Final Honours Scheme (FHS)

CEBM Academic Lead

Dr David Nunan

FHS in the CEBM

The CEBM (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine) brings together a multidisciplinary team to produce high-quality evidence on which clinical decisions can be reliably based. We have a broad research portfolio including evidence-syntheses, qualitative, mixed-methods, diagnostics, drug and device adverse effects and harms, clinical epidemiology, meta-epidemiology, population data analyses, research methods and research integrity across a wide range of clinical and health care topics. Past and present projects include reviews and empirical research on the Covid-19 pandemic response, reviews of electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation, mixed-methods evaluations of social prescribing, the role and evidence-base for physical activity and exercise for chronic disease, management of type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, research in medical education, assessing the harms of pain medicines, chronic pain management, and preventable deaths, evaluating health care systems, meta-research and meta-epidemiology (‘research on research’).

Students who wish to be considered being attached to one of our existing workstreams for their FHS project should contact Dr Nunan in the first instance: david.nunan@phc.ox.ac.uk

The FHS for undergraduate students runs in years 2 and 3 and aims to teach the method of critical scientific enquiry and so facilitate thinking and adaptable doctors or research scientists. Students are required to complete an option module, a research project and an essay at various time points over the two-year period. The information on this page relates specifically to the research project element of the FHS.

The research projects are a compulsory component of the course for Medical Students and Biomedical Students. Each student must have a clearly defined topic, which is solely his/her responsibility. Projects should consist of original experiments and/or data analysis carried out by the candidate alone or in collaboration with others (where such collaborations is, for instance, needed to produce results in the time available).

Work for a research project is intended to occupy the student for a total of 8 full weeks, or an equivalent period (e.g., 16 half-time weeks). Timing should be agreed between supervisors in discussion with the student(s) before the project begins. Work can start as early as week 1, Trinity Term (24 April 2023) for Biomedical Sciences students and week 3, Trinity Term (8 May 2023) for medical students. Data gathering and/or data analysis should occupy the student for 8 full weeks, or an equivalent period (e.g., 16 half-time weeks). Students have a complete academic year to complete and write-up their projects, but students will be fairly heavily occupied with lectures, seminars and tutorial teaching from October onwards.

For more information about the Final Honours Scheme, click here. 

PROJECT EXAMPLES

• Physical activity for irritable bowel syndrome - A Cochrane review
• The Oxford Catalogue of Opioids: A systematic synthesis of opioid drug names and their pharmacology
• Deaths from cardiovascular disease involving anticoagulants: a systematic synthesis of coroners’ case reports
• Preventable suicides involving medicines before the covid-19 pandemic in England and Wales: a systematic case series of coroners reports
• Preventable deaths involving medicines in England and Wales, 2013-22: a systematic case series of coroners’ reports
• Antidepressants for smoking cessation