Research Assistant / Research Associate - Department of Addictions 

Job ID: 010184

Salary: Grade 5 £32,676 – 37,297 or Grade 6 £38,304 - £45,026 pro rata, per annum, including London Weighting Allowance

Posted: 16-Nov-2020

Closing date: 02-Dec-2020

Business unit: IoPPN Department: Addictions

Contact details: Dr Deborah Robson , deborah.j.robson@kcl.ac.uk

Denmark Hill Campus   Research    

Job description
This is a part-time post - 50% FTE, a fixed-term contract for 12 months. The 50% FTE is also subject to increase depending on the starting grade.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to be part of an international team led by the Nicotine Research Group in the Addictions Department at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London to review the safety aspects of e-cigarettes/vaping devices. The purpose of the role is to help complete a comprehensive  evidence update on e-cigarettes commissioned by Public Health England focusing largely on safety aspects, but will also include chapters on policy and prevalence of use of e-cigarettes in England.

Work on the report is already underway and the post holder will take responsibility for completing multiple linked systematic reviews, synthesising and summarising the evidence about the harms to health and safety relating to e-cigarette use. The post holder will work with the team at King’s, liaise with international collaborators, keep track of timelines and progress and support the compilation of the overall report document.

The report will be the eighth on a series of independent reports commissioned by Public Health England to summarise evidence on vaping products to inform policies and regulations. Alternative delivery devices such as e-cigarettes could play a critical role in reducing the enormous health burden caused by tobacco cigarette smoking. However, the impact will depend on how much they displace smoking completely, the extent of uptake among young people and the absolute health effects of vaping as well the relative health effects compared with smoking.

About the Nicotine Research Group

Established in 2013 the Nicotine Research Group has quickly established an international profile, particularly for its vaping research. It manages a variety of projects on tobacco harm reduction and e-cigarettes, but also works on wider tobacco control policies, health inequalities in relation to smoking in particular mental health, smoking cessation treatment in healthcare services, and in wider consortia such as SPECTRUM  (www.spectrum.ac.uk) and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (www.itcproject.org )

About the Addictions Department 

The Addictions Department, also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC), represents a network of clinicians, researchers and clinical teachers who have a shared commitment to excellence in prevention and treatment. Over the last 30 years, the department has developed a body of research evidence that has informed the development of new treatment services for alcohol, smoking and drug problems in the UK. This work ranges from trials of new therapies and preventative treatments to studies seeking to understand the genetic and biological basis of addictive behaviour.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/academic-psychiatry/about/departments/addictions

Key responsibilities

• Conducting multiple linked systematic reviews, synthesising  and summarising the evidence
• Liaising with the team at King’s and international collaborators
• Keeping track of timelines and progress of reviews
• Compilation of the overall report document

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

• Essential criteria
• Educated to degree level
• Extensive experience of conducting systematic reviews
• Very good understanding of research designs and statistics
• Experience of working with large and complex documents
• Excellent written English and writing skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Experience of project management
• Ability to work independently to ensure daily tasks and ongoing workloads are prioritised and completed in agreed time frames 
• Ability to anticipate and manage problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines 

Desirable criteria

• Masters or PhD in a relevant field
• Experience of survey analysis
• Experience of using SPSS and meta-analysis software e.g. RevMan 
• Understanding or experience of working in tobacco control
• Understanding or experience of e-cigarette research
• Knowledge and understanding of biomarkers of harm or exposure 

Further information
This advertisement does not meet the requirements for a Certificate of Sponsorship under Home Office regulations and therefore the university will not be able to offer sponsorship for this role.