PhD position on operations research solutions for waiting time reduction in mental healthcare

In mental healthcare, timely access to treatment is under pressure. A key explaining factor is the lack of alignment between required treatment and available resources causing many patients to be put on waiting lists. A second explaining factor is the imbalance between standardization and personalization of treatment pathways. A third factor is imprecise decision-making during the diagnostic phase. Treatment capacity used without meeting the treatment needs is a further loss of scarce resources. An approach that enables timely access to treatment by aligning treatment needs and capacity is needed.

Integral Capacity Management (ICM) has proven effective in improving treatment accessibility as well as reducing work pressure in hospital care. ICM within mental healthcare faces unique challenges due to, e.g., the multidisciplinary nature of treatments and the variable definitions of treatment success/completion. This project aims to extend results for hospital care to mental healthcare to develop an integrated ICM approach to improve timely access to treatment and increase resource utilization across mental healthcare chains.

You will develop operations research models and data-driven decision rules for improving treatment accessibility as well as reducing work pressure in mental healthcare. Such models may, for example, be composed of statistical techniques to forecast the of number patients, stochastic models to determine the waiting times of patients, and optimisation models such as reinforcement learning models to allocate patients to treatment.

You will implement your decision rules in prototype decision support systems to facilitate their further development towards real-life use in mental healthcare organisations.

Your project will be embedded in the inter-faculty research team CHOIR (Centre for Healthcare Operations Improvement and Research). CHOIR is a research center within the UT that focuses on Operations Research methods for Healthcare Logistics, such as multi-appointment scheduling, surgery scheduling, and resource allocation in times of scarce healthcare capacity. CHOIR is one of the most active and productive research groups in the field of Operations Research and Management in Healthcare.

Requirements:

• You have acquired a Master's degree in mathematics, operations research, econometrics, industrial engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• You have excellent programming skills.
• You are an enthusiastic and highly motivated researcher.
• You have a creative mindset and excellent communication skills.
• You have a good team spirit and like to work in an interdisciplinary and internationally oriented environment.
• You are proficient in English.
• The UT and the faculty EEMCS are inclusive toward underrepresented groups and strive to increase the proportion of female staff. Female applicants are particularly welcome.

Salary Benefits:

• As a PhD candidate at UT, you will be appointed to a full-time position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year, within a very stimulating and exciting scientific environment;
• The University offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues;
• Your salary and associated conditions are in accordance with the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU);
• You will receive a gross monthly salary ranging from € 2.901,- (first year) to € 3.707,- (fourth year);
• There are excellent benefits, including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%, and a solid pension scheme;
• A minimum of 232 leave hours in case of full-time employment based on a formal workweek of 38 hours. A full-time employment in practice means 40 hours a week, therefore resulting in 96 extra leave hours on an annual basis.
• Free access to sports facilities on campus
• A family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid);
• You will have a training programme as part of the Twente Graduate School where you and your supervisors will determine a plan for a suitable education and supervision;
• You have the opportunity to participate in the PhD program of the Dutch Network on the Mathematics of Operations Research (Landelijk Netwerk Mathematische Besliskunde);
• We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other staff.

40 hours per week

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