Thesis

The Carbon footprint of a large international clinical trial - a retrospective analysis

Are you interested in climate footprint of clinical trials in Sweden? Do you want to work with a large organization and have the opportunity to make a difference? Then you should apply for this project!

Organisation

Anesthesia and intensive care is a medical speciality caring for the critically ill as well as for patients requiring surgery. The speciality is one of the cornerstones of modern health care. The project is initiated by the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Helsingborg Hospital (Region Skåne). The unit which has very strong clinical research program with a focus on cardiac arrest, sepsis and sustainability.

Project

Globally, clinical trials are estimated generate emissions corresponding to about 27 million tons of CO2 which equals about 25% of the estimated annual emissions from Sweden. Although clinical trials are essential for the development of new therapies it is necessary to minimize their carbon footprint. As a first step in these efforts the Sustainable Health Care Coalition in the UK has developed a method and a guideline to determine the carbon footprint of clinical trials which can be used to identify hotspots and opportunities for mitigation (you find more information here).

The objective of this master thesis is to test the methodology in a large clinical trial conducted in intensive care units around the world, the Targeted Temperature Management -2 (TTM-2) trial (you can read about TTM-2 here). The project will involve adapting the methodology to a Swedish and international setting using appropriate emission factors as well as activities from the TTM-2 trial. We expect the project to contribute to the further refinement of the methodology and to the establishment a framework assessing the climate footprint of clinical trials in Sweden. The knowledge gained from this project will be used to inform design of future trials with the objective to minimize their climate footprint without jeopardizing their scientific validity.

Related sustainability goals

Company Region Skåne

Requirements We are looking for someone studying Engineering with a specialization in energy, Applied climate strategy or Environmental Management and Policy

Scope Master's Thesis

Location Helsingborg/Lund

Contact

Malin Planander
malin@sustainalink.se
0732-75 04 29

Additional information

Region Skåne covers expenses for public transport in Skåne within the framework of the project.

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