King's College London

About us

The School of Global Affairs (SGA) in the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s is a dynamic hub of multi-disciplinary scholarship that seeks to address the pressing issues facing our world today, including climate change, inequality and global health.  

​At King’s, we are deeply committed to embedding good equality and diversity practices into all our activities so that the university is an inclusive, welcoming, and inspiring place to work and study, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. King’s offers inclusive benefits to staff, including flexible working, Enhanced Parental Leave, funds for Parents and Carers, and the potential to join community staff networks.

About the role

The successful candidate will work as a research associate on a large Wellcome Discovery Award project which will examine life-course inequities for LGBTQ+ people.  The project focuses on housing-related institutions, including central government departments and local authorities, to understand the processes by which institutions, communities, and individuals, reproduce or mitigate health inequities experienced by LGBTQ+ people. The candidate will lead the conduct of a qualitative study, under the guidance of the Workpage Lead (Zeena Feldman) and the Principal Investigator (Laia Becares). The candidate will also provide support across other activities of the project, particularly around the integration of learning from across datasets and workpackages.

To lead on all components of a qualitative project focused on understanding the role UK housing institutions and processes play in shaping the health of LGBTQ+ people over the life course. Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Conduct semi-structured interviews with diverse stakeholders, and manage transcription thereof.
• Follow up with current participants to arrange additional interviews, where needed.
• Draft, submit and track Freedom of Information requests.
• Conduct corpus-assisted thematic and/or critical discourse analysis of interviews, policy documents and other datasets.
• Lead recruitment of potential participants through government, charity, community, social media and other routes.
• First author peer-reviewed, high-impact academic publications.
• Liaise and collaborate with the network of academic, community and charity members
• Co-develop non-academic outputs for policymakers and third sector stakeholders.
• Attend, organise and participate in and minute meetings.
• Present the project and project findings at academic and non-academic events.
• Represent the study at various meetings to facilitate recruitment, promotion and dissemination.
• Secure ethics clearance for research involving human subjects, including research with vulnerable participants and sensitive topics.
• Lead on the write up of findings for academic papers, conferences and reports.
• Lead on the integration of community and charity partners in the conduct of the analysis and interpretation of findings.
• Lead on the development of public facing dissemination resources on the findings of the study.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 29 months

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. PhD degree (completed or in the final stages) in sociology, social policy, anthropology, or a related social science or humanities discipline. 
2. Experience of conducting research with and for LGBTQ+ people 
3. Experience of successfully conducting qualitative research, including: ethics clearance, participant recruitment, interviews, archival research, and analysis of qualitative data (e.g. thematic analysis, critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics analysis)  
4. Experience of successfully synthesising and integrating findings and analyses within and across multiple datasets, and writing for publication in top ranked journals 
5. Experience working with non-academic, community and charity groups to build relationships, networks and partnerships 
6. Expertise in conducting Freedom of Information requests and Data Subject requests in accordance with GDPR 
7. Track record of producing non-academic outputs for policymakers and third sector stakeholders, with demonstrable experience translating and disseminating research to non-academic audiences and stakeholders 
8. Understanding of theories related to LGBTQ+ experience, including queer theories, intersectionality and theories of minority experience 

Desirable criteria

1. Fluency using NVivo or similar qualitative analysis software 
2. Ability to consistently meet deadlines, while balancing multiple projects simultaneously 
3. Strong understanding of UK housing institutions, the UK housing sector and UK policymaking processes and outputs 
4. Lead/first author publications on research conducted with and for LGBTQ+ people  

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.

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. 

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.

*We welcome your thoughts on how organisations can create an inclusive environment, including one which supports free speech and the exchange of a wide range of ideas. *

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.