Research Clinical Psychologist

The postholder will be based in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, joining Europe’s largest grouping of youth-focused mental health scientists, clinical academics and researchers at the newly established Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People.

This role will provide clinical psychology expertise to support a programme of youth mental health research and service innovation under the direction of Dr Daniel Michelson (Clinical Reader in Youth Mental Health), working in partnership with South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, community youth organisations and schools. The postholder will contribute to the co-design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of a portfolio of intervention-focused projects, with an emphasis on scalable formats that can be delivered by non-specialists. These include:

• A transdiagnostic single-session intervention for clinically referred young people with depression or anxiety on CAMHS waiting lists (supported by assistant psychologists).
• A suite of single-session early interventions designed to address emerging depression and anxiety among young people supported by youth organisations in Croydon and Lambeth (supported by community youth workers).
• A brief intervention targeting emotionally based school avoidance during the transition from primary to secondary school (supported by attendance mentors).

For those seeking to pursue a future clinical academic career, an appropriate professional development plan will be provided (e.g., mentoring and other support for developing a competitive fellowship application). This is a part-time post (14 hours per week; 0.4FTE), available on a fixed-term contract until 31/08/28.

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

• Doctoral qualification in clinical psychology with active HCPC registration as a Practitioner (Clinical) Psychologist.
• Experience in applied mental health research, gained as a salaried research assistant/associate/fellow and/or during doctoral training.
• Experience of lived experience involvement in mental health research and service development.
• Experience of delivering brief psychological interventions to young people aged 10-19 years.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including demonstrated ability to prepare research outputs and intervention materials with meticulous attention to detail, and tailored for diverse audiences.
• Excellent team-working skills, with demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with others and independently as needed.
• Excellent organisational skills, with demonstrated ability to meet deadlines while managing multiple competing demands.
• Experience as a trainer and/or supervisor of evidence-based psychological interventions for young people and caregivers.
• Experience of working with young people and caregivers in diverse non-clinical settings, including community youth services and schools.
• Experience of co-designing digital mental interventions and other scalable formats with young people and caregivers.
• A track record of peer-reviewed publications.
• Commitment to pursuing a clinical academic career.

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.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities. 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 person specification section of the job description.

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 in week commencing 19th January 2026. This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and Occupational Health clearances.

Grade and Salary: £53,947 - £60,018 per annum pro rata, including London Weighting Allowance.