King’s college london
Preparatory Clinical Research Training Fellow
Job Description
Job id: 102345. Salary: £49,909 – £70,425 per annum plus London Weighting Allowance and Flexible Pay Premium (where applicable), or NHS Agenda for Change £44,806 – £68,676, inclusive of Inner High Cost Area Supplement..
Posted: 15 January 2025. Closing date: 09 February 2025.
Business unit: IoPPN. Department: Vice Dean Research/Research Office.
Contact details: Julia Wootley. maudsley.brc@kcl.ac.uk
Location: Denmark Hill Campus. Category: Research.
About Us
The NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre’s (BRC) aim is to pioneer multidisciplinary translational research and experimental medicine in the areas of mental health, the mind-body interface, and neuroscience.
Our Partners: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is the UK’s largest NHS mental health service provider with a long history of involvement in translational research and training in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London. The IoPPN is the largest academic community in Europe dedicated to the study, treatment and prevention of mental health problems and neurodegenerative disease.
It is the world’s leading centre for mental health research in terms of citations of our publications. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework the IoPPN was judged to have a 100% ‘outstanding’ (4*) world leading research environment. The impact of its research outside academia scored 92% ‘outstanding’ (4*) and 8% ‘very considerable’ (3*).
The IoPPN offers excellent opportunities for research training in basic and clinical science across the mental health spectrum including its interface with physical health, precision psychiatry, novel therapeutics and translational informatics. Training at the IoPPN, you will benefit from world class research and clinical facilities plus internationally recognised supervisors. Our excellent clinical setting ensures all our research trainees benefit from an understanding of the context of their research and produce scientists with a strong translational ethos.
About The Role
The NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) invites applications from (i) clinical trainees (CT2 – ST6) and (ii) nurses, allied health professionals and clinical psychologists (bands 6 – 8A top) who are committed to developing a translational research career in the UK in the areas of mental health, clinical neuroscience or the interface between physical & mental health. Up to seven posts are available and we invite applications from candidates who wish to work in any area of the Maudsley BRC’s research activity.
We encourage applications from candidates who wish to work on a project based in the NIHR-Wellcome King’s Clinical Research Facility (CRF). In collaboration with the Centre for Neuroscience Imaging there are ongoing projects that use state-of-the-art neuroimaging, including neurogenetics, neurophysiological approaches to measuring brain responses and pharmacological approaches to exploring new treatments and treatment mechanisms for mental health and neurological conditions.
The exact location of each post will depend on the particular project and supervisory team that the successful candidate has applied to work with.
Eligibility
- Applicants must hold registration with the NMC, the HCPC, the GMC or Membership of the relevant Royal College or equivalent qualification (in accordance with Royal College guidelines).
- Applicants must have at least 12 months’ experience of practice with a UK healthcare provider in the health or care profession for which they hold the required registration.
- Applicants must hold a current contract of employment with a provider of healthcare services in the UK. Fixed term contracts are acceptable. Honorary contracts or bank work cannot be accepted.
- Applicants must not already hold a doctoral research degree.
Important: Before applying, potential applicants must approach supervisors to discuss projects that can be taken forward for the fellowship and developed further for a full clinical research training fellowship application. Applicants can propose their own project or develop one suggested by their prospective supervisor. Please see the Maudsley BRC website for full details and pre-application guidance.
Preparatory Fellowships are aimed at clinical trainees, nurses, allied health professionals and clinical psychologists who do not hold a doctoral research degree. The Fellowships are designed to provide the time, resources and support to help bridge the gap between current training/employment and further professional and career development in research. The Fellow will be expected to plan, prepare and submit an application to an external funding body for a doctoral research training fellowship, Eg. NIHR Doctoral Fellowship or HEE/NIHR Doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (DCAF) Scheme.
This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 12 months. This is a full time post (hours per week will be dependent upon clinical profession). Applications for part-time hours will be considered for a minimum of 40% FTE.
About You
Essential criteria
- Clinical trainees: MBBS or equivalent qualification with distinction/honours
Nurses & AHPs: BSc 2.1 or 1st and appropriate qualification for full NMC or HCPC registration
- Clinical trainees: Membership of GMC or Membership of the relevant Royal College or equivalent qualification (in accordance with Royal College guidelines and a valid licence to practice)
Nurses & AHPs: Registration with NMC and/or HCPC
- Ability to communicate to a wide range of people at various levels
- Ability to prioritise a varied workload and work under pressure to meet deadlines whilst maintaining a high level of quality
- Ability to manage the day-to-day running of a research project, working effectively both independently and as part of a team
- Demonstrated track record of research in a relevant subject area with evidence of knowledge of basic research methodologies
- Ambition and commitment to further developing an academic research career
- Project proposal indicates clear involvement of service users at various stages
- Clear plan for development of a project that can be taken forwards for a PhD or other external career development award
- Time plan includes details of all relevant training that is expected to take place during the fellowship
- Plan includes a realistic timeframe for appropriate external fellowship applications to be submitted
Desirable criteria
- Intercalated BSc or an MSc
- Research publications in peer-reviewed journals
- A commitment to open, transparent, accessible and reproducible research
To apply, please register with the King’s College London application portal and complete your application online with the following required supporting documents:
- Covering letter (2 pages)
- CV
- Letter of support from proposed project supervisor
- Outline of the proposed research fellowship (4 pages)
Completed Appendix A sheet indicating Maudsley BRC research themes and priorities the project will meet.
Important: For all the above please refer to the pre-application guidance for details of information that must be included with each document. Applications received without the documents specified above will not be sent forward for shortlisting.
The selection process will include a panel interview and a presentation.
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. Interviews are due to be held during week commencing 3rd March or week commencing 10th March – day to be confirmed.
We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.
This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and/or Occupational Health clearances.