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.

​As of 2026, King’s is top-two in the world for Nursing and #1 in the UK for the 8th year in a row (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

King’s College London’s Better Health & Care Hub (BH&CH) is a cross faculty initiative to develop research and education dedicated to supporting the transformation of health and care, in partnership, on a local, national and international scale. BH&CH aims to support research and education which radically redesign interventions, systems, and pathways to address the most pressing challenges faced by people living with complex illnesses, and the healthcare systems that support them.

Led by the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC), in collaboration with the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy (SSPP) and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), our initiative harnesses interdisciplinary expertise from across King’s College London, bolstered by strategic partnerships with NHS, social care, community, patient-led, charitable and international organisations.

We are seeking to appoint a full-time Research Associate to support evaluations of policy and service innovations and developments in social care and community-based care. The postholder will support a number of projects led by Dr Juliette Malley, including projects that are part of the NIHR-funded Social Care Rapid Evaluation Team (SOCRATES) and the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Policy Innovation and Evaluation (PIRU). The BH&CH Research Associate will also be expected to play an active role in the life and activities of the Better Health & Care Hub and support its broader work, including the development of educational offerings. Patient and Public Involvement and Hub events.

The BH&CH Research Associate will be expected to support the design and delivery of evaluations of policy and service innovations and developments in social care, and develop expertise in evaluation. The role will involve a range of desk and field-based activities, including literature reviews, data collection, data analyses using appropriate qualitative and statistical methods and drawing on relevant theories, frameworks and models, synthesising mixed methods data, contributing to the drafting of reports and journal articles and to the dissemination of findings to a range of stakeholders, including practitioners and other service staff, funders, policy-makers and other academics.

The BH&CH Research Associate will be expected to work with colleagues from across the partner institutions of research projects. This will mean working closely with academics across King’s College London, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Lancashire on SOCRATES and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Glasgow on PIRU. The Research Associate will also undertake other education and research-related activities necessary to ensure the success of the research projects and the Better Health & Care Hub.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31st July 2028.

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.

 Location: Hybrid – minimum of 2 days per week on Denmark Hill campus

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD qualified in relevant subject area *
2. Experience of carrying out evaluations of innovations and/or service developments in social care or a related area of practice
3. Knowledge of literature review methods and experience of carrying out literature reviews
4. Use creativity to analyse and interpret research data and draw conclusions to outcomes
5. An interest in the research focus of the Better Health & Care Hub including the commitment to diversity and reducing inequality for people with complex illness
6. Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly with academic colleagues on joint projects and areas of shared research interest across a range of topics
7. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and ability to communicate complex information effectively
8. Ability to manage own workload and balance the competing pressures of research and administrative demands and deadlines

* 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. Good knowledge of social care practice and policy in England
2. Preparing proposals and applications to external bodies e.g. for funding and contractual purposes
3. Experience of working with lived experience groups and using participatory research methods
4. Experience of teaching and supervision of student projects

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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

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 will be taking place on the  8th September.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service clearances.