Job description

We are looking for an academic with an interest in the application of AI to mental health research to join the Department of Psychosis Studies at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, as Lecturer.   

The appointee will play a key role in developing and implementing a programme of research involving the application of AI-based concepts and methods to mental health research. In addition, they will be expected to contribute to existing and help to develop new postgraduate taught courses within the Department and IoPPN.

Candidates are encouraged to view the Department of Psychosis Studies web pages and the prospectus for the departmental MSc programmes, which are available on the King’s College London website. 

This post will be offered on a 5-year fixed-term contract initially  

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

Key responsibilities

Research (60%)

•   Initiate, conduct and publish research, as Principal Investigator or team member as appropriate, in an area that is compatible with and enhances the research profile of the Department and Faculty. 

•   Design and supervise the implementation of multivariate pattern recognition and artificial intelligence (AI) methods to analyse large-scale multimodal databases collected from people at different stages of psychotic and early-onset affective disorders. 

•   Develop, maintain and promote a comprehensive ‘methods and knowledge’ database for the use of AI in mental health research to be shared with other researchers in the Department and Faculty. 

•   Develop infrastructure and tools for good-coding practice; conduct code reviews of team members; explore the use of conversational AI for implementing good coding practices in the Department and the wider IoPPN. 

•   Contribute to the supervision of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students 

•   Apply for external grant funding to develop own programme of research 

•   Attend and participate in relevant research seminars/conferences  

•   Actively develop external networks, in particular liaising with the Research group of the Chair of Precision Psychiatry at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University and the new German Centre for Mental Health to build a long-term collaboration between the Department of Psychosis Studies and leading German institutions in mental health research. 

Teaching (30%)

•   Help develop a new Module for Precision Psychiatry to start in 2023-24 within the MSc Psychiatric Research, with the potential to help design a new MSc Precision Psychiatry, to be launched in 2025. 

•   Act as a Module Leader and contribute to its teaching, assessment, research project supervision and administration.  

•   Act as Personal Tutor to about 10 MSc students 

•   Explore the utility and efficiency of conversational AI as teaching component 

•   Contribute occasional teaching sessions and research project supervision to other postgraduate programmes in the Department (e.g. MSc Psychiatric Research) 

•   Possess good social and networking skills as the post requires liaising between students, other teaching staff and external experts. 

•   Contribute to the development and design of existing and future departmental programmes, in a manner that supports an innovative and research-led approach to student learning.  

Administration or Clinical Sessions (10%) 

•         To contribute to administrative duties as directed 

•         In case of clinician scientists: 2 clinical sessions / week. 

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.       Proven expertise in multivariate statistical methods or machine learning techniques and related fields in mental health research (e.g., analysis of neuroimaging or genomic data using machine learning methods) 

2.       Skilled in teaching psychological practice and/or theory in a multidisciplinary environment  

3.       Well-developed IT skills for purposes of research and teaching 

4.       A track record of high standard peer-reviewed publications  

5.       Undergraduate degree in psychology or related area  

6.       PhD in a relevant subject 

7.       Experience of graduate or post-graduate teaching  

8.       Very good presentation and communication skills 

Desirable criteria

1.       Experience in the organisation and administration around postgraduate teaching  

2.       Track record of successful research grant applications, or attempts to obtain grant funding 

Further information

About the Faculty  

  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/academic-psychiatry 

About the Department of Psychosis Studies   

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