Research Associate – Patient & Public Involvement Co-ordinator INTERNAL ONLY

Job id: 084405. Salary: £43,205 - £50,585 pro rota, per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 13 February 2024. Closing date: 18 February 2024.

Business unit: Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care. Department: Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation.

Contact details:Catherine Evans. catherine.evans @kcl.ac.uk

Location: Denmark Hill Campus. Category: Research.

This role

This is an outstanding development opportunity for an enthusiastic, motivated individual with a track record in patient and public involvement in research to join the Cicely Saunders Institute within the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care.

The Institute is the first purpose-built facility for research into palliative care. The Institute benefits from a unique collaboration of palliative care and rehabilitation teams that brings together multi-professionals including academics, health and social care professionals, community organisations, patients and carers. Palliative care and rehabilitation put both patients and families at the heart of care. We have built an innovative patient and public involvement (PPI) infrastructure with a diverse community of public contributors affected by serious illness. Our aim is inclusive involvement that celebrates diversity and maximises opportunities for the public and community to influence our research.

This is a part time post (50% wte) for 3 years initially and 30% will be as a PPI coordinator for the public involvement activities at the Cicely Saunders Institute. This includes supporting and facilitating patient and public involvement by providing advice and training for researchers, clinicians and public contributors, coordination of our online PPI forum, and organisation of public involvement activities with researchers and public contributors. The post-holder will work with a PPI research administrator and the PPI Executive Group co-chaired by a public contributor and Prof Catherine Evans.   

The remaining 20% of this role is to lead a working group that is focusing on enhancing the diversity and inclusivity of our PPI members and strategies across research and education activities within the whole Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care. This is part of the Inclusive Research Practices project. This is a wider initiative to improve inclusive research practices within the Faculty funded for 3 years by Research England. In this part of the role, the postholder will co-lead the working group with a PPI member and serve on the Advisory Group for the 

wider project which is chaired by Prof Glenn Robert. A Research Assistant has been appointed to support the work of this project.

Why choose us? 

King’s College London is a leading University with nine Faculties. As part of King’s Health Partners , we have an excellent environment for health care interaction and a strong focus on mentoring and career development.

The 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) placed King’s applied and allied health research 1st for: overall proportion of research rated 4* (world-leading, the best mark possible), research papers rated 4*, impact rated 4*, environment rated 4*(joint), Grade Point Average and Power.  REF2021 rated as world-leading: 100% of our environment, 86% of our impact and 70% of our research overall. Over 95% of our research overall was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.

For the last five years, King’s has been number 2 in the world and number 1 in Europe for Nursing (QS world rankings). King’s produces more highly cited research outputs (top 1% citations) on palliative care than any other centre internationally (SciVal).

It is based in the heart of central and south London. It includes the Cicely Saunders Institute for Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation , the premier Institute for Palliative Care, bringing together clinical, research and education teams.

Our award-winning NMPC education programmes span pre-registration nursing and midwifery, and multidisciplinary post-graduate taught and research programmes. King’s is the largest provider of health care education in Europe. Our applied clinical and health research transforms therapies, the healthcare experience and outcomes for patients and those important to them, wherever they are cared for.

You should apply if

We are seeking an enthusiastic and dedicated researcher with a strong track record in PPI who can make a distinctive contribution to the CSI and our wider Faculty, bridge theory and practice, and drive forward collaborative, sustainable high quality and impactful PPI. You should have excellent communication, collaboration skills, and a demonstratable ability to deliver high quality impactful sustainable research.

This post is initially offered as a three-year fixed-term contract and is a part time post (50% wte).

• To be the point of contact for PPI for researchers and public contributors within the CSI and across the Faculty
• To develop and support PPI in projects and activities across the Faculty through the working group for inclusive and diverse PPI including PPI resources, workshops and research executive
• To be responsible for helping develop the Faculty’s PPI strategy and activities, including the PPI online forum and patient and public involvement group within the CSI
• To co-lead a working group within the Inclusive Research Practices project with aim of increasing diversity of PPI members within Faculty research projects and PPI strategy as a whole
• To supervise the work of the Research Assistant in relation to the working group within the Inclusive Research Practices project
• To develop and disseminate the CSI’s and Faculty’s PPI activities including public facing materials (e.g. webpages, leaflets, social media)
• To contribute to and provide relevant training on PPI to researchers, students and public contributors
• To oversee expense and remuneration claims and related policies involving public contributors, in the CSI and for the Inclusive Research Practices project.

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.

Essential criteria

Desirable criteria

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

We are committed to continually improving the diversity of our workforce, and 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 note that occasional travel to London for research team meetings and co-design workshops will be required but flexible working arrangements beyond this are acceptable.