Research Assistant

Job description

We wish to appoint a Research Assistant for a research and administrative position within the Health Psychology Group in the Department of Psychology, at King’s College London. The position will be part time (50% FTE) for a fixed-term duration of 2 years, in the first instance.   

 

This position will require in-person work at the Health Psychology Section, Guy’s Hospital, at least two days per week.  

 

The successful candidate will join the research team led by Dr. Lauren Heathcote and support cutting-edge research programmes investigating the psychology of pain and physical symptoms in children and adults living with chronic conditions such as allergies, chronic pain, and cancer survivors. The research programme also has a focus on developing and testing novel interventions, including a digital mindset intervention for childhood cancer survivors with pain, gamified sensory flexibility training for adults with chronic pain and chronic dizziness, and interoceptive training for brain-body integration. The successful candidate will primarily support the mindset intervention and interoception studies but will have exposure to all areas of the research programme.  

 

The post holder would be involved in patient and public involvement work, obtaining NHS and King’s ethics approvals, recruiting participants in line with ethics requirements, as well as running behavioural and clinical studies, as part of a research team. The post holder will also be responsible for conducting administrative duties for the lab, including purchases and expenses, and organizing lab activities such as lab meetings, journal clubs, and social activities.  

 

This post will be based in the Health Psychology Group, Department of Psychology, embedded within a team which brings together expertise in long-term condition management, implementation, and intervention research. The Health Psychology section has been influential in the evolution of Health Psychology as a discipline in the UK.   

 

This post will be offered on an a fixed term contract for 24 months. 

This is a part-time post - 50% full time equivalent.

 

Key responsibilities

•        Assist with creating video materials for a digital body mindset intervention for childhood cancer survivors with pain, alongside a full-time PhD student.   

•        Support in the implementation of a pilot randomized controlled trial of the digital mindset intervention, alongside the full-time PhD student.  

•        Lead on setting up and pilot testing new interoceptive tasks (e.g., respiratory and heartbeat counting paradigms) within the lab.  

•        With support from the team, obtain R&D and ethical approval for studies.  

•        Liaise with healthcare professionals and charity partners to set up patient recruitment pathways.  

•        Coordinate and support patient and public involvement work.  

•        Coordinate with King’s College London administrative and legal departments to facilitate Data Use Agreements and contracts with international collaborators and industry partners.  

•        Managing purchases and expenses for research studies and for Dr. Heathcote and other lab members attending conferences.  

•        Inducting new members of the Heathcote lab (e.g., new MSc students, PhD students, Postdocs) including training on using core lab facilities such as Slack and OneDrive.  

•        Assist with data analysis and interpretation of findings.  

•        Contribute to the dissemination of findings, including writing up the work for publication in peer-reviewed journals. 

•        Anticipate and manage problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and project timeframes.  

•        Contribute to the appropriate collection and management of information with full awareness of needs for confidentiality and data protection. 

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

Applicants should have a background in psychology, ideally with health-related research experience. This project will involve leading multiple streams of work, including working with stakeholders, content creation, research planning and analysis, and liaising with healthcare professionals. Therefore, excellent organisational skills and the ability to deliver different outputs at high quality and in a timely manner are very important, as are the ability to communicate effectively with different stakeholders in a friendly and professional manner. 

 

Essential criteria  

1.      Degree in Psychology or related degree.  

2.      Excellent IT skills, including data management systems. 

3.      Ability to work independently, with excellent organizational and project management skills. 

4.      Experience of planning and conducting research study. 

5.      Experience of data input, data cleaning and data management. 

6.      Excellent interpersonal / team-working skills. 

7.      Proactive and able to use initiative and problem solve. 

8.      Attention to detail. 

9.      Ability to conduct research to ethical standards and empathic manner. 

10.  Understand the importance of confidentiality, data protection and good clinical practice standards. 

 

Desirable criteria

1.      Master’s Degree in Psychology, Health Psychology, or related degree 

2.      Experience of conducting research within an NHS setting. 

3.      Experience of obtaining NHS ethics approvals.  

4.      Experience of writing patient content or creating health interventions. 

5.      Knowledge, understanding and experience of pain science, psycho-oncology, and/or interoception science.