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.

For the last six years, King’s has been number 2 in the world and number 1 in Europe 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 looking for a Research Associate, based at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, to join a newly funded Centre of Excellence in Paediatric Palliative Care, funded by Kentown Support charity.

Kentown Support are a new independent charity with the goal of improving the provision of community palliative care for children and families across the UK. This Centre of Excellence will undertake and disseminate high quality research and provide evidenced-based education and training for health and social care professionals and family members caring for children and young people with life-limiting conditions. The centre will inform policy and drive innovations in care delivery and organisation to enable all children and young people to have access to the care they require, including palliative care, when and where they need it.

The research associate will work closely with Professor Lorna Fraser (Chair in  Palliative Care and Child Health) on an economic evaluation and  systemic review with Dr Victoria Fisher. The project involves recruiting and supporting questionnaire completion with parents of children with life limiting conditions and their children where appropriate.They will also support the delivery of a systematic review of trauma informed care.

The awardee will develop a diverse set of research skills in health services and social care research and gain experience in collaborative research of national and international significance. 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 improving care for children and young people with life limiting conditions. 

This is a part-time post (50% FTE) and will be offered as a fixed term contract for 12 months starting from 1/2/2026.

This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service clearance and Occupational Health Clearance.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. First Degree in relevant  health related discipline 
2. PhD qualified in relevant subject area i.e. including but not restricted to health services research, palliative care, child health, psychology *
3. Experience in questionnaire data collection and systematic reviews 
4. Ability to use initiative and work independently, with support from the wider team, and willingness to travel, if necessary, for interviews, conferences, and so on
5. Experience of contributing to formal processes of study development, such as writing the protocol, developing data collection materials, applying for ethical approval (or amendments) and writing up reports and academic papers 
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

* Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

Desirable criteria

1. Previous experience of working with parents and young people with life-limiting conditions
2. Engaging in multidisciplinary research projects 
3. Strong publication record

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/or Occupational Health clearances.