Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care

Postgraduate Research

Join our dynamic research community to work with world-leading academics at the forefront of international nursing, midwifery and palliative care research. Our research students are thoroughly supported by three supervisors and participate in regular journal clubs, research seminars and workshops.

How to apply

To apply for a project, please email our Postgraduate Research Team with the names of the supervisors and your chosen area of interest, along with your CV and a short research proposal. We will contact supervisors on your behalf and be able to answer any queries you may have.

For more information on how to apply, fees and the entry requirements please visit our Prospectus:

How to find a supervisor

To find supervisors in your chosen area of interest you can:

Current opportunities

Research projects

Research projects and Funded Studentship Schemes become available throughout the year. We currently have research projects available in the following areas:

_^» Digital Health & Applied Technology Assessment

Artificial intelligence experimental design for healthcare data

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative analysis
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Crina Grosan and colleagues from the Division of Digital Health & Applied Technology Assessment
Contact supervisor: Dr Crina Grosan

Contact details for Dr Crina Grosan

Artificial intelligence in healthcare: human motion data analysis

Contact details for Dr Crina Grosan

AI innovation to accelerate the design and development of virtual simulation models based on real patient data from trauma registry

Methodology: Co-design, development and production, quantitative and qualitative data and analysis
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Sonesson and colleagues from the Division of Digital Health & Applied Technology Assessment
Contact supervisor: Dr Linda Sonesson, linda.sonesson@kcl.ac.uk

Determining the educational effects and acceptance of immersive technologies on trauma team training during live simulation in hospital settings and multinational civil military trauma exercises

Methodology: Mixed methods, quantitative, qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Sonesson and Professor Martin Bricknell
Contact supervisor: Dr Linda Sonesson, linda.sonesson@kcl.ac.uk

Ethical applications of artificial intelligence to healthcare: what we do wrong and how we can improve it?

Dr Crina Grosan

Physiological and behavioural monitoring of the fetus and neonate

Methodologies: Quantitative mainly
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Kimberley Whitehead and colleagues from King's College London (e.g. this project could potentially complement perinatal research being led within the Faculty by Dr Rebecca Whybrow)
Contact supervisor: Dr Kimberley Whitehead

Contact details for Dr Kimberley Whitehead

_^»Care in long term conditions

The development of novel treatment for people with type 2 diabetes and binge eating disorder/behaviour

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Kirsty Winkley and Professor Khalida Ismail

Contact details for Dr Kirsty Winkley

A study to address delay in starting insulin for people with hyperglycaemia and type 2 diabetes

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Kirsty Winkley and Professor Angus Forbes

Contact details for Dr Kirsty Winkley

A study to determine the barriers and facilitators of ongoing insulin treatment for people with type 2 diabetes

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Kirsty Winkley and Professor Angus Forbes

Contact details for Dr Kirsty Winkley

Helathcare professionals attitudes towards smoking and supporting smoking cessation among people living with diabetes

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Maria Duaso

Dr Maria Duaso

Assessment of incontinence associated dermatitis in people with darker skin tones

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward

Dr Sue Woodward

Developing a core outcome set for cystic fibrosis diabetes +/- development and psychometric testing of new patient reported outcome measures for this population

Methodology: It is envisaged that this mixed methods study will involve systematic review of existing outcomes, Delphi methods to develop the COS and PROM development
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward

Dr Sue Woodward

Diagnostic and care pathways in functional neurological and other disorders in children and adolescents

Methodologies: Quantitative (e.g. analysis of electronic health records) and qualitative (e.g. interviews with patients and their families)
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Kimberley Whitehead, Dr Tom Jewell, and colleagues from King's College London
Contact supervisor: Dr Kimberley Whitehead (in the first instance)

Contact details for Dr Kimberley Whitehead

Gastrointestinal

Body image and body image related distress in people diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan and Professor Christine Norton

Contact details for Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan

Exploring the lived experience of ileostomy and impact on quality of life

Methodology: Qualitative methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward and Dr Cheryl Jordan

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward and Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan

Crafting resilience in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Methodology: It is envisaged that this mixed methods study will involve systematic review and mixed methods evaluation of the effectiveness of crafting activities to support resilience in IBD
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward

Understanding the experience of providing bowel care for people following spinal cord injury

