Bridging the gap by ensuring global access to affordable and effective rehabilitation for people with heart disease to enable them to lead longer & healthier lives

Global Cardiovascular Disease Impact

Leading Cause of Death Worldwide (2019-2021)

19M

GLOBAL DEATHS
People died from CVDs in 2021

32%

OF ALL DEATHS
Representing all global deaths

85%

HEART ATTACK & STROKE
Of CVD deaths were due to these causes

38%

PREMATURE DEATHS
Of deaths under 70 from NCDs

Low & Middle-Income Countries

Over 75% of CVD deaths occur in these regions
Highlighting global health disparities and access to care

Data source: World Health Organization (WHO) – 2019 to 2021 Global Health Statistics

Coronary Heart Disease in Pakistan

Key Statistics and Health Impact (2020)

240,720

TOTAL DEATHS
Deaths from Coronary Heart Disease

16.49%

OF ALL FATALITIES
Percentage of total deaths in Pakistan

#30

GLOBAL RANK
Position in CHD Deaths worldwide

193.56

DEATH RATE
Per 100,000 population

Data source: World Health Organization (WHO) – 2020 Statistics

ABOUT ACROSS

ACROSS (Affordable Cardiac Rehabilitation: An Outreach Interdisciplinary Strategic Study) is a global research programme funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The programme is led by the University of Glasgow in partnership with various universities and healthcare organisations in the UK, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Its aims to establish the infrastructure for the development and delivery of a clinically effective, affordable, and culturally appropriate model of home-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR).

RESEARCH FOCUS

Home-based cardiac rehabilitation for patients with coronary heart disease and/or heart failure. Addressing depression and anxiety through culturally adapted interventions

Our News & Updates

OUR WORKPACKAGES

Work Package 1

Intervention Development

Culturally adapt a home-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR)
programme developed in United Kingdom.

Work Package 2

Feasibility Study

Pilot study in each country to determine the
feasibility/acceptability of trial design and adapted rehabilitation intervention.

Work Package 3

Full Trial

A multi-country full randomised trial to assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of home-based CR plus usual care versus usual care alone in 3000 patients with coronary heart disease and/or heart failure with depression and/or anxiety with nested economic/process evaluation (trial design).

Work Package 4

Capacity Development

Build sustainable research and cardiac rehabilitation (CR)
delivery capacity and enhance knowledge.

ACROSS Research Programme Protocol

Depression and congestive heart failure

Taking care of your Cardiac Health

PhD Oppurtunity

PhD Flyer

Global ACROSS PhD Studentships

Applications are now open for our ACROSS PhD Studentships programme!

Are you interested in being part of a global clinical research team between UK and South Asia?

ACROSS (Affordable Cardiac Rehabilitation: An Outreach Inter-disciplinary Strategic Study) aims to develop a culturally adapted and affordable home-based rehabilitation programme for people with multiple long term health conditions including heart disease and anxiety/depression. We aim to evaluate the acceptability, clinical effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of the programme’s implementation in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan to determine its scalability and sustainability.

We are looking to recruit 8 students to undertake fully funded, full time 3-year PhD projects in a variety of areas associated with our research including opportunities for exploration of methodology issues in global trials and understanding the challenges of co-designing home-based interventions in lower- and middle-income countries. Supervision will be provided by a combination of South Asia and UK based senior researchers and clinicians.

Professional development training and support

Students will become members of the Global ACROSS programme and also NIHR faculty, offering a broad spectrum of training activities and networking opportunities beyond their host Research Organisation. In addition to academic supervision and host University support, students will be supported by training materials available through the ACROSS training hub and the research consortium. This virtual hub will include an online space for PhD students to regularly interact and to engage in training webinars provided by ACROSS team members and other topic experts.

Students will be encouraged to join relevant ACROSS working groups, where they will have the opportunity to work with early career and senior academic staff from relevant and complementary research and clinical fields. We will also provide a series of grant writing workshops to further prepare students for their future academic careers. Furthermore, we will link our students with other relevant research initiatives including the MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership – Network Hubs: TMRP (mrc.ac.uk)

Projects currently open for applications – deadline Friday 5th September 2025

Click on a project to visit its page on FindAPhD.com and apply:

•Digital Interventions for cardiac rehabilitation (based in Pakistan) – University of Glasgow

•Rehabilitation for multimorbidity (based in Pakistan) – University of Glasgow

Projects opening for applications soon

•Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) for Sustained Behavioural Change in Cardiac Rehabilitation (based in Pakistan) – University of Manchester
(Application link coming soon)

Important Information

Matriculation will be with either the University of Glasgow or the University of Manchester however students are expected to be based at our host institution in Pakistan. These studentships are fully funded – UK university registration fees are covered, and stipend payments will be provided at the applicable local rate.

For more information or to propose your own project idea, please contact [email protected].

Application process

Prospective students will be required to complete an application form by following the links above. Interviews are expected to be held online during September 2025.