King's College London

About us:

The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London is a world-leading centre for research and education in mental health and neuroscience. This post is part of a Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)-funded project examining how ADHD, treatment pathways, and social and environmental factors relate to youth violence, offending behaviour, and criminal justice involvement in children and young people. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary team working with large-scale linked mental health and healthcare datasets to generate evidence that informs policy and practice.

About the role:

We are seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join a Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)-funded project examining the relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), treatment pathways, contextual risk factors, and youth violence, offending behaviour, and criminal justice involvement among children and young people.

Working within a multidisciplinary team of researchers from King’s College London, the University of Cambridge, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and the National Children’s Bureau, the postholder will conduct analyses using large-scale linked administrative datasets, including the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) platform and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). The successful candidate will contribute to the development and implementation of advanced statistical analyses, including longitudinal, survival, and regression modelling approaches, and support the dissemination of findings through reports, publications, and stakeholder engagement activities.

The postholder will work closely with the project investigators and external partners to deliver the research programme within agreed timelines. They will play a central role in data management, statistical analysis, interpretation of findings, and the preparation of outputs for academic, policy, and practitioner audiences. The role offers an excellent opportunity to contribute to research with significant potential to influence mental health, youth justice, and public policy.

The postholder will be based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, and will report to the Principal Investigator while working collaboratively across the wider project team.

This is a full-time role (35 hours per week) and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 18 months.

About you:

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

Essential criteria

1. *PhD awarded (or thesis submitted and awaiting examination) in Psychology, Psychiatry, Epidemiology, Statistics, Health Data Science, Public Health, Criminology, or a related discipline.
2. Experience analysing large-scale electronic health records, administrative datasets, or longitudinal cohort data.
3. Experience working with the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) platform or comparable linked healthcare datasets (e.g. HES, CPRD, UK Biobank, SAIL, OpenSAFELY, or Mental Health Services Data Set).
4. Advanced quantitative analysis skills, including multivariable regression, survival analysis, and longitudinal modelling.
5. Excellent programming skills in R, Stata, or another statistical software package, including data management and reproducible analytical workflows.
6. Experience preparing, cleaning, and managing complex datasets and addressing issues such as missing data and data linkage.
7. Track record of disseminating research findings through peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, or policy-focused outputs.
8. Excellent written, verbal, organisational, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary research team.

* 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. Direct experience accessing and analysing CRIS data within the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust research environment.
2. Experience working with linked CRIS-HES data or other linked health and administrative datasets.
3. Research experience relating to ADHD, learning difficulties or neurodevelopmental conditions, child and adolescent mental health, conduct problems, youth violence, or criminal justice involvement.
4. Experience applying causal inference methods, propensity score approaches, or advanced observational research techniques.
5. Experience contributing to research that informs policy or practice within mental health, youth justice, education, or social care services.

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.

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.