Full project title: Understanding the experience of providing bowel care for people following spinal cord injury - the patient and staff perspective - and developing interventions to improve care
Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward and Dr Mark Baker

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward

Exloring the lived experience of trans anal (rectal) irrigation and co-design of a support package to promote concordance

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward

Co-design of a self-management education programme for adults with Multiple Sclerosis experiencing bowel problems

Methodology: Experience Based Co-Design
Funding provided: This studentship is funded by the MS Society. Funding covers PhD fees, research costs and a stipend
Start date: February 2024. Full time for 3 years
Supervisory team: Dr Sue Woodward, Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan

Contact details for Dr Sue Woodward

Mental health

Professional identity in advanced clinical roles in mental health

Methodology: Mixed methods/qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Andreas Xyrichis and Dr Jennifer Oates

Training peer support workers to develop and use e-mental health resources that focus on self-management and recovery with mental health service users.

Methodology: Evidence-based co-design (ECBD) to develop e-mental health resources with peer support workers, clinicians and research team. Qualitative interviews and observations to evaluate use of EBCD e-mental health resources with service users.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Mary Leamy

Contact details for Dr Mary Leamy

Older people care

Leadership of person-centred care (PCC) in nursing homes: a mixed method study

Objective: Examine how care delivery in nursing homes is led and by whom, to design an education intervention to support leadership development.
Methodology: It is envisaged that this mixed method study will involve semi-structured qualitative interviews of nursing home managers and NH staff, residents and their family and visiting professional staff; non-participant observation of key interactions where leadership of care occurs e.g. work planning and organisation, care management meetings, team meetings, observation of care delivery; and a series of stakeholder workshops to design an intervention e.g. toolkit, guidelines, seminars or action learning set to develop and support leadership of person-centred care.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Ruth Harris

Contact details for Professor Ruth Harris

Person-centred care (PCC) in health and social care policy for older people; a critical discourse analysis

Methodology: It is envisaged that this study will involve a critical, systematic examination of how the concept of PCC is communicated in health and social care policy documents in the UK using critical discourse analysis; and semi-structured interviews with policy makers in national organisations responsible for the development and delivery of health and social care.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Ruth Harris and Dr Joanne Fitzpatrick

Contact details for Professor Ruth Harris

Voice, choice and control for older people transitioning to living in a Nursing Home

Objective: Facilitate a healthy transition for older people relocating to a nursing home as a permanent arrangement, by developing and testing an intervention with residents, families and staff.
Methodology: This study will use the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions to address the research objective. The intervention will be developed using an adaptation of Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD). EBCD is a Participatory Action Research approach that draws upon design tools and ways of thinking to bring staff and service users together to co-design services, care pathways or interventions.
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Joanne Fitzpatrick

Contact details for Dr Joanne Fitzpatrick

^_» Methodologies

Exploring the most effective ways of supporting women to stop smoking in pregnancy, to reduce preterm birth rates in areas of social deprivation

Methodology: Qualitative: realist methodology Funding provided: Yes (PhD fees and UKRI stipend)
Start date: October 2024
Supervisory team: Dr Tomasina Stacey, Dr Maria Duaso, Dr Nigel Simpson (University of Leeds), in association with Tommy’s Preterm Birth Centre.
Contact Dr Tomasina Stacey with expressions of interest by 31 May 2024.

Contact details for Dr Tomasina Stacey.

Health inequalities, access to services and patients with intellectual disabilities

Methodology: Qualitative – ethnography, conversation and discourse analysis
Funding provided: Yes
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Deborah Chinn and colleagues from the King's Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication.

Contact details for Dr Deborah Chinn

Health communication with patients with intellectual disabilities and/or other communication needs

Contact details for Dr Deborah Chinn

Peer support for women who smoke in pregnancy

Methodology: Co-design/feasibility
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Tomasina Stacey

Contact details for Dr Tomasina Stacey

Studies related to determinants of stillbirth in low resource settings

Methodology: Population based/case control
Funding provided: Yes/No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Tomasina Stacey

Contact details for Dr Tomasina Stacey

The experience of elective Caesarean Section for women who have experienced sexual abuse

Methodology: Qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Elsa Montgomery

Contact details for Dr Elsa Montgomery

Participatory and creative arts research (photography, theatre, curating, cartooning) with people with intellectual disabilities and other communication support needs

