King's College London

About Us

The Analytical, Environmental & Forensic Sciences (AEFS) Department is based in the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences within the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. AEFS is based at King’s Waterloo Campus and brings together over 70 researchers working on analytical techniques for toxicology, genetics, wildlife and the criminal justice system, including anti-doping, fingerprint and trace analysis, as well as exploring the impact of exposure to chemicals on humans and the wider environment. Overall, the aim of AEFS is to develop and improve forensic science methodologies and to explore and minimise the negative impact of the environment on human health.

About The Role

The Research Assistant will support the work of the Preventable Deaths Tracker (https://preventabledeathstracker.net/), an online platform that systematically collects and analyses information from medico-legal death investigations.

The Preventable Deaths Tracker (PDT) is a relational database run on WordPress that automatically inputs coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports (PFDs) published in England and Wales since 2013. There are 5,681 reports published as of 22 May 2025 that are included in the database, which updates every day. The database is also being expanded to include data from Scotland. 

The core purpose of the PDT is to save lives by enabling learning from avoidable and premature deaths. The PDT’s areas of focus are: 

1. Surveillance: Developing methods for identifying and monitoring safety signals and trends from coroners' reports and organisational responses. 
2. Tools: Creating a system for the dissemination of real-time analytics, statistics, and lessons from avoidable deaths. 
3. Practice and policy: Use discoveries and research findings to inform the practice of death investigations, reviews, and policies for death prevention. 

The primary role of the Research Assistant is to review legacy reports, extract key variables such as age and date of death, and tag and categories deaths to create a taxonomy for understanding the types of deaths reported by coroners. 

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an fixed term contract for six months. The role is funded by the charity, Changing Ideas.

The post is based in the Department of Analytical, Environmental & Forensic Sciences and is designed for flexible or at home working with occasional in person meetings, seminars and events.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. Undergraduate qualification in relevant topic area, with good qualification (e.g. 2.1) or evidence of equivalent relevant experience and/or training. 
2. Evidence of relevant data entry and/or database management experience 
3. Evidence of relevant website experience, including use of WordPress or similar platforms. 
4. Evidence of relevant quantitative or mixed methods research experience, including the analysis of data using software 
5. High computer literacy with advanced Word, Excel, and statistical software skills. 
6. Evidence of delivering training, teaching or working/contributing to a team 
7. Ability to work independently while maintaining deadlines and completing tasks with a high attention to detail and careful record keeping 

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge of the death investigation system in the UK and/or abroad, including inquests 
2. Knowledge of morbidity and mortality classification systems, including ICD-codes 
3. Ability to write scientific reports, manuscripts and publications 
4. Ability to write for a lay audience, including policy social media, blogs and grant summaries 

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. As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities. 

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.

Interviews are due to be held approximately 1-2 weeks after the closure of the Job Ad pending availability. We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.