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 an exciting opportunity for a Research Assistant to join a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded project led by a midwife.  The post will be based in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care.

The research explores the feasibility of developing an online peer support group for women who are struggling with stopping smoking during pregnancy. We will work with women who have tried to stop smoking during pregnancy before to develop the group. This group will encourage peer to peer sharing as well as provide support and advice from a peer moderator. This support will consider ‘whole-life’ circumstances, such as money, relationships and housing, along with stopping smoking. We will look at how easy it is to recruit women, whether they engage with the group and whether we can collect the necessary information. We will also interview participants so that we can understand how they felt about being involved in the study. 

The post requires quantitative and qualitative skills and is designed to support the successful set-up and running of the research project. The postholder will have the opportunity to contribute to tasks such as: recruiting participants, organising workshops, carrying out interviews/focus groups, analysing data and writing up and sharing study findings. There will be opportunities to develop skills and knowledge in these areas.

The successful candidate will be enthusiastic, able to work on a sensitive topic and have a non-judgemental approach. They will have an interest in using research to help improve care. They will be very organised with excellent communication and engagement skills. They will be able to work well both with others and independently, show initiative when faced with challenges, and have good problem-solving skills.

The postholder will work under the supervision of Principal Investigator Dr Tomasina Stacey. They may be required to travel in Yorkshire to assist with carrying out interviews/workshop. The post holder will have the opportunity to work as part of King’s hybrid working model, where you can work between your home and the office throughout the week.

This is a part time post (14 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 28 February 2026 or up to 15 months, whichever comes first.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. First degree in relevant discipline (eg midwifery, health professional, social sciences) at least at 2:1 level or higher
2. Experience of systematic reviews and qualitative data collection and analysis
3. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
4. Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise different task demands
5. Understanding of data confidentiality and research integrity
6. Excellent administrative and organisational skills, underpinned by strong interpersonal skills and personal effectiveness, able to deliver high quality work and projects to deadlines, work efficiently and prioritise appropriately, and take individual responsibility for planning and undertaking work
7. Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias
8. Being self-motivated and willing to work independently, as well as part of a larger interdisciplinary team

Desirable criteria

1. Postgraduate qualification in relevant subject area
2. Experience of developing/delivering Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) activities/events (in a research context)
3. Experience of writing reports/papers

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

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