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 fellowships at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London as part of a new Centre of Excellence – BuildPaedPallCare – funded by the Kentown Support Charity.

This three-year PhD Training Fellowship awards will enable a talented individual with clinical experience of working in children’s palliative care or with children with life-limiting conditions in the UK to complete a substantial research study related to the care and support of children and young people with life limiting conditions and their families, especially in the community. The post-holders will 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 is an outstanding development opportunity for a talented individual who wishes to advance excellent and innovative research on the care and support of children and young people with life limiting conditions and their families, especially in the community.  Example topic areas are below but also own ideas in the topic area are welcomed:

1. Housing
2. Role of education professionals in caring for children with life-limiting conditions
3. Employment and benefits
4. Community palliative care for babies

This PhD fellowship will be supervised by our Chair of Palliative Care and Child Health, Lorna Fraser and  depending on the choice of project and methodology other senior staff from the Cicely Saunders Institute i.e. Dr Peter May, Dr Bethan Page, Dr Julia Hackett.

King’s College London was ranked first overall, and for outputs, impact and environment, in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (Applied Health Unit), which included assessment of its development of early career research students and staff.

The awardee will develop a diverse set of research skills, including qualitative and quantitative methods, and gain experience in research of national and international significance.

We are seeking innovative, well-organised, dynamic and promising individuals who are motivated to further develop their career.

The fellowship supports salary (equivalent to Band 6 NHS), PhD fees (UK level), and research expenses.

For non-clinical applicants we have a PhD studentship available see https://www.kcl.ac.uk/nmpc/postgraduate-research#palliativecare

This is a full time (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for three years.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. Clinical experience working  in Children’s Palliative Care in the UK
2. MSc in relevant tops i.e. health services research, palliative care 
3. Knowledge of research design
4. Good attention to detail and high standards of accuracy in all aspects of work and understanding of data confidentiality and research integrity 
5. A demonstrated ability to work effectively with a wide range of colleagues 
6. Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias

Desirable criteria

1. Publications

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.