King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About us:

King’s College London is one of the world’s leading research-intensive universities, distinguished by its commitment to rigorous scholarship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the public value of higher education. Located in the heart of London, King’s brings together a diverse academic community committed to serving society through academic excellence.

This role is based within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, a dynamic and interdisciplinary department with an internationally recognised reputation for socially engaged research and innovative teaching. The Department is ranked in the top 10 in the UK for Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025) and is one of the longest-established theology departments in the country. It is recognised as a centre of excellence in the study of religion across disciplines, spanning theology and biblical studies, philosophy and ethics, religious studies, the arts, and the social and political sciences.

The Department has a particularly strong interdisciplinary research culture that fosters collaboration, innovation, and intellectual leadership at all career stages, with research characterised by both international reach and strong civic engagement with London communities. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021), the Department was ranked 3rd in the UK overall and 1st in the UK for its research environment, with 100% of its research environment judged to be world-leading (4*) and 91% of its research impact rated either world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*). The Department is especially known for research addressing contemporary ethical, social, and religious questions, including values formation, religion and society, public theology, and religious diversity.

The post will also work closely with the Associateship of King’s College (AKC), based in the Dean’s Office. Established in the nineteenth century as the original award of the College, the AKC remains a distinctive part of King’s academic and civic life, bringing together students, staff, and alumni in interdisciplinary reflection on ethics. With close to 6,000 enrolees in the 2025/26 academic year, the AKC is the College’s largest extracurricular programme.

About the role:  

King’s College London is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to contribute to the project Developing Meaning and Purpose, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and delivered collaboratively with the University of Edinburgh (project lead). Based within the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and working closely with the Associateship of King’s College (AKC), the role offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to an innovative interdisciplinary research project exploring ethics and values education in European higher education.

The project forms part of a wider international movement concerned with moral self-reflection amongst university students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds. While related initiatives have developed primarily in North America, this pilot project is designed to refine and evaluate an approach suitable for wider delivery across European universities. The project combines philosophical, theological, educational, and psychological approaches to ethics education, with a particular interest in narrative, moral identity, reflective learning, and students’ understanding of personal and social responsibility.

The successful candidate will play a central role in the conceptual development, facilitation, and evaluation of a semester-long programme of ethics-education research workshops involving up to 20 student research participants during Semester 1 of the 2026/27 academic year. Working closely with Dr Edward David (AKC Director and Co-Investigator at King’s College London) and with collaborators at the University of Edinburgh, the PDRA will contribute to the design of workshop materials and reflective-learning interventions, facilitate weekly seminar-style research workshops, support participant recruitment and administration, and assist with mixed-methods evaluation activities.

The role will also contribute to the preparation of a major future grant application designed to expand the project beyond the pilot stage, helping position King’s College London and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies as leading centres for research and innovation in ethics education and reflective pedagogies within higher education.

This is a part time post (0.8FTE; 28 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 28/02/27.

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. A completed PhD in a discipline relevant to the project, including theology, religious studies, ethics education, or psychology. 
2. Ability to engage analytically with academic literature and concepts from across the fields of religion, ethics, education and psychology, including cross-disciplinary approaches to moral learning. 
3. Demonstrated success in facilitating workshops, seminars, or reflective group-based activities in educational, research, or pastoral contexts, involving sensitive topics of a personal nature. 
4. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, engaging research participants, as well as specialist and lay audiences. 
5. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively and in an inclusive way with academic colleagues, research participants, and professional services staff. 
6. Demonstrable project management skills, including the ability to take initiative, manage competing priorities, and deliver work effectively to agreed deadlines, in collaboration with academics and professional services staff. 

Desirable criteria

1. Experience in qualitative and/or quantitative research, involving the full research life cycle, including participant recruitment and data handling. 
2. Prior experience in academic research and workshop facilitation in a higher education institution. 
3. A reflective and participant-centred approach to facilitation, including sensitivity to the emotional dimensions of reflective learning and moral self-examination. 
4. Demonstrable interest in the impact and relevance of Theology and Religious Studies to higher education and public life. 
5. Prior experience in academic grant writing. 

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 the week of the 22nd of June.