Research Associate in Health & Well Being

The King’s Foundation is seeking an exceptional early-career researcher to join its Health and Wellbeing initiatives. This new post is designed to offer a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of academic research, community-based practice, and holistic health service delivery.

The Foundation currently operates a Health and Wellbeing Centre on the Dumfries House estate in Ayrshire, Scotland, and is developing a second site at Highgrove in Gloucestershire. These Centres provide a range of holistic services to the local community, designed to complement existing local healthcare services. Services are GP and patient-led, with referrals from primary and secondary care providers, and offer a range of therapeutic and educational programmes.

The primary emphasis of this role is to support and grow The Foundation’s research, practice and community engagement in health and wellbeing. The role will contribute to the development, evaluation, and delivery of these services and associated research outputs, as well as wider development of new partnerships and research initiatives. It offers the chance to work across disciplines such as social prescribing, public health, health inequalities, and integrated care systems, while also helping design and evaluate programmes tailored to community need.

The role will also lead on health and wellbeing aspects of our partnership with The Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation (GCHU), set up in September 2019, as a joint initiative between Kellogg College, University of Oxford and The King’s Foundation. The Centre brings together leading practitioners and influential thinkers embracing evidence-based healthcare, sustainable urban development and education, facilitating research and training of the next generation of leaders in healthcare and urbanisation.

Key Tasks

• Health & Wellbeing: Collaborate with colleagues on the development, delivery and evaluation of services at the Foundation’s Health & Wellbeing Centres. Contribute to the design and setting up of new health and wellbeing programmes, integrating evidence-based approaches with community input and practitioner experience.
• Research: Develop and lead new collaborative academic research projects and programmes aligned with the Foundation’s strategic goals. Conduct applied research across relevant fields such as community health, social prescribing, integrated healthcare models, and health policy. Produce high-quality academic outputs and contribute to grant applications. Contribute to The Foundation’s wider research and publication programme.
• Events & Community Engagement: Lead the planning and delivery of academic and public-facing events, including conferences, symposia, workshops, and seminars. Organise and support community engagement initiatives. Represent the Foundation at relevant academic, industry and community events.
• Knowledge Sharing and Learning Delivery: Supervise PhD students on collaborative programmes where appropriate. Support the development and delivery of learning opportunities such as community workshops, practitioner training sessions, short courses and summer schools, and teaching at Master’s level where appropriate. Translate academic research into accessible formats for non-academic audiences, including local stakeholders, health practitioners, and programme participants. Contribute to building local capacity by sharing knowledge in practical and engaging ways, supporting wider community understanding of health and wellbeing topics.
• General: Contribute to efficient management and administration by performing duties as allocated and otherwise as directed. Work collaboratively across departments and with external partners. The Foundation works with a wide range of partners, meaning it is inevitable that tasks and responsibilities may change and adapt over the life of a project. All staff are therefore expected to work in a flexible way when the occasion arises, undertaking tasks which are not specifically covered in their Job Description.

Person Specification

The essential skills, knowledge and experience required are:

• Knowledge: A strong knowledge of a key element of health and wellbeing evidenced by a degree at PhD level in a relevant subject area, e.g. evidenced-based medicine, community health, social prescribing, health inequalities, integrated health systems, and/or policy-making processes. A solid understanding of holistic and integrated models of care and their relevance to community health. A broad subject background enabling wider contribution to research and teaching programmes across The Foundation. Interest in and knowledge of the philosophy and practice of The King’s Foundation.
• Skills: An ability to develop, plan and manage a range of high-quality research activities. Demonstrated capacity for independent research and academic writing. Evidence of ability to deliver lectures and seminars relating to the subject area. Evidence of ability to communicate new and complex information effectively, both verbally and in writing, engaging the interest and enthusiasm of the target audience. Evidence of ability to contribute positively to project management teams. Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills. Evidence of ability to manage time and work to strict deadlines.
• Aptitude: Confidence to represent the interests of your organisation and manage a range of partners. Ability to work proactively and take initiative in developing and managing workload. Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team. Ability to work alongside interdisciplinary teams and external partners.
• Qualifications: PhD or close to award of a PhD, in a subject relevant to health and wellbeing. Applicants, as early-career researchers, should normally be within ten years of the award of a doctorate.
• Previous Experience: Research in an element of health and wellbeing. Experience in planning academic or public events. Experience of community engagement. Engagement with professional or scholarly communities. Management of research applications and of research programmes is desirable.
• Personal Qualities: Commitment to The King’s Foundation’s policy of equal opportunity, and to work harmoniously with colleagues and students of all cultures and backgrounds. Wider interest in related fields such as sustainability, sustainable design, traditional building and craft, architecture and urbanism, community engagement, and related fields.

Other: The post will be based at 19-22 Charlotte Road, London, EC2A 3SG with the requirement to travel on occasion. There would also be scope to be based at Highgrove House and Gardens in Gloucestershire, with regular time spent in London. A degree of flexible hybrid working may be possible, while the position may also require periodic travel in the UK or internationally. Your working hours will be 37.5 hours per week. You must have the legal right to work in the UK. This post is considered to be a regulated activity therefore any offer will be subject to a satisfactory disclosure check with the Disclosure Scotland.

Applications: Please submit a cover letter and CV (please note one A4 page maximum each for CV and letter) to Gordon Watson, email address: hr.recruitment@kings-foundation.org and request an application form. Closing date for applications: Friday 18 July 2025 at 5pm.