King’s College London hosts a thriving community of research-active health professionals. Across King’s Health partners, we employ and train almost every kind of health profession, representing a unique multidisciplinary environment in which to forge a clinical academic career.

The King’s Clinical Academic Training Office (KCATO) offers advice, best practice and information on navigating a clinical academic career. It is open to all health professionals who are based at any of the organisations of King’s Health Partners – KCL, Guy’s and St Thomas’s, King’s College Hospital or South London and Maudsley NHS Trusts.

Our strategic priorities are:

• To champion clinical academic careers, recognising the unique value that clinical academics bring to innovation and improving outcomes for patients
• Clinical Academic capacity building, including delivery of strategic funding programmes at pre-doctoral, doctoral and postdoctoral level
• To design and deliver bespoke career development opportunities, recognising the challenges in navigating the career paths, particularly across transition points
• To be a central, visible contact point, signposting to opportunities or services and to help avoid silos or barriers to progression.

The KCATO Brochure outlines the various training and resources open to health professionals across King's and our NHS Trust partners via the KCATO.

• View our KCATO Brochure for 2023-24 (pdf)

Further information and resources on training, development, funding and careers are available on the newly launched KCATO Hub. For colleagues in any of the King's Health Partners who wish to access the KCATO Hub, please request access via this form.

• Access our KCATO Sharepoint Hub (King's log in credentials required).

Contact details

You can contact the KCATO Team at kcato@kcl.ac.uk.

KCATO also administers the NIHR Integrated Academic Training Programme at King's College London. If you have any queries on the IAT Programme, please contact IATadmin@kcl.ac.uk.

Join our newsletter

Health professional researchers will receive monthly newsletters from the King's Clinical Academic Training Office. If you have not received the newsletters and would like to be added to our mailing lists, please sign up to our newsletter via our online form.

All doctoral research students in the Health Faculties at King’s enrolled on a DClinPsy, MPhil, MRes, PhD, or other PGR degree, automatically receive monthly email updates from KCATO.

Follow us on social media

Connect with us on LinkedIn

PCAF webinar

Thu 6 February 2025, 13:00-14:00

The HEE/NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (PCAF) offers nurses, midwifes and other allied health professionals a fully funded fellowship during which they can gain the research skills and undertake preliminary work needed to apply for a funded PhD.

The next round for applications will open in February 2025.

Nurses, midwives, other allied health professionals, clinical leaders, managers and education and training leads from King’s Health Partners and elsewhere are welcome to find out more at our workshop. We'll explain about the PCAF programme and how we can support potential PCAF fellows through the application process and beyond.

During the workshop you will:

• Learn about the process of submitting a PCAF application
• Find out what are the ingredients for a successful application
• Hear from current PCAF fellows
• Find out about the Faculty research themes and interests of our research active staff

Please register for the webinar here.

Aiming for Independence

Mon 10 Feb 2025, 16th floor Guy's Tower Wing

This session will aim to demystify fellowship funding opportunities for postdoctoral clinical researchers aiming to transition to independent investigators. There will be insight from panel members for key funders including NIHR, MRC and Wellcome. We will also be joined by recent recipients’ sharing their experience in applying for relevant funding (Clinician Scientist, Advanced Fellowships).

This is an in person session with networking/ refreshments following the event. This session is open to Centre for Translational Medicine (CTM) Postdoctoral Fellows and NIHR IAT Clinical Lecturers, and other clinical researchers across KCL who are at this career stage.

Please register for the event here.

Writing and Publishing for Health Professionals

Wed 12 March 2025, 09:30-17:00 via MS Teams

This one-day course is for health professionals across King's Health Partners (King's College London, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Trust) who are conducting individual research or working in a research team.

The morning session consists of a workshop with Stefy Vaga (CoFactor Science) about the publishing process in the health sciences. In the afternoon, participants participate in a pomodoro writing workshop with tailored support from Dr Verna Lavender (GSTT Head of Nursing for Research and Education in Cancer and Surgery).

Please register for the webinar here.

Discover Research

Thu 13 March 2025, 15:30-19:30, Town House, Kingston University

NIHR Insight Discover Research event will showcase the breadth of research priorities across South London and provide a platform to connect with research support and professionals.

You can expect:

• Posters highlighting research from across South London.
• Stalls from academic institutions including Kingston University, King’s College London (KCL), and Southbank University.
• Stalls from research-supporting organisations and networks across South London.

This event is designed for early career allied healthcare professionals interested in starting or advancing their research journey, and researchers from local NHS Trusts looking to share ideas, build collaborations, and explore innovative projects.

Whether you are new to research or an experienced professional, this event offers a unique chance to inspire and be inspired. Mark your calendar and don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity!

Save the date - registration will open soon.

Mentoring for Health Professional Researchers

Mon 17 March 2025, 15:00-18:00, Denmark Hill campus

KCATO is hosting an in-person workshop on mentoring for clinical academics followed by a networking event.

We know from clinical academics that mentoring can be a really powerful support for your career; join us to understand more about the practicalities of mentoring as well as planning your own personal learning. This will give you also a chance to share experience and learning with other clinical academics from a range of health professions.

