About Us

Department of Nutritional Sciences

The Department of Nutritional Sciences explores the relationship between diet, health and disease from molecules to populations. Based at King’s Waterloo Campus, the Department of Nutritional Sciences combines over 60 basic and applied scientists, dietitians, nutritionists, doctors and public health experts. Our mission is to find new ways to improve health and to prevent and treat nutrition-related disease.

We began in 1953 as the first university department of nutrition in Europe and have been at the forefront of research in nutrition science and dietetics ever since. We have developed new food applications to impact blood glucose control, collected big data through citizen science to understand individual responses to food, pioneered the low FODMAP diet as a treatment for IBS, and are developing new cereal processing techniques to unlock the natural iron and zinc in staple foods.

School of Life Course & Population Sciences

The School of Life Course & Population Sciences is one of six Schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London. The School unites over 400 experts in women and children’s health, nutritional sciences, population health and the molecular genetics of human disease. Our research links the causes of common health problems to life’s landmark stages, treating life, disease and healthcare as a continuum. We are interdisciplinary by nature and this innovative approach works: 91 per cent of our research submitted to the Subjects Allied to Medicine (Pharmacy, Nutritional Sciences and Women's Health cluster) for REF was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. We use this expertise to teach the next generation of health professionals and research scientists. Based across King’s Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Waterloo campuses, our academic programme of teaching, research and clinical practice is embedded across five Departments.

About the role

We have two Research Assistant positions for a Nutritionist or Dietitian to gain excellent research experience working alongside a team of experts and to use their skills to advance understanding of dietary intake in gastrointestinal disorders. We are part of a large group of researchers across the UK undertaking an exciting cohort study to investigate clinical, microbial, genetic and dietary predictors of responsiveness to biologic therapies in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel disease). King’s is leading on the dietary assessment component of the research.

These roles will involve receiving and tracking 4-day food diaries from patients with Crohn’s disease and to enter these onto a food composition database for nutrient analysis, and novel databases to quantify intakes of prebiotics, food additive emulsifiers and ultra-processed food intake. The post holders will lead on data entry of food diaries together with a PhD student and will be closely supported by a Postdoctoral Research Associate with expertise in dietary assessment and nutritional epidemiology. There will be the opportunity to be involved in the manuscripts that focus on the dietary aspects of this study in which the candidate has been involved. There is also the opportunity to get involved in other research projects in diet and gut health within the team, including human dietary intervention trials, food preparation for participants in trials and systematic reviews.

This is an exciting opportunity to gain expertise in dietary assessment following gold-standard operating procedures and to receive training from experts in the field. It will also be a fantastic opportunity to enhance research skills in a centre of excellence for those wanting to develop a research career.

The post-holders will be based within the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the School of Life Course and Population Sciences, working face-to-face, full time from the Waterloo Campus of King’s College London, and will report to Professor Kevin Whelan.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 10 months.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. BSc or MSc in Nutrition or Dietetics
2. Registered as an Associate Nutritionist / Nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition or as a Dietitian with the Health and Care Professions Council
3. Experience of entering food diaries into a food composition database
4. Excellent understanding of the UK food supply and of the foods eaten across the whole of the UK and by people from a range of ethnic backgrounds
5. Ability to work both independently and as part of a team on a project
6. Exceptional attention to detail and organisational skills
7. Excellent time keeping and time management
8. Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.