A structured health intervention to improve physical activity, nutrition and sleep in offshore windfarm workers

Project Description:

This Research Project is part of the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience’s The wellbeing triad: improving the physical, psychosocial, and cognitive health of workers in the offshore windfarm sector Cluster.

Offshore wind farm working environments are not conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Evidence shows that offshore technicians spend most of their time being sedentary when working and the small amount of time spent in physical movement is often physically intense, leading to a high cardiovascular load. Yet there has been limited attention to health promotion efforts. This project will develop and test in a pilot study a structured health Intervention that is multicomponent and theory-driven, targeting physical activity, diet and excessive sitting.

Methodology

Online surveys, observations and semi-structured interviews with workers, human resources and other key stakeholders will be undertaken to design a structured health intervention using design frameworks. Workers will be invited to participate in the intervention and will receive guidance and equipment provision (including a Fitbit and resistance bands/balls to strengthen muscles).

Data from workers will be collected before and after the intervention is trialled using surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations objective data (e.g., heart, sleep and activity monitors), physiological measurements and biological samples. Pre and post-test statistics will be used to assess effect of the intervention and process evaluation frameworks will be used to analyse interview/focus group data to understand how the intervention worked, for whom and under which circumstances.

Training and skills

Student will receive the following training as part of the PhD project: Intervention design, physiological measurement and health tool use and analyses training, questionnaire and interview design and analyses.
The PhD could lead to careers in academia as well as in public or private sectors (in human resources or health and wellbeing teams), or in consultancy firms specialising in work, health and wellbeing.

Entry requirements

If you have received a First-class Honours degree, or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters, or a Distinction at Masters level with any undergraduate degree (or the international equivalents) in Psychology, Biosciences or Physical Activity and Health, we would like to hear from you.

If your first language is not English, or you require Tier 4 student visa to study, you will be required to provide evidence of your English language proficiency level that meets the requirements of the Aura CDT’s academic partners. This course requires academic IELTS 7.0 overall, with no less than 6.0 in each skill.

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Professor Stacy Clemes via S.A.Clemes@lboro.ac.uk.  You may also address enquiries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk

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Funding

The CDT is funded by the EPSRC, allowing us to provide scholarships that cover fees plus a stipend set at the UKRI nationally agreed rates. These have been set by UKRI as £20,780 per annum at 2025/26 rates and will increase in line with the EPSRC guidelines for the subsequent years (subject to progress).

Eligibility

Research Council funding for postgraduate research has residence requirements. Our Aura CDT scholarships are available to Home (UK) Students. To be considered a Home student, and therefore eligible for a full award, a student must have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the scholarship (with some further constraint regarding residence for education). For full eligibility information, please refer to the EPSRC website.

We also allocate a number of scholarships for International Students per cohort.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The CDT is committed to generating a diverse and inclusive training programme and is looking to attract applicants from all backgrounds. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for home fee status candidates who identify as Black or Black mixed or Asian or Asian mixed if they meet the programme entry requirements. This positive action is to support recruitment of these under-represented ethnic groups to our programme and is an opt in process.

Find out more

How to apply

Applications for this project will open in Autumn 2025 for September 2026 entry.

Interviews will be held online with an interview panel comprising of project supervisory team members from the host university where the project is based.  Where the project involves external supervisors from university partners or industry sponsors then representatives from these partners may form part of the interview panel and your supplementary application form will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section removed). 

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Professor Stacy Clemes via S.A.Clemes@lboro.ac.uk.  You may also address enquiries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk

References and further reading

Varela-Mato, et al. Using intervention mapping to develop evidence-based toolkits that support workers on long-term sick leave and their managers. BMC Health Services Research, 2023; 23.1 1-14.