King's College London

About Us

Department of Nutritional Sciences

The Department of Nutritional Sciences explores the relationship between diet, health and disease from molecules to populations. Based at King’s Waterloo Campus, the Department of Nutritional Sciences combines over 60 basic and applied scientists, dietitians, nutritionists, doctors and public health experts. Our mission is to find new ways to improve health and to prevent and treat nutrition-related disease.

We began in 1953 as the first university department of nutrition in Europe and have been at the forefront of research in nutrition science and dietetics ever since. We have developed new food applications to impact blood glucose control, collected big data through citizen science to understand individual responses to food, pioneered the low FODMAP diet as a treatment for IBS, and are developing new cereal processing techniques to unlock the natural iron and zinc in staple foods.

We use our expertise to teach the next generation of nutrition scientists and dietitians and deliver specialist training for healthcare professionals. Our teaching programmes are accredited by professional bodies (Association for Nutrition, British Dietetic Association, HCPC) allowing our graduates to register as Associate Nutritionists or Registered Dietitians.

School of Life Course & Population Sciences

Our Department is based in the School of Life Course & Population Sciences, one of six Schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London. The School unites over 400 experts in women and children’s health, nutritional sciences, population health and the molecular genetics of human disease. Our research links the causes of common health problems to life’s landmark stages, treating life, disease and healthcare as a continuum. We are interdisciplinary by nature and this innovative approach works. In REF 2021, the Department and School were returned under Unit of Assessment 3 (Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy) where 70% of research was 4* (world-leading) and 95% of research was 4* and 3* (world-leading or internationally excellent), and importantly, 100% of the research environment was rated 4* (world-leading). This resulted in the highest ranking in the UK for UoA3 for research, research output, research GPA and research power.

We use this expertise to teach the next generation of health professionals and research scientists. Based across King’s Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Waterloo campuses, our academic programme of teaching, research and clinical practice is embedded across five Departments.

About the role

The post-holder will be based in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London. You will have a record of applying for research funding and publishing research studies in international peer-reviewed journals in one of our research themes ranging from molecules to populations:

• Molecular & Cellular Nutrition e.g. micronutrient metabolism; nutritional ‘omics (genomics, lipidomics, microbiomics or metabolomics); nutrient sensing and absorption; nutrition in cell models or animal models; food biosciences; and food and microbiome (in vitro or in vivo).
• Diet & Phenotype e.g. clinical trials of nutrients, supplements, foods or whole diets, and impact on physiology or function or outcome in optimisation of health or prevention or treatment of disease; evaluation and synthesis of evidence in nutrition or dietetics
• Population & Global Health Nutrition e.g. population measures of nutritional status including dietary assessment and nutritional biomarkers; nutritional epidemiology; food labelling or food systems; inequalities in nutrition-related diseases including food insecurity; life course nutrition.

We are particularly interested in appointing an academic with research expertise in one of the following areas:

1. Food Systems, Food sustainability, and Climate change;
2. Food processing, Food additives, or Food Science and impact on health;
3. Big data, Nutritional Epidemiology; or
4. Health Inequalities, Food Insecurity and Determinants of Eating Behaviour.

The post-holder will have the potential for significant future grant income to support the establishment of a successful and competitive research programme. They will be encouraged to work translationally with other researchers within our Department, School, Faculty, wider College, and nationally and internationally.

The post-holder will teach on all programmes at BSc and MSc level offered by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, and where relevant in the wider Faculty, and will undertake module leadership. They will deliver high quality lectures and supervise student projects in nutrition and as a personal tutor will support student wellbeing.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered a fixed-term contract until 30 March 2029.

About You

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

Essential criteria (Grade 6 and 7)

1. PhD in Nutrition or closely related area
2. Substantial evidence of a broad knowledge of food, nutrition or dietetics (e.g. BSc / MSc degree or postgraduate experience) and an in-depth detailed knowledge of a specific topic relevant to the areas listed in the role description (e.g. from research expertise)
3. Record of applying for grant funding
4. Record of original research studies of international standard published in peer-reviewed journals
5. Experience of designing and delivering lectures or seminars to students
6. Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias.

For Grade 7, we additionally require:

1. Record of successfully obtaining grant funding and managing a research grant
2. Extensive record of original research studies of international standard published in peer-reviewed journals as first or senior author
3. Experience of formal supervision of PhD students
4. Extensive experience of teaching, assessment and some module organisation and curriculum development in nutrition or dietetics in higher education

Desirable criteria

1. Higher education teaching qualification
2. Registered dietitian (with HCPC) or Registered Nutritionist (AfN)
3. Strategic thinker, self-motivated, proactive and innovative
4. Strongly held commitment to fostering an effective learning environment
5. Able to prioritise and deliver high quality work to tight deadlines

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.