep disturbance in community palliative care patients.

The University of Notre Dame Australia has successfully secured $5.96 million in funding under the Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) Program for the research project: Healthy People, Healthy Country. The CRN project is managed by The University of Notre Dame Australia in collaboration with partners from other universities and institutes. The three thematic areas of interest for our CRN project are; 1) Indigenous Health and Wellbeing, 2) Healthy Ageing and 3) Chronic Disease Management.

Sleep disturbance is a frequent and distressing problem for patients with advanced cancer, and also significantly affects family caregivers of these patients. The problem of caregiver exhaustion is a common reason for admission of patients into palliative care units. Reported prevalence rates of sleep disturbance in patients range from 30 – 72% and the problem is usually a long-term one, often dating from the time of the cancer diagnosis. The problem is multifactorial, and the complex causes and consequences of sleep disturbance in this population have not been well studied. In particular, the interrelationship between disturbed sleep in patients and caregivers has never been examined in detail.

Expressions of interest are invited for PhD projects focusing on measurement, description and/or management of sleep disturbance in palliative care patients. Applicants can be from any relevant discipline, including medicine (e.g. palliative care, oncology, sleep medicine), nursing, psychology or behavioural science.

For project related enquiries, please contact Professor Liz Lobb Liz.Lobb@sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au on 02 9553 3093 or Dr. Christine Sanderson at christinersanderson@gmail.com.

For further information about the Collaborative Research Network and scholarships, please contact the Research Office, Fremantle on (+618) 9433 0943 or email research@nd.edu.au

For the Application Package for this position and to submit your application please go to: www.nd.edu.au/nav-research/collaborative-research-network-program/how-to-apply

Applications close 12^th January 2015