King's College London

About Us

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. We are dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place. We are delighted to announce exciting new opportunities to join our community. ​  

EMBRACE is a visionary, multicomponent International research programme, the first of its kind in the world, supported by Inkfish with £35M core funds over six years, starting in April 2025. It is a global study of 60,000 participants, including 20,000 mothers, 20,000 infants and up to 20,000 partners.  It brings together world-leading clinician scientists across six distinguished Healthcare organisations, world-leading AI & technology companies, together with premier biotech companies, with the overarching aim to fast track major scientific breakthroughs, revolutionise maternal and early childhood health through precision-personalised interventions, powered by a groundbreaking symbiosis of cutting-edge AI combined with human support.

About the role

The post holder of Research Scientist (Medical) on the EMBRACE programme led by Professor Josip Car focuses on physical activity interventions during pregnancy.  There remain gaps in evidence and unanswered research questions related to physical activity and exercise during pregnancy spanning physiological, psychological, social, and clinical domains.  This highlights the need for comprehensive interdisciplinary research to understand how to optimise physical activity recommendations. The post holder will contribute to the design, delivery, evaluation, and dissemination of intervention strategies aimed at promoting safe, sustainable physical activity among pregnant individuals.

This post offers an exciting opportunity to work within an interdisciplinary team in maternal health, exercise science, digital health and population health, and to make a real-world impact on clinical practice and public health policy.  The post holder is expected to collaborate with colleagues, present findings at conferences, publish research, and co-supervise project students, ensuring the project’s success and broader scientific impact.

The post holder is expected to hold a medical degree (MD, MBBS, or similar) but not required to be clinically active or GMC registered.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an fixed term contract until 10/05/2029.

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. Undergraduate medical degree
2. Knowledge of pregnancy-specific guidelines for physical activity
3. Experience in physical activity research and/or interventions during pregnancy or related populations
4. Good effective communication (both oral and written) skills, including research papers and reports, and presentations at conferences
5. Experience of writing research reports and papers accessible to both academic and lay audiences
6. Experience of evaluating digital health interventions such as apps or use of smartwatches and other wearables and synthesizing evidence from multiple sources
7. Project management skills - ability to initiate, plan, organise, implement and deliver programmes of work to tight deadlines
8. Evidence of a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias when engaging with public, patient, or community groups

Desirable criteria

1. PhD in relevant field
2. Experience with evaluation of wearable physical activity monitors and measurement tools
3. Experience with Patient and Public Involvement
4. Highly data-driven approach to problem-solving and decision-making

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

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university. 

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

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 person specification section of the job description. 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.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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 May (TBC)