King's College London

About Us

This is an exciting opportunity to join the  Health Psychology Section, part of the School of Mental Health & Psychological Sciences at King’s College London. The School is part of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN), focusing on understanding the psychological, social, and behavioural factors that influence mental health and well-being. The School promotes cutting-edge research and translation into practice, addressing a wide range of mental health challenges.

The Health Psychology Section is home to pioneering research in health behaviors, patient outcomes, and interventions to improve mental and physical health. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work alongside leading academics and researchers in the field, contributing to impactful studies aimed at enhancing the psychological care of patients across different health settings. You will work closely with an experienced research team, which includes postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and clinical experts.

About The Role

We wish to appoint a Postdoctoral Researcher (Research Associate) within Dr Lauren Heathcote’s team in the Health Psychology Section at King’s College London. The position will be full time (100% FTE) for a fixed duration of 1 year, with the possibility of extension onto a Wellcome-funded research programme on mind-body (interoception) mechanisms of anxiety in cancer survivors (funding secured until 2030).

This position will require in-person work at least three days per week, including at the Health Psychology Section research group at London Bridge, and attending paediatric oncology clinics in inner and greater London hospitals for patient recruitment purposes.

The primary responsibility will involve leading a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) funded by the Medical Research Foundation of a new digital ‘body mindset’ intervention –  EMBody – to improve quality of life in childhood cancer survivors. This will include working closely with clinical and charity partners to recruit and enrol young cancer survivors aged 16-25 years in line with ethical requirements. It will also involve NHS and King’s ethics amendment approvals, data management, data analysis, presentation of findings at national and international conferences, patient and public involvement work, and manuscript preparation and publication.

The role will also involve supporting the set-up of a new Wellcome-funded research programme, including an RCT of an interoceptive heartbeat-training psychophysiology intervention aimed at reducing anxiety in breast cancer survivors.

The Research Associate will also engage in a variety of lab activities, including weekly lab meetings, journal clubs, and social events. The role will provide exposure to diverse areas of research on psycho-oncology, pain science, body mindsets, mind-body mechanisms, and mental health. This role offers the opportunity to engage in co-design activities with patient advisory partners and charities, as well as contributing to public engagement through science communication, including blogs and social media outreach.

The Health Psychology Section at King’s College London has played a pivotal role in advancing Health Psychology in the UK and continues to drive impactful research in long-term condition management and intervention development.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week) with a start date of February 2025, and you will be offered a fixed term contract until March 2026.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD in psychology or related discipline.
2. Outstanding communication, project management, and team-working skills.
3. Motivated and driven to improve the lives of people diagnosed with cancer.
4. Knowledge and understanding of health psychology, psycho-oncology, pain science, behavioural interventions and/or digital interventions.
5. Self-motivated, proactive and takes initiative to problem-solve.

Desirable criteria

1. PhD in health psychology, behavioural medicine, clinical neuroscience or related discipline.
2. Experience of conducting research in NHS settings, including recruitment and NHS ethics approvals.
3. Experience working with vulnerable populations or families impacted by cancer.
4. Some experience of advanced data analyses skills including from longitudinal or trial designs, and implementing these analyses in statistical programmes such as R.
5. Experience with psychophysiology methods.

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.

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.

Further Information

We have the right to close the advert earlier than advertised if we receive a sufficient number of applications.

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.

Interviews dates are to be confirmed.

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