The session will be led by Alexis Hutson who has been coaching and mentoring people for over 15 years and has been running her own independent coaching & mentoring practice since 2009. Some of the organisations she is supporting currently include Academy of Medical Sciences, The Francis Crick Institute, The Wellcome Trust, Oxford University and University College London.

Register for the event here.

Writing for Health Professionals

Wed 12 March 2025, 09:30-17:00 via MS Teams

This one-day course is for health professionals across King's Health Partners (King's College London, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Trust) who are conducting individual research or working in a research team.

The morning session consists of a workshop with Stefy Vaga (CoFactor Science) about the publishing process in the health sciences. In the afternoon, participants participate in a pomodoro writing workshop with tailored support from Dr Verna Lavender (GSTT Head of Nursing for Research and Education in Cancer and Surgery).

Please register for the webinar here.

Pitching for Funding

Thu 30 Jan 2025, Tue 4 Mar 2025, and Wed 7 May 2025, 09:30-12:00 via Zoom

The half-day online workshop is designed for clinical academics who already have an interview date (or are hoping to be called to a panel interview).  This session will help you to: 

• understand the components of a successful pitch
• design and deliver successful pitches to funding panels / interviews
• prepare for, and manage, the Q&A session effectively

The session will rely heavily on using real examples of successful pitches from researchers we have worked with in the past.  These range from PhD students to Professors and cover a broad variety of clinical disciplines.   

Please register for the webinar here.

Meet the Funders

Mon 30 June 2025

KCATO and CRSD are delighted to host a one-day event about research fellowship funding. A number of experts on funding as well as key funders in health will be present to introduce their fellowship schemes, explore the application process and share some top tips. You can also hear from current fellowship holders about their experiences, from application to managing their award and take the opportunity to ask questions in a panel setting, and network with other health professional researchers.

Save the date - registration will open soon.

121 Coaching Sessions for Health Professionals

The interactive one-to-one session will help you prepare for your fellowship interview. Delivered online by Simon Cain, the session will support you to create slides for your pitch, work on the presentation content, and help you prepare effectively for the Q&A. The appointments will be arranged at a time convenient to you, between you and the trainer during the academic year 2023/24.

Simon Cain is the owner of Westbourne Training & Consulting and specialises in presentation/pitching skills. He has supported over 400 candidates to prepare for interviews with funding panels over the past 10 years and has been successful with over 80% of the pitches worked on since 2013.  He has also delivered workshops to a wide range of audiences within health and research including the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Society, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Medical Research Council, Royal College of GPs, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Health Education England, numerous NHS Trusts and over 50 universities.

Please submit an application for 121 session here.

Past Events

Research Careers for Health Professionals: Introducing the NIHR

Prof Lucy Chappell join KCATO and Grand Rounds on Wed 2 October 2024 to talk about clinical academic careers and specifically the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research.

Prof Chappell is the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Chief Executive of NIHR as well as Professor of Obstetrics at King’s College London, Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Recording of the lecture is available on the KCATO Hub (internal link). Colleagues in our Trust partners, please sign up to access here.

Engaging in Research Series

The recordings of the past sessions are available on the KCATO Hub (internal link). Colleagues in our Trust partners, please sign up to access here.

1) Demystifying Research – A webinar for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) interested in pursuing research

Have you ever wanted to know more about research? Have you wondered how to engage in research yourself? The session will provide you with the opportunity to have your questions about research answered by a panel of clinical academics across different health professions within King's Health Partners. We will cover areas such as benefits of research for clinical practice, how to get started in research and different ways of gaining research experience, and planning your career in research.

2) Research questions and finding a supervisor – A webinar for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) interested in pursuing research

It can be difficult to know where to get started once you have developed interest in research. Many programmes and fellowships require the applicants to design a research project and to independently find supervisors to support their project. This session will provide you with clear guidance on how to best approach these tasks and submit a project to a pre-doctoral or doctoral fellowship competition.

The speakers include supervisors who are currently supporting health professional researchers as well as current students who have been successful in obtaining fellowships.

3) Top Tips on writing fellowship applications

This short session will provide insights and tips on how to put together a competitive fellowship application, aimed particularly at health professionals who are making their first applications (e.g. for pre-doctoral or doctoral fellowship schemes).

This webinar offers broad guidance that can fit to many different funded fellowship applications, including NIHR, MRC, Wellcome and KHP CTM Pre-doctoral Clinical Research Excellence Fellowships and NIHR Maudsley BRC Preparatory Clinical Research Training Fellowships.

The speakers include colleagues who have recently secured competitive doctoral fellowships and academic colleagues who sit on funding decision panels.

King's Clinical Academic Training Office Team

At King’s we train the future generation of Health Professional research leaders across many disciplines.

Here, we introduce you to some of our Health Professional Researchers at King’s. We interviewed them to get an insight into their journey into a PhD and how they manage dual careers.

• Captain Lawen Karim - Vascular Surgeon
• Dr Sheila McSweeney - Dermatologist
• Professor Bijan Modarai - Consultant Vascular Surgeon
• Tootie Bueser - British Heart Foundation Cardiac Genetic Nurse
• Dr Graham Blackman - Training in General Adult Psychiatry
• Peter Chessum - Consultant Advanced Clinical Practitioner
• Freya Brown - Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse