Choice of your medicines: Who decides what and why?

This project will use behavioural and health economic insights to study medicine choice of consumers, GPs, specialists, and pharmacists when differently branded or both brand drugs and generics are available as treatment options.

This scholarship will provide PhD students with an understanding of how consumers choose their medicine.

Key details

Reference number

20236169

For course

PhD

Key dates

Applications close on 30 April 2025

Student type

Domestic, International

Area of study

Business, medicine and health, psychological sciences

Stipend value
(Direct payment)

$38,500 p.a. + $20,000 p.a. (2025 rate)

The proposed research aims to investigate what determines the choice of medicines used by consumers. A special focus will be on choices made when differently-branded drugs, or both brand drugs and generics, are available for the treatment of a condition, and the role that different contributors to the decision making process play.

To understand medicine purchase decisions, the PhD student will explore issues such as:

  • the role of health literacy for pharmaceutical choice
  • the importance of detailing by pharmaceutical companies
  • the role consumers, doctors, and pharmacists play in this decision that is often made jointly between these three groups.

The research will be quantitative and use:

  • publicly available routine data on the Australian population
  • specifically sourced data from pharmaceutical companies
  • primary data that is collected as part of the PhD.

The PhD student will be located within the Macquarie Centre for the Health Economy, and be in the field of applied economics, health economics, and behavioural economics. A background in economics is therefore beneficial, however, candidates from other relevant disciplines, including business, psychology, pharmacy, or medicine may also be a fit for this PhD opening.

Availability

This scholarship is available to eligible candidates to undertake a (direct entry three year PhD) program.

Components

The scholarships are comprised of:

  • a tuition fee offset/scholarship
  • a living allowance stipend.

The value of each stipend scholarship is $58,500 per annum (full time, indexed) for three years.