King's College London

About Us

King’s College London is a leading University with nine Faculties. As part of King’s Health Partners, we have an excellent environment for health care interaction and a strong focus on mentoring and career development.

The 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) placed King’s applied and allied health research 1st for: overall proportion of research rated 4* (world-leading, the best mark possible), research papers rated 4*, impact rated 4*, environment rated 4*(joint), Grade Point Average and Power.  REF2021 rated as world-leading: 100% of our environment, 86% of our impact and 70% of our research overall. Over 95% of our research overall was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.

As of 2025, our Faculty is number 1 in the world for Nursing (QS world rankings). King’s produces more highly cited research outputs (top 1% citations) on palliative care than any other centre internationally (SciVal), and is second in the world on the same metric for nursing and midwifery. King’s is the largest provider of health care education in Europe.

The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) is based in the heart of central and south London. It includes the Cicely Saunders Institute for Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, the premier Institute for Palliative Care, bringing together clinical, research and education teams.

Our applied clinical and health multidisciplinary research transforms therapies, the healthcare experience and outcomes for patients and those important to them, wherever they are cared for. Our award-winning NMPC education programmes span pre-registration nursing and midwifery, and multidisciplinary post-graduate taught and research programmes.

We are committed to staff development, and offer opportunities to identify and access appropriate training and professional growth.

About the role

​​We are delighted to invite applications for a PhD training fellowship at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London as part of an NIHR funded programme - Improving Care for children with life-limiting Conditions: developing, adapting, impLementing and Evaluating interventions (ICICLE).

​These three-year PhD Training Fellowship awards will enable a talented individual to complete substantial research related to how to support siblings of children and young people with life limiting conditions. The post-holder will also work closely with colleagues and other PhD students within the Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation located at the King’s College London Denmark Hill Campus and benefit from experienced mentors and colleagues at the Cicely Saunders Institute, and the vibrant programmes of research and education.   This PhD fellowship will be supervised by our Chair of Palliative Care and Child Health, Lorna Fraser at King’s College London.

​The awardee will develop a diverse set of research skills in health services research and gain experience in collaborative research of national and international significance. With the guidance and mentorship of experienced researchers, they will lead the design, implementation and dissemination of a research study related to the support of siblings of children and young people with life limiting conditions.

​We are seeking an innovative, well-organised, dynamic and promising individual who is motivated to further develop their career. This is an outstanding development opportunity for a talented individual who wishes to advance excellent and innovative research on the care and support of siblings of children and young people with life limiting conditions.

​The fellowship supports salary, research expenses, PhD fees (UK level) – applicants who are not eligible for UK fees need to evidence that they can pay international PhD fees in their application. 

​This is a full time post (35 hours per week) and will be offered as a fixed term contract for 3 years.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. MSc in relevant health related discipline i.e, applied health research, health services research, social sciences 
2. Some experience in data collection and analyses   
3. Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise different task demands
4. Knowledge of research design 
5. Eligible for UK PhD fees or evidence of how they can fund International PhD fees
6. Excellent presentation and communication skills (written & verbal) 
7. Being self-motivated and willing to work independently, as well as part of a larger interdisciplinary team 
8. Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias   

Desirable criteria

1. Previous experience of working with parents or children 
2. Publication 

Downloading a copy of our Job Description 

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community. 

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and Occupational Health clearances.