Job description

Are you looking for an exciting leadership opportunity in a vibrant and diverse research-led School at King’s College London?  We’re looking for someone who can bring their skills and experience in medical statistics to the study of health in populations and patients and contribute to national and regional leadership of a significant National Institute of Health Research Infrastructure. 

 

This is a varied and exciting research, advisory and teaching post.  You will be an established medical statistician, with a reputation demonstrated by high quality published research and evidence of attracting external grant income including clinical trials.  You will contribute to the leadership of a productive group of statisticians and support ongoing research activity and income-generating consultancy services. The group comprises two Readers, one Senior Lecturer and five researchers.  

 

As the Deputy Director of the NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) London, you will provide academic leadership for a large and collaborative team of cross-London research advisers, while providing expert advice to researchers applying for funding.You will provide leadership support for the delivery of the service, steering the development of innovative ways of delivering advice and guidance that reflects the needs of the research community.  You will develop the RDS London Continuing Professional Development programme, identifying academic training needs in emerging research methods, to match evolving research design requirements.  At a national level, you will join the national RDS Strategy Group and represent RDS London. 

 

You will find many opportunities to collaborate with colleagues across and beyond the multi-disciplinary Department of Population Health Sciences to provide statistical expertise, as well as provide collaborative support for clinical trials and research conducted within the KCL-GSTT Biomedical Research Centre and King’s Health Partners.  You will be responsible for developing and sustaining research collaborations locally, nationally, and internationally, be expected to both lead on research grants, and to contribute to strategic inter-disciplinary programmes of applied health research, within the School’s priority research areas.  

 

We are particularly seeking a researcher with strong research design skills, including clinical trials, and who will support and develop our areas of interest and strength, including: 

•         Traditional and innovative trials (all phases) involving complex interventions in long term conditions/prevention 

•         Long-term conditions and multiple mental and physical morbidities  

•         Developing and implementing methods to evaluate the complexity of system changes in health and social care 

•         Developing and executing public health interventions in multi-ethnic populations 

 

You will actively contribute to developments in teaching and learning in relation to Biostatistics and Epidemiology and will contribute to teaching on the undergraduate medical curriculum and the post graduate courses (currently a campus-based MPH and an online MSc Public Health). 

 

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract. 

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent

 

Key responsibilities

Research

•         Lead a programme of research to complement the School’s ambitions in the research priorities in one of the areas outlined above 

•         Provide leadership for clinical trials designs, working with clinicians to design new trials and overseeing the statistics in funded trials from inception to publication 

•         Supervise PhD students  

•         Develop and foster research collaborations with local and national partners. 

 

Education

•         Participate in teaching medical statistics across the existing postgraduate taught course programmes and Summer schools  

•         Develop new modules and/or undertake module leadership where agreed, and contribute to statistics teaching on the undergraduate MBBS degree 

•         Undertake personal tutoring to postgraduate students each year and supervise dissertations 

•         Lead the development of the RDS London Continuing Professional Development programme, identifying academic training needs in emerging research methodologies, to match evolving research design requirements. 

 

Management & Citizenship

•         Take part in consultancy activity advising researchers across King’s Health Partners Trusts to generate third-stream income 

•         Manage grants for which you are responsible, including recruiting and managing staff employed on those grants 

•         Provide mentorship and academic leadership for the wider social science group 

•         Contribute to the Department and/or School management, for instance in taking on department lead roles and responsibilities. 

 

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  Senior Lecturer  

Essential criteria 

1.       PhD or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline 

2.       Proven successful independent, high-quality statistics research in clinical trials, population health, health services research including evidence of publications of high-quality, peer-reviewed papers 

3.       Experience in designing, developing and leading and managing research projects including leading the development and submission of grant applications and funding proposals  

4.       Record of securing research funding and sustaining research activity 

5.       Previous supervision of PhD and MSc students 

6.       Organised and systematic approach to research and teaching 

7.       Specialist knowledge of contemporary statistical methods for applied health and care research and clinical trials 

8.       Experience of working on the design and analysis of clinical trials, in a senior statistical role and conducting complex statistical analyses using statistical packages 

9.       Strong communication and interpersonal skills in one to ones and group settings  

10.   Excellent presentation and communication skills (written & verbal) 

11.   Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias. 

 

Desirable criteria 

12.   Teaching Qualification 

13.   Knowledge of the requirements of research funding bodies in the UK  

14.   Experience of working with a range of phases of clinical trials (Phase I, II, III, and feasibility trials) 

15.   Consultancy experience in either a Clinical Trials Unit, Research Design Service, Clinical Research Organisation, or equivalent 

 

Reader 

Essential criteria  

16.   PhD or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline 

17.   Proven successful independent, high-quality statistics research in clinical trials, population health, health services research including evidence of publications of high-quality, peer-reviewed papers 

18.   Significant experience in designing, developing and leading and managing research projects including leading the development and submission of grant applications and funding proposals  

19.   Significant record of securing research funding and sustaining a research activity 

20.   Previous supervision of PhD and MSc students 

21.   Organised and systematic approach to research and teaching 

22.   Specialist knowledge of contemporary statistical methods for applied health and care research and clinical trials 

23.   Significant experience of working on the design and analysis of clinical trials, in a senior statistical role and conducting complex statistical analyses using statistical packages, including Stata 

24.   Experience in a leadership capacity of managing a team of researchers  

25.   Excellent presentation and communication skills (written & verbal) 

26.   Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias. 

 

Desirable criteria 

27.   Teaching Qualification 

28.   Knowledge of the requirements of research funding bodies in the UK  

29.   Experience of working with a range of phases of clinical trials (Phase I, II, III, and feasibility trials) 

30.   Consultancy experience in either a Clinical Trials Unit, Research Design Service, Clinical Research Organisation, or equivalent 

 

You are strongly encouraged to specifically address the essential criteria outlined in the Person Specification in their covering letter.

 

Please note that you must provide three Academic referees upon application, including one from your current or most recent employer. Should you be shortlisted, letters of recommendation will be sought ahead of the interview from two of your references. The third reference, from your employer, will only be requested with your consent. 

 

Further information

The School of Population Health & Environmental Science’s research comprises Analytics (broadly defined as the discovery and interpretation of meaningful patterns in quantitative and qualitative data), Investigation (broadly exploring analytical solutions to complex problems at the individual as well as population level) and Applied Research (broadly using analytics, including laboratory investigations, to identify needs and propose and evaluate new solutions to global societal health and social problems). This informs our approach and focus to developing and conducting research that addresses major questions, such as long-term conditions, multimorbidity, and environmental impacts on population health.    

 

This is an exciting time to join the Department and the School as we will soon merge with the existing School of Life Course Sciences. This will bring together very considerable clinical, scientific, and population/global health strengths. There are already many examples of joint working and collaboration between the two Schools, and it is envisaged that there will be significant opportunities to collaborate further and draw upon the critical mass of clinical, methodological, and applied researchers in the new, integrated School. The School will be one of the largest in the Faculty with programmes of statistics in the NIHR Biomedical Research Cenre and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration and with King’s Health Partners Clinical Academic Groups and Institutes, with the enormous potential to further leverage these synergies. 

 

About the Faculty:   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/index.aspx 

About the School of Population Health and Environmental Sciences:   www.kcl.ac.uk/sphes  

About the Unit for Medical Statistics (UMS):   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/medical-statistics 

About the NIHR Research Design Service London:   www.rds-london.nihr.ac.uk