About us

Society faces an increasing need for nursing, midwifery, and palliative care across the world. We believe our education and research can help improve healthcare for people globally by delivering and developing the leaders and professionals of the future and through research which contributes substantially to the evidence base of their professional practice. 

Our mission

Our mission is for local and global communities to benefit from what we do:

• Provide excellent and impactful interdisciplinary and collaborative applied research and quality education relevant to nursing, midwifery and palliative care.
• Develop, understand and evaluate sustainable health and social care therapies, treatments, and services.
• Create new knowledge that respond to the challenges of tomorrow and today, which take account of the whole person in their context, and build capacity, future leaders and quality education.

Our vision and values

Our vision is to be a world-leader in evidence-based health and social care that innovates and transforms care and practice. We’ll do this through integrating cutting-edge research, education and engagement across nursing, midwifery, palliative care and rehabilitation. And by creating a network of health professionals and world leaders who exemplify our values:

• Equality and equity
• Inclusivity and respect
• Challenge and support
• Representation, leadership and role modelling
• Co-creating and improving
• Collaborating and shaping

Our heritage

Our Faculty is directly descended from the training school Florence Nightingale set up at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1860. Our Cicely Saunders Institute was established in 2010 with the international charity she founded and is the world’s first purpose-built institute for palliative care.

Both Florence and Cicely were multi-professional pioneers who used data to change practice and improve health and care. They are the inspiration for our mission and vision, and we are proud to continue their evidence-based approach to improve people’s lives.

Education that inspires and improves

Our pre-registration nursing and midwifery courses are designed to prepare students for their career.

We build confidence using patient simulators and hire experts in the field to teach and provide placements in world-class hospitals. Through our deep relationships with NHS Trusts across London and the Southeast, our pre-registration students have the chance to immerse themselves in practice and work alongside professionals with wide ranging clinical expertise.

We help our students become compassionate carers fuelled by knowledge and driven to provide the best care. When they graduate, we encourage them to join our alumni community or return to King’s to extend their learning.

To promote evidence-based practice, we think it’s crucial to provide qualified nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals the chance to continue their learning through professional development.

We have a growing community of international students with us in London, as well as through our international education collaborations with Nanjing Health School in China and Ngee Ann Academy in Singapore. Our programme in Singapore was the first King’s degree taught fully outside of the UK and is designed to equip qualified nurses with critical skills that will transform the way they approach challenges in their career.

Research that transforms and innovates

Our applied clinical and health research seeks to improve the healthcare experience and outcomes for patients and those important to them, wherever they are cared for. We’re transforming health, quality of life and care across nursing, midwifery, palliative and end of life care, rehabilitation and related clinical, health and social sciences.

Our researchers work closely with patients, practitioners, policy makers and experts, to provide an evidence base for professionals in practice and improve care for patients and their families.

We address complex, interdisciplinary health and social challenges locally, nationally and internationally. We’re the academic partner in King’s Health Partners, along with three of the UK’s best NHS Trusts. As part of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), we make sure breakthroughs are applied to practice. We also work with local services and partner NHS Trusts. Globally, we partner with healthcare organisations and universities in Africa and Asia.

Find out more

Our international outlook

Seeing the world through the lens of others – in all their diversity - and having a global problem mindset are at the heart of King’s vision for internationalisation. In the Faculty, we believe in equal and inclusive access to high quality health and social care for everyone, wherever they are.    

Our education and research help improve healthcare for people globally by creating new knowledge that responds to the challenges now and in the future and growing a network of global health professionals and connections.

With major research programmes in Africa and Asia, and partnerships in China and Singapore, we’re connecting education and healthcare professionals around the globe. Working together, we improve care and raise the standard of care internationally.

Our global studies are in collaboration with King’s Global Health Institute, which provides a focal point for King’s large academic community of Global Health researchers and students.

Because of our connections, our pre-registration students get a comprehensive clinical education and the chance to work on placements in health and care all over the world. And when international travel wasn’t possible during the pandemic, we worked with these partners to create an award-winning innovative and immersive experience for nursing students online.   

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We believe in co-creating, shaping, and improving an inclusive environment for all our students and staff. We recognise we all have different identities with different parts and are committed to taking an intersectional approach to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion into everything we do.

We want our policies, practices and processes to empower individuals to be able to contribute fully. We want King’s to reflect the diversity of London and world, and for our doors to be open to anyone with the capabilities to succeed.

In realising our vision to create a network of health professionals and world leaders who exemplify our values, we can improve the healthcare experience and outcomes for patients and those important to them, whoever and wherever they are.

Our Vision & Values for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (PDF 392KB)