Research Associate/Fellow
- Employer
- KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
- Location
- London (Greater) (GB)
- Salary
- Research Associate £40,386 to £47,414 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance Research Fello
- Closing date
- 22 Feb 2023
View more
- Job Type
- Research Related, Research Assistants / Officers, Research Support, Research Associate
- Contract Type
- Fixed Term
- Hours
- Full Time
Job Details
Job description
This is an exciting opportunity to work at the cutting edge of the development and trialling of digital therapeutics. The post-holder will support and provide strategic direction to the Digital Therapeutics theme of the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), led by Professor Rona Moss-Morris.
The NIHR Maudsley BRC is part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and is hosted by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London. It brings together scientists, clinicians, allied health professionals, service users and carers from across South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The NIHR BRC researches novel tests, treatments and technologies to understand and treat mental disorders. It aims to accelerate the translation of the latest scientific discoveries into first-in-man clinical trials and other well-designed studies for people with mental and neurological disorders.
The Digital Theraputics (DT) theme is one of the nine Maudsley NIHR BRC themes. The DT theme will accelerate the development, precision of, and implementation of evidence-based novel DT across disorders by providing enhanced infrastructure and innovation opportunities to facilitate rapid translation. It aims to maximise patient benefit by developing novel, theory-and evidenced-based DTs to treat/prevent psychiatric disorders and promote adjustment to LTCs across the lifespan. This will be achieved via a ‘living lab’ that will accelerate co-designed development of DTs from proof-of-concept, early-stage trials, digital enhancements, and regulatory approval, with the aim of maximising effectiveness, uptake, and thereby likelihood of downstream implementation.
The post-holder will be a senior level, experienced postdoctoral researcher. The post-holder will work in collaboration with Professor Rona Moss-Morris and her research team to support the running of the Digital Therapeutics theme and will be responsible for providing strategic oversight of the theme. Tasks will include developing centralised resources for developing digital therapeutics, co-ordinating workstreams, tracking timelines to ensure key milestones are met, and conducting research in line with theme aims (such as feasibility and efficacy testing of existing tools as well as developing new research projects).
This post will be based in the Health Psychology Section, Department of Psychology, embedded within a team which brings together expertise in long-term condition management, complex intervention development (including digital), conducting RCTs and implementation research. The Health Psychology section has been influential in the evolution of Health Psychology as a discipline in the UK. We are internationally recognised for excellence in research and teaching, including:
• Fundamental research to establish the psychosocial and neurological processes underlying adaptation to long term conditions and the experience of symptoms.
• Translational research testing the efficacy and effectiveness of theory-based psychological interventions for people with LTCs.
• Development and evaluation of innovative methods for supporting self-management of health, symptoms, mood and adherence, including digital interventions.
• Delivering three courses; the BSc (Intercalated) Psychology / Neuroscience, MSc in Health Psychology and the IAPT LTC top-up training.
At King’s we are deeply committed to embedding good equality and diversity practice into all our activities so that the university is an inclusive, welcoming, and inspiring place to work and study, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.
We particularly encourage applications from candidates within black and minority ethnic groups which are under-represented within the University at higher academic levels.
This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 4.5 years
This is a full-time post
Key responsibilities
• Project manage all aspects of the research theme as needed.
• Conducting research in line with theme aims.
• Day-to-day co-ordination of the theme work packages, ensuring these are running according to project timelines, to ensure key milestones are met.
• Act as the main point of communication for the research theme with all other relevant bodies.
• Actively contribute to strategic research planning and development for theme in partnership with theme leads and study teams.
• Set up a patient and public involvement group to address digital literacy and accessibility/acceptability of digital therapeutics for minoritized groups.
