Clinical Research Fellow

Job id:161765. Salary:£41,226 - £55,355 per annum, not including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted:27 October 2026. Closing date:10 November 2026.

Business unit:IoPPN. Department:Psychosis Studies.

Contact details: Toby Pillinger. Toby.pillinger@kcl.ac.uk

Location: Denmark Hill Campus. Category:Research.

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About us:

The Department of Psychosis Studies at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, is one of the world’s leading centres for research into psychosis. The Department brings together clinical and academic expertise to improve understanding of psychotic disorders and develop more effective approaches to their prevention, assessment and treatment.

Working in close partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, the Department provides a highly collaborative clinical-academic environment in which research can be translated into improvements in patient care. This role sits within a multidisciplinary programme focused on understanding, preventing and treating the physical-health consequences of severe mental illness, particularly the cardiometabolic effects of psychosis and antipsychotic treatment.

About the role:

We are seeking a medically qualified Clinical Research Fellow to join a multidisciplinary clinical-academic programme focused on improving the physical health of people with severe mental illness. The post offers a distinctive opportunity to combine direct patient care with clinical research, service evaluation and experimental medicine. The postholder will be based principally at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Denmark Hill, with regular work across South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust clinical services and imaging visits at Hammersmith Hospital.

The postholder will work predominantly within TUNE-UP, a new specialist NHS metabolic psychiatry service and associated research programme for people experiencing, or at high risk of, antipsychotic-associated weight gain and related cardiometabolic complications. Current projects include evaluating the clinical and metabolic effects of switching to novel treatments such as xanomeline–trospium, and developing and evaluating new approaches to preventing antipsychotic-associated weight gain, with a particular focus on GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Under appropriate senior supervision, the postholder will assess and review patients, contribute to treatment initiation and monitoring, and evaluate mental state, physical health, treatment response and adverse effects. They will also identify, recruit and consent research participants and undertake structured clinical and research assessments.

The postholder will additionally contribute to experimental medicine studies using advanced cardiac and brain imaging, detailed clinical phenotyping and biological sampling to investigate cardiometabolic abnormalities in people with first-episode psychosis and those receiving clozapine. They will contribute to study delivery, data analysis, conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications, with support to develop applications for higher degrees or competitive clinical academic fellowships.

The postholder will report to Dr Toby Pillinger.

This is a full-time post, offered on a fixed-term contract for 12 months in the first instance, with the possibility of extension for a further 12 months subject to funding. An anticipated start date of January 2027 is preferred.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you:

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

Essential criteria

1. Primary medical qualification, full GMC registration with a licence to practise, and successful completion of UK Foundation training or evidence of equivalent competencies.
2. Clinical experience working directly with people with psychosis, including contributing to psychiatric assessment and clinical management under appropriate supervision.
3. Ability to undertake mental-state and risk assessments, recognise clinical deterioration, and seek or initiate appropriate senior support.
4. Experience of prescribing and monitoring medication in clinical practice, with an understanding of assessing treatment response, relevant physical-health parameters and adverse effects.
5. Evidence of interest in and engagement with clinical research, audit or service evaluation, demonstrated through participation in a relevant project, presentation, publication or other academic activity.
6. Excellent organisational skills, with evidence of managing multiple clinical or research responsibilities accurately, reliably and within appropriate timescales.
7. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to engage people with severe mental illness and work effectively within multidisciplinary NHS and academic teams.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience delivering patient-facing clinical research, including participant identification, recruitment, informed consent or structured research assessments.
2. Experience initiating, switching or monitoring antipsychotic medication, including assessment of psychiatric response and adverse effects.
3. Experience collecting physical-health or biological data, such as anthropometric measurements, ECGs, phlebotomy or processing biological samples.
4. Experience supporting imaging-based research, particularly cardiac or brain MRI.
5. Experience analysing clinical or research data and contributing to an academic output, such as a conference presentation, report or peer-reviewed publication.

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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

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 TBC.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and Occupational Health clearances.