Interdisciplinary Research

Centre for Biomedicine & Society (CBAS) is a new centre for social science research on Medicine, Science & Society. It focuses particularly on translational research issues relating to the shift of innovative therapies from ‘the bench to the bedside’ and on the politics of the global bioeconomy. Much of the interdisciplinary research of CBAS combines Medical Sociology, Science Studies and Politics in novel ways to explore the far-reaching personal and socio-political effects of what have been described as ‘biomedical revolutions’ in fields such as stem cells and genomics.

King's College London is a major centre for descriptive and applied linguistics, and to capitalise on this expertise, the College set up the Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication in March 2006.
 
The Centre undertakes both basic and applied research on language, communication, society and education. Our work is jointly supported by the Schools of Humanities and Social Science & Public Policy, and we are recognized by the Economic and Social Research Council for our research training. We have particular strengths in research on the dynamics of language and literacy within globalisation and intercultural contact, and we focus on language, literacy and discourse in everyday interaction, in education, literature, and popular culture, in new & mass media, and in medical and workplace settings.

The Evidence Network provides information resources, training and networking opportunities to strengthen the links between social science research and the worlds of policy and practice. The Network’s website carries extensive databases of literature on evidence informed policy and acts as a focal point for information exchange between researchers, practitioners and policy makers across the world. Courses include an international summer school for PhD students. The Network hosts the international peer reviewed journal, Evidence & Policy, published by The Policy Press.

King’s Health & Society Centre (KHSC) is being developed to provide the framework for the development of research programmes at the interface of health and healthcare with other disciplines, including sociology, law, philosophy, economics, history and policy. King’s College London is fortunate in having academic excellence across the relevant disciplines.

King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is a joint initiative of the Institute of Psychiatry and the Department of War Studies at King's College London, incorporating the new Centre for Defence Mental Health. KCMHR is primarily a research centre with three strands:

1. war and health
2. war and psychiatry
3. personnel issues and social policy

King’s Patient Safety & Service Quality (PSSQ) Research Centre is one of only two nationally designated PSSQ centres. The new centres are funded by the Department of Health’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and established as part of the Government’s ‘Best Research for Best Health’ strategy. The Centre has been formed through a strong working partnership that brings together the expertise of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College London.
 
The Centre examines how services are organised in order to develop and test interventions to improve safety and quality of care. As a leading centre of excellence and best practice, King’s PSSQ Research Centre provides central guidance within the Trust, and to other healthcare organisations around the UK, by sharing learning experiences and new ways of working. The Centre also aims to build research capacity in the field of PSSQ, including research placements for NHS staff, improving the sharing of knowledge across the healthcare sector, to enable patients to benefit earlier from research findings.

The Public Policy programme uses an interdisciplinary and international perspective in order to help understand, illuminate and contribute to public policy. Policy problems refuse to align with disciplinary boundaries, and are addressed most effectively from the standpoint of international experience. With its programmes in Public Policy, King’s brings interdisciplinary and international perspectives to bear upon the policy problems and processes of the modern world through teaching, research, training and knowledge transfer.

Social Care Workforce Research Unit (SCWRU) conducts original research into issues relating to the social care workforce. It receives core funding from the Department of Health.