King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) – Postdoctoral Research Associate

The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is the leading civilian UK centre of excellence for military health research and is independent of the UK Ministry of Defence and Office for Veterans’ Affairs. KCMHR’s work has helped shape UK Government policy for military personnel, veterans and their families. KCMHR sits within the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and is directed by Professor Sir Simon Wessely and Professor Nicola Fear.

About the role

We are looking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on a project exploring help-seeking, gambling and intimate partner violence and abuse using data collected from an epidemiological cohort study of the mental health and well-being of serving and ex-serving UK Armed Forces personnel led by the King’s Centre for Military Health Research. The post holder will lead on data analyses and write up of findings for scientific publications and a funder report. They will present updates at regular meetings with the funder and at internal/external meetings, seminars and conferences. The post holder will report to the KCMHR Director and line manage a Research Assistant.

The post holder will form part of a team working on an epidemiological cohort study of the mental health and well-being of serving and ex-serving UK Armed Forces personnel that has been running since 2003 and has recently completed the fourth phase of data collection.  This last data collection phase was funded by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs; previous phases were funded by the UK Ministry of Defence and this analysis project is funded by the Royal British Legion. Phase 4 involved following up approximately 8,000 serving personnel and veterans, inviting them to complete an online or paper self-report questionnaire.

The post holder will analyse data already collected as part of this study relating to help-seeking, gambling and intimate partner violence and how these behaviours co-occur with other risk-taking and adverse behaviours.

This is a full time (35 hours per week) post and will be offered on a fixed term contract until 31st March 2026. We would be willing to consider a reduced FTE for the right candidate. The post holder will be based at the Denmark Hill campus with the opportunity to work remotely for part of the week.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. A PhD in epidemiology, statistics, or other relevant degree *
2. Excellent working knowledge of and experience of a range of statistical and epidemiological techniques using Stata or equivalent
3. Experience working with longitudinal research data
4. Interest in research with the Armed Forces community, epidemiology, public health, mental and physical health
5. Good organisational skills and the ability to work independently and to project milestones/deadlines
6. Excellent written communication skills (e.g., experience in writing for publication in peer reviewed journals) with high standards of accuracy
7. Excellent verbal communication, and presentation skills
8. Experience in hosting meetings with a range of audiences

* 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.

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge of, or experience in, working with the Armed Forces community
2. Line management experience

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

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

Apply here.