EH.N: ANN: PhD Scholarship for History of Health and Well-being in New Zealand

[Kris Inwood]

PhD Scholarship: Measuring Health and Well-being in New Zealand

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund to develop and analyse new measures of New Zealand living standards between 1850 and 2008. The analysis will be primarily anthropometric supported by modern econometric methods and techniques. The primary sources for the anthropometric research will be new samples of military recruits from both world wars, and modern surveys of health and nutrition. These data will be merged with new sub-national level economic data on real wages and prices to analyse long-term changes in New Zealand's standard of living compared to international standards since 1850, and contrast ethnic differentials within New Zealand over the past 120 years. 

The Marsden Fund is the most prestigious source of research funding in New Zealand. 

The scholarship covers three years of university tuition fees plus a NZ$25,000 p.a. tax-free stipend for three years. The PhD research will investigate changes in the stature and body mass of the New Zealand population over the past 150 years, using existing health and nutrition surveys, and new datasets developed for this project. The PhD analysis will aim to identify the social and economic determinants of variation in stature and body mass, and their relationship to existing income-based measures of New Zealand’s standard of living.

Applicants should have a background and a tertiary qualification from a recognised institution (Honours and/or Masters level) in Economics, Economic History, History or a related subject.  It is expected that the applicant would have experience in and a willingness to undertake, quantitative analysis using large databases.

The PhD research is scheduled to commence 1st March 2009 and will run for a three year period. Later start dates will be considered. Applicants who are neither New Zealand nor Australian Citizens or Residents will need to obtain a New Zealand Student Visa. 

The PhD student will work closely with supervisors Professor Les Oxley (Department of Economics, University of Canterbury NZ), and Dr Evan Roberts (School of History, Philosophy and Political Science, Victoria University Wellington) and Associate Investigator Professor Kris Inwood (Department of Economics and Department of History, University of Guelph).  

Information regarding applications can be requested from Professor Les Oxley (les.oxley at canterbury.ac.nz), Dr Evan Roberts (Evan.Roberts at vuw.ac.nz), Professor Kris Inwood (kinwood at uoguelph.ca)  or Liz Duston (elizabeth.duston at canterbury.ac.nz).