King's College London

About us

Inclusion as a Norm at King's - Leadership, Understanding the issues, Developing individuals, Enacting change (INKLUDE) is a Wellcome funded 2 year project which seeks to implement and evaluate innovative approaches to the inclusion of individuals from under-represented groups in research careers, initially focusing on women and those from minoritised ethnic groups.

The project is funded through the Wellcome Trust Institutional Funding for Research Culture grant scheme. The project is currently half way through its delivery, with an end date anticipated in October 2026.

The project is led by Vice-Chancellor & President of King’s College London, Professor Shitij Kapur, with co-applicants drawn from across the university on the basis of their knowledge, experience and skills in the area.

The INKLUDE project is underpinned by three core values:

Cultural Humility: The process of self-reflection and understanding one’s own implicit and explicit biases and how these biases may influence service provision and delivery.

Cultural Safety: Creating a safe environment where there is no assault, challenge or denial of their identity, of who they are and what they need. Establishing shared respect, meaning, knowledge, living and working together with dignity and truly listening.

Cultural Competency/Culturally Adapted: Taking account of people’s cultural beliefs, needs and behaviours in service provision and in staff interactions.

The programme of work comprises 5 Work Packages (WP):

WP1:  Exploring the current systemic barriers to this goal. This work package involves working with the team to explore ways in which the findings from an independent review of KCL promotion and retention processes can contribute to the development of a Five Year Strategy for KCL, as well as the wider dissemination of findings and recommendations to the HE sector.

WP2: This work package seeks to provide leaders of research at all levels with the skills to create a positive and supportive research culture through optimising inclusive practices, supported by appropriate toolkits and resources. The resources have been developed and the next stage of this work package will involve the roll out of the training across KCL and evaluating its impact.

WP3: While we await systemic change, the INKLUDE team recognises the need to develop individuals in order to mitigate current barriers to inclusion. We seek to achieve this through the delivery of both a course of individual development and sponsorship to women and people from minoritised ethnic groups (INKLUDE to THRIVE), and a course for those who will act as allies for to women and people from minoritised ethnic groups (ALLIANCE THRIVE). Continued work will ensure programmes are delivered and evaluated.

WP4: This work package seeks to enact change through a range of institutional commitments including improved data capture on the characteristics of staff, a Five Year Strategy to continue work towards our goal, and the allocation of academic and professional services staff in support of the mission.

WP5: This work focuses on the following; Co-production of resources and interventions; Evaluation of the programme; Dissemination of learning from the programme.

Each Work Package is overseen by one of the Co-Investigators for the project together with a Co-Lead drawn from the KCL community. The overall project management is undertaken by Jasdeep Singh,

All our programmes, findings and recommendations are shared with our Partnership and Advisory Group who work with us to ensure that our understanding is optimal and our dissemination approaches effective, as well as informing any new initiatives.

About the role

Our external review of policies regarding staff promotion and retention identified key priorities for development. These will feed into the development of a five-year strategy. Feedback from our Co-Leads identified a need to understand and develop action plans to support the implementation of the recommendations. 

Therefore, this postholder will undertake research informed by Implementation Science (under the supervision of Dr Shalini Ahuja) to develop resources to aid in the implementation of the recommendations.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered on a fixed term contract for one year.

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.  Excellent knowledge and skills in implementation science.

2.  PhD or Masters degree in a relevant discipline

3.  Excellent stakeholder management skills with a proven ability to be able to work with individuals and stakeholder groups in a collaborative and consultative manner.

4.  Ability to write concise and clear reports on project progress.

5.  Ability to problem solve and think strategically

6.  Experience of working independently, showing initiative, solving problems and making high level decisions.

7.  Highly collaborative and able to work with colleagues in a wide variety of contexts, delivering results that consider the widest needs of the organisation.

8.  Ability to demonstrate professionalism and command respect with academic and non-academic staff at all levels.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of working with individuals from groups typically underrepresented in Senior academic careers.

2. Previous postgraduate research experience

3. Previous research experience in a relevant area

4. Experience of presenting research to groups with wide ranging experience of research, within and beyond academic settings.

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 page. 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 in October 2025