King's College London

About us:

The postholder will join the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (Denmark Hill campus), part of King’s College London. They will be embedded in a cross-disciplinary team combining expertise in epidemiology, data linkage, statistics, policy evaluation, occupational health, welfare, mental health and labour economics. They will play a centra role in the delivery of a programme grant funded by the Colt Foundation, that brings together researchers across the Department of Psychological Medicine, King’s Business School, the Policy Institute and the Centre for Mental Health and Policy Evaluation.

About the role:

This is a rare opportunity for an ambitious postdoctoral researcher, with a strong background in quantitative methods and work, welfare and health research, to shape the evidence base on youth trajectories into economic inactivity, benefit receipt and work, as part of a major programme funded by the Colt Foundation at King’s College London.

You will work across some of the UK’s richest linked datasets including Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC administrative data via the new RAPID linkage, the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) dataset, and major birth cohorts such as Next Steps via the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC). You will apply advanced statistical methods including time to event and competing risk models, sequence analysis and multilevel modelling, and will lead a systematic review as part of this work to address research questions that are policy relevant.

You will work closely with the Principal Investigators of this programme of work, Professor Sharon Stevelink and Professor Ioannis Bakolis, as well as the work package leads, colleagues across the Department of Psychological Medicine, Health Services and Population Research Department, King’s Policy Institute and King’s Business School, and our lived experience partners, whose voices you will help embed throughout the research. You will also line manage/supervise a Research Assistant.

Experience across a range of health and administrative data sources (e.g. RAPID, LEO, UK birth cohorts) and linked data sources would be an advantage, as well as past experience of engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and having contributed to outputs beyond scientific publications such as policy briefings, infographics or government consultation responses. You will be supported to developing your academic career, including a research visit to our international collaborators in Norway, access to a range of training courses, and dedicated support with fellowship and grant applications.

This is a full time (35 hours per week), based at King’s College London (Denmark Hill campus) for 4 days a week with the option to work from home for 1 day a week. You will be offered an a fixed term contract until 18th October 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. MSc + equivalent work experience or PhD qualified in relevant subject area (e.g. statistics, epidemiology, big data, policy evaluation, public health, population mental health)
2. Experience in carrying out systematic reviews and writing up review findings for scientific publication
3. Postgraduate level of skill in statistical analysis, using at least one of Stata or R, and able and willing to extend skills (e.g. to use SQL) using a range of relevant longitudinal modelling techniques
4. Applied expertise in preparing large longitudinal datasets and/or administrative datasets for analysis
5. Experience of first authorship on peer-reviewed publications in academic journals
6. Experience in communicating (verbally and written) with difference audiences including funders, stakeholders, participants and the public
7. Strong time and personal management skills and ability to work to deadlines
8. Experience managing confidential/sensitive data with an awareness of GDPR and data governance.

* 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. ONS Accredited researcher status
2. Experience of line management
3. Experience of, or interest in, embedding lived experience engagement and input across the research life cycle
4. Competence in producing a range of outputs beyond scientific publications (i.e. blog post, policy briefings, lay summary, infographics)
5. Knowledge of and interest in youth transitions, work, welfare, health research, big data and policy evaluation

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.

  This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service clearances.

Interviews likely to be held on 24th September.