Research Manager

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About us

The King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is the leading civilian UK centre of excellence for military health research and independent of the UK Ministry of Defence. The Centres' work has helped shape government policy towards military personnel. KCMHR sits within the Department of Psychological Medicine. It launched in 2004 and is directed by Professor Sir Simon Wessely and Professor Nicola Fear, CBE. For more information, please see https://kcmhr.org

KCMHR in partnership with RAND Europe runs the Centre for Evidence for the Armed Forces Community, funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) https://www.centreforevidence.org. The Centre aims to ensure that research evidence is at the heart of decision making to enable a thriving Armed Forces Community, which it aims to achieve by several mechanisms including via evidence synthesis, provision of an online searchable repository of published research and policy, regular topical news articles, stakeholder engagement and advice, and an annual conference, to name a few.

The Centre is Led by co-directors Ruth Harris (RAND Europe) and Professor Nicola Fear, CBE (KCMHR), supported by Deputy Director Dr Mary Keeling (RAND Europe), and included governance advisors (Professor Neil Greenberg and Professor Sir Simon Wessely) to provide strategic direction.

About the role

We are looking to appoint a Research Manager to support the delivery of the Centre focussing on issues relating to the Armed Forces Community, including ex-Serving personnel, and their families. The successful candidate will work closely with the Deputy Director and be accountable for managing a broad team on a day-to-day basis, project management of the various Centre outputs, managing Centre social media, awareness and engagement raising, developing and maintaining a broad network of collaborators particularly within research, policy and practice, pertaining to the Armed Forces Community, and measuring metrics and impact of the Centre. The post holder will lead on the annual Research Centre Conference including planning and delivery.

The Centre is now in its last 18months of its current five-year funding from FiMT with the Centre team working to secure future funding from new sources. The post holder will therefore be expected to contribute to the sustainability work to secure future sustained funding for the Centre - this is an exciting opportunity to drive the future of the Centre!

This is a full time (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an a fixed term contract until 31st August 2027.

We would be open to exploring this opportunity as a job share arrangement.

The post is based at King's College London, Denmark Hill Campus for 2-3 days a week with the option to work from home 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. PhD in relevant subject area OR significant relevant work experience (candidates with excellent project management and leadership skills)
2. Experienced in delivering project management/research projects/knowledge translation
3. Evidence of sustaining effective working relationships with stakeholders in the public or private sector
4. Demonstrates an understanding and reflection of inclusive research practices
5. Highly organized and proactive, able to multi-task and delegate effectively, with excellent verbal and written communication skills
6. Commitment to integrity in research practices/processes with attention to detail and diligence
7. Experience in communicating to raise awareness and engagement including via social media channels
8. Able to build relationships at senior levels, facilitate joint decision making, develop innovative ways of working, and put strategies into action (Grade 7)

Desirable criteria

1. Interest in working in research, policy, and practice within the Armed Forces Community
2. Experience in research or Project Management within the Armed Forces Community
3. Experience in planning research events such as conferences and symposiums
4. Experience in grant development/funding acquisition
5. Experience in measuring and reporting on impact (Grade 7)

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 page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information

At King's, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King's guidance.

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.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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 on 18th and 19th March 2026