King's College London

About Us

 King’s College London is a leading University with nine Faculties. As part of  King’s Health Partners, we have an excellent environment for health care interaction and a strong focus on mentoring and career development.

The 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) placed King’s applied and allied health research 1st for: overall proportion of research rated 4* (world-leading, the best mark possible), research papers rated 4*, impact rated 4*, environment rated 4*(joint), Grade Point Average and Power.  REF2021 rated as world-leading: 100% of our environment, 86% of our impact and 70% of our research overall. Over 95% of our research overall was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.

For the last six years, King’s has been number 2 in the world and number 1 in Europe for Nursing (QS world rankings). King’s produces more highly cited research outputs (top 1% citations) on palliative care than any other centre internationally (SciVal), and is second in the world on the same metric for nursing and midwifery. King’s is the largest provider of health care education in Europe.

The  Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) is based in the heart of central and south London. It includes the  Cicely Saunders Institute for Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, the premier Institute for Palliative Care, bringing together clinical, research and education teams.

Our applied clinical and health multidisciplinary research transforms therapies, the healthcare experience and outcomes for patients and those important to them, wherever they are cared for. Our award-winning NMPC education programmes span pre-registration nursing and midwifery, and multidisciplinary post-graduate taught and research programmes.

We are committed to staff development, and offer opportunities to identify and access appropriate training and professional growth.

About the role

This is a full time post doctoral opportunity in applied health economics to the end of 2028.

The successful candidate will work with a senior health economist and interdisciplinary teams across three diverse projects in care for people with serious illness and their families: an NIHR-funded national trial in improving care for delirium, a six-country Horizon Europe trial in management of COPD, and as part of an NIHR Policy Research Unit in palliative and end-of-life care. The opportunity is available from January 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter, with a finish date of December 2028.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a capable and ambitious early career health economist.  You will lead in generating and disseminating high-quality scientific findings that aim to impact policy and practice; gain experience in multiple methodologies; engage with diverse stakeholders across research, government and the public; and join a field with a large and growing need for health economics research.

The post is based at Cicely Saunders Institute, an interdisciplinary department at the forefront of palliative care research and education worldwide. We aim to support all Institute staff not only in their current roles but in their long-term professional development and career ambitions. Informal enquiries are welcome to Dr Peter May ( peter.d.may@kcl.ac.uk).

You will work in a hybrid model that currently requires in-person attendance one day per week (Wednesdays) at Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College Hospital.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31 December 2028.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD qualified in health economics or related subject area *
2. Experience conducting economic evaluation of health or social care intervention(s)
3. Understanding of evidence synthesis
4. Ability to apply multiple quantitative methodologies across projects, and willingness to learn new methods skills where necessary
5. Strong research dissemination skills, including oral and written outputs, and data sharing
6. Strong skills in at least one statistical software (e.g. Stata®, R), as well as Microsoft Office (e.g. Word, Excel)
7. Able to work both independently and collaboratively on multiple tasks to different deadlines
8. Able to communicate with different project stakeholders, including policymakers, PPI, clinicians, academics

* 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. Understanding or experience of generating evidence for policy
2. Where no prior experience, understanding of clinical trials
3. Where no prior experience, understanding of probabilistic decision-modelling
4. Understanding or experience of research in serious illness/palliative/end-of-life care

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 next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

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 advert. 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.

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

We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.