Research Assistant with PhD opportunity

at  Kings College London

Job id: 085267. Salary: £37,332 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.
Posted: 27 February 2024. Closing date: 19 March 2024.
Business unit: Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care. Department: Care in Long Term Conditions.
Contact details: Jackie Sturt. jackie.sturt@kcl.ac.uk
Location: Waterloo Campus. Category: Research.
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Job Description
We are really pleased to offer this excellent opportunity to join our team in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care as Research Assistant with PhD opportunity.
You will be one of two research assistants supporting the delivery of a five-year programme of research in diabetes distress in adults with type 1 diabetes. Over the five-years you will support work package leads and trial managers to undertake literature reviewing and evidence synthesis, co-designing interventions with diabetes community stakeholders, supporting a realist process evaluation using qualitative and survey research methods, and the delivery of a feasibility and a main trial. The programme will be undertaken in collaboration with 24 geographically dispersed NHS sites in England which will require approx. monthly travel including occasional overnight stays. The programme combines innovative stepped wedge clinical trial design with a realist process evaluation and will offer the opportunity to develop research skills from methodological research leaders in these designs. The programme draws in expertise in diabetes distress from international leaders and a wide network of UK NHS clinical innovators who have a strong desire to improve patient experience of diabetes care. The programme is hosted within the Research Division of Care for Long Term Conditions (current Head of Division is Prof Jackie Sturt). The division has four strong research groups in diabetes, gastroenterology, mental health and older people. The post holder will join the Clinical Research in Diabetes group. The clinical research groups, the faculty offers an active staff and Post Graduate Research student community supporting seminar programmes, training, professional development, seed-corn funding opportunities, under-grad and post-grad teaching experience.
We are seeking someone committed to developing their career in diabetes distress research in the UK by enrolling in a part-time PhD at King’s (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/nmpc/postgraduate-research) alongside their research assistant role on the programme. The post is funded 100% FTE of which a 30% contribution of time will be allocated to the conduct of a part-time PhD over the five-year post. It is expected the D-stress programme and the PhD will align to maximise the value of the award to the funder and opportunity for the doctoral candidate. Part-time tuition fees are NOT included in the package. Applicants must assume they will be responsible for self-funding doctoral tuition fees https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/areas/nursing-research-with-option-of-joint-phd-with-hku-or-nus or be bringing funding with them to the application. Tuition fees contributions may be available to the post holder from year to year depending on subsequent collaborative research award opportunities and funding success developed between the post holder and academic members of the D-stress programme team. Funding for PhD-related conferences, research costs and research training is competitively available within the Division and the Faculty.
This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract until 30/04/2029.
This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent.
Key responsibilities
Support the delivery of the research programme working alongside work package leads which includes:
Systematic literature reviewing and evidence synthesis
Co-designing interventions with people with diabetes, diabetes professionals and psychology experts
Delivery of a randomised feasibility cluster stepped wedge trial
Realist process evaluation of what elements of the intervention work for who, when and in what context
Delivery of a full randomised cluster stepped wedge trial
Develop a PhD research project to be delivered alongside the programme
Reporting and dissemination of research outputs
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

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing, sociology, psychology, or other healthcare discipline at minimum of 2:1 or equivalent
• Postgraduate qualification in nursing, sociology, psychology, or other healthcare discipline awarded with minimum of Merit or equivalent
• Prepared to register for doctoral training when tuition fee funding is available
• Experience in a range of health research methods such as recruiting participants, interviewing, research ethics applications, quantitative survey methods, patient and public involvement and clinical trial experience.
• Demonstrates a commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion for staff, public contributors to research and to participants.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise different tasks & demands
• Good attention to detail and high standards of accuracy in all aspects of work
• Being self-motivated and willing to work independently, as well as part of a larger interdisciplinary team

Desirable criteria

• Experience of presenting research
• Experience of writing reports/papers for publication
• Funding for part-time PhD tuition fees
• Willing to travel occasionally within the UK flexibly to accommodate the needs of the project.

Further information
Therefore we encourage applications from all groups. This includes from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups, the LGBTQI+ community, those who are neurodiverse and those with a disability.
King’s considers the professional and personal development of our staff a priority and we offer an inspiring range of opportunities for training and career progression. Our Organisational Development team provide in-house and bespoke learning.

Please refer the Job description for details