• Prepare and support meetings for the Digital theme including the coordination and distribution of briefing documents and background materials, and drafting and delivering presentations, as required
• Plan and monitor financial aspects of the unit, including maintaining an overview of agreed budgets and spending, liaising with the finance officer in the sponsors office on a regular basis, forecasting major expenses and identifying underspend or overspend
• Prepare, submit (and amend as required) documents as required for ethics (including the study protocol), R&D, regulatory approval, annual progress reports to the funder, and manage communications with the Sponsor organisation. Ensure all necessary approvals, contractual agreements and documentation are in place.
• Develop working guidelines and centralised online resources for developing digital therapeutics, such as regulatory and approval processes for digital health products.
• Supervision of postgraduate students and research assistants whose projects are part of the Digital Therapeutics theme.
• Work independently to ensure daily tasks and ongoing workloads are prioritised and completed in agreed timeframes
• Understand the requirements of the various controlling bodies, agencies and frameworks, guiding digital product development, and conforming to those requirements.
• Develop and manage documents as relevant to the co-ordination of the Research Theme and leads.
• Travel to trial sites and collaborators to attend meetings if needed
• Draft publications and conference abstracts.
• Keep up to date with subject related and professional issues by reading materials, attending conferences, training courses and workshops.
• Produce promotional material and develop engagement and dissemination strategies, and organise mailshots, newsletters and publications
• Contribute to collaborative decision-making, planning and short and long-term objective setting.
• Use initiative and creativity to resolve issues that might arise and identify issues that require onward reporting to the Theme Leads.
• Ensure the Theme Leads are kept aware of all key decisions.
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
1. PhD awarded in Psychology or related health discipline.
2. Effective project management skills; to work autonomously and lead on tasks where appropriate
3. Experience of quantitative and qualitative research methods
4. Experience in developing and testing digital health products
5. Experience of conducting research in NHS settings
6. Sound knowledge and experience of UK ethical and HRA approval processes, R&D funding, and knowledge of sponsor and NHS organizational structures
7. Ability to predict, identify and resolve problems that are critical to the running of the unit and plan strategically to avoid them
8. Outstanding communication and organisational skills
9. A good publication record commensurate with level of career
10. Excellent interpersonal and team-working skills, with an ability to supervise and monitor staff with tact and diplomacy
11. Excellent IT skills, including data management systems.
12. Excellent skills in qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
Additional Essential criteria for Research Fellow post
1. Demonstrate a proven ability to produce high quality research evidenced by authoring a range of publications/reports
2. Demonstrate capability of attracting external research funding
3. Demonstrate active participation in the planning of research projects
4. Demonstrate the ability to co-ordinate the work of other staff including supervising other research staff and students
Desirable criteria
1. PhD in health psychology/behavioral science.
2. Previous experience in applying health psychology theory to the development of complex interventions, particularly digital interventions
3. Knowledge, understanding and experience of cognitive behavioural therapy
4. Knowledge of implementation science
5. Experience of medical devise regulatory approval procedures
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.
Company
King's College London is one of the top 20 universities in the world and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 27,600 students (of whom nearly 10,500 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 6,800 staff.
King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) King’s was ranked 6th nationally in the ‘power’ ranking, which takes into account both the quality and quantity of research activity, and 7th for quality according to Times Higher Education rankings. Eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). The university is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of more than £684 million.
King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar.
King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.
King’s £600 million campaign, World questions|KING’s answers, has delivered huge global impact in areas where King’s has particular expertise. Philanthropic support has funded new research to save young lives at Evelina London Children’s Hospital; established the King’s Dickson Poon School of Law as a worldwide leader in transnational law; built a new Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital; allowed unique collaboration between leading neuroscientists to fast-track new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, depression and schizophrenia at the new Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute; created the Cicely Saunders Institute: the first academic institution in the world dedicated to palliative care, and supported the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership in the Ebola crisis. Donations provide over 300 of the most promising students with scholarships and bursaries each year. More information about the campaign is available at www.kcl.ac.uk/kingsanswers.
- Mini-site
- KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
- Telephone
- +(44)02078365454
- Location
-
STRAND
LONDON
WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom
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