Methodology: Using methodologies such as photovoice, forum theatre and storytelling approaches
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Deborah Chinn

Dr Deborah Chinn

Maternal and newborn perinatal health

Combining breastfeeding with a return to paid employment

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Yan-Shing Chang and Professor Debra Bick

Contact details for Dr Yan-Shing Chang

Perinatal co-use of cannabis and tobacco

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Maria Duaso

Contact details for Dr Maria Duaso

Breastfeeding support for women who are overweight or obese

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Yan-Shing Chang:

Contact details for Dr Yan-Shing Chang

Breastfeeding support for women who have cesarean birth

Methodology: Mixed methods
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate is found:
Supervisory team: Dr Yan-Shing Chang:

Contact details for Dr Yan-Shing Chang

The experience of fertility treatment for women who have experienced childhood sexual abuse

Methodology: Qualitative
Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team: Dr Elsa Montgomery

Contact details for Dr Elsa Montgomery

Research relating to personalised care and supported decision-making in maternity care

Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team:  Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Research relating to clinical decision-making in maternity care

Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team:  Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Research relating to women’s experience of ‘high-risk’ pregnancy including high-blood pressure, diabetes and other medical conditions

Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team:  Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Research relating to multi-professional maternity training

Funding provided: No
Start date: Open until a suitable candidate has been found
Supervisory team:  Dr Rebecca Wybrow

Dr Rebecca Wybrow

_^» Palliative care

A comparative study of care provision in home and care home settings towards the end of life

Methodology: Mixed methods, including primary and secondary data analysis
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Anna Bone

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Evaluation of the measurement properties of a comprehensive assessment measure

Full project title: Evaluation of the measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported versions of a comprehensive assessment measure, the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale for Dementia (IPOS-Dem) in non-cognitively impaired frail older adults with multi-morbidities
Methodology: Evaluation of measurement properties
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Clare Ellis-Smith, Professor Irene Higginson, Dr Catherine Evans

Evaluation of the measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported versions of a comprehensive assessment measure

Measuring priorities, outcomes and quality of life in persons living with advanced mental disorders

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Mevhibe B Hocaoglu

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Medication management at the end of life in patients with breathlessness

Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative methods
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Irene Higginson and Dr Adejoke Oluyase

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Patient priorities and quality of life in persons living with advanced musculoskeletal disorders

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Patient-reported outcome measure for persons living with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Contact details for Professor Irene Higginson

Rehabilitation within palliative and end of life care

Methodology: Research around rehabilitation approaches for the management of symptoms and disability towards the end of life. This could involve (i) characterising the people most likely to benefit with cohort studies, and (ii) modelling and testing rehabilitation treatments and approaches using mixed-methods and clinical trials. Applications from Allied Health Professions and therapists are particularly encouraged.
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Dr Matthew Maddocks

Contact details for Professor Matthew Maddocks

Using routinely collected data to understand and improve end of life care

Methodology: This could involve (i) use of 'big data' to investigate patterns of care for people near the end of life, including linkage of electronic health record data with other sources of routine data; (ii) investigating the links between research and policy, and in particular how big data analyses can inform policy; (iii) investigating novel data collection mechanisms for palliative care-specific data, such as electronic collection of outcomes data.
Funding provided: No
Start dates: Open until a suitable candidate is found
Supervisory team: Professor Wei Gao, Dr Katherine Sleeman

Contact details for Dr Katherine Sleeman

Hear from our students

Dr Natalie Sanford

'I absolutely loved my doctoral research experience at King’s. Both inside of and outside of my direct team, everyone in the Faculty was so lovely. I really felt that they were invested in my success and keen to help me when I needed anything, to promote my work, and to support me as an individual. If you are motivated, engaged, and enthusiastic, the community at King’s will welcome you with open arms.' Read more about Natalie's experience.

Prapan Phetlerthirunkul

'As my project is predominantly related to nursing and palliative care, King's College London is the best place for both fields. Nursing at King’s is ranked second in the world, and palliative care is among the most highly regarded globally. I chose to study my PhD in Nursing at King’s College London from its reputation. With sufficient resources and its quality, I feel I have a very high confidence in learning and conducting research.' Read more about Prapan's experience.