Job Description

About the role:
We are looking to appoint a Research Assistant to join the Health Psychology Group within the Department of Psychology at King's College London.
The successful candidate will join Dr Lauren Heathcote's team, situated in the Health Psychology Section within Guy's Hospital. The Heathcote Lab conducts innovative research aimed at understanding mind-body mechanisms of mental and physical health, including developing and testing mind-body interventions for cancer survivors.
The successful candidate will primarily support a Randomised Controlled Trial of ADIE ('Aligning Dimensions of Interoceptive Experience') Therapy, which aims to reduce anxiety in breast cancer survivors. ADIE Therapy involves combining biofeedback-based training using heartbeat-sensing equipment with psychological support to re-establish a healthy mind-body connection and reduce anxiety after breast cancer. The RA will primarily support the following activities:

• Patient recruitment for the clinical trial via breast cancer clinics, charities, and community settings. This will include finding and establishing new recruitment pathways.
• Delivering ADIE Therapy to breast cancer survivors. This will include both handling the heartbeat-sensing equipment and providing psychological support to help breast cancer survivors re-establish an adaptive mind-body connection.
• Data collection, data management, and secure data storage for questionnaire, psychophysiology, and biomarker data.
• Accompanying patients to undergo fMRI brain imaging scans before and after ADIE Therapy (these will be done at the KCL Denmark Hill campus). (Note: the MRI scans will be overseen by a Postdoc specialising in neuroimaging and so the RA does not need familiarity with neuroimaging methods).
• Trial-related paperwork including NHS and KCL ethics submissions and amendments, tracking and reporting safety and adverse events to the PI, sponsor, and regulators.
• Data cleaning and analysis, presentation of findings at scientific conferences, and write-up of papers for publication (these activities will be in year 3 of the position, dependent upon contract extension).
• Supporting public engagement and science communication activities to share the importance of mental health care for cancer survivors and the role of mind-body science.

The position will be full-time (100% FTE) and appointed for a fixed duration of 2 years, with the possibility of extension up to 3 years for the full duration of the trial.
The role will involve working 35 hours per week, and this may include working out of office hours and weekends, as needed, to support patient therapy delivery and data collection on the project. This position will require in-person work at least four days per week, but this will be up to five days per week during busy testing periods.
*We have the right to close the advert earlier than advertised if we receive enough applications.
About you:
Essential criteria

• Degree in Psychology, Neuroscience, or related degree.
• Masters Degree in Psychology, Health Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, or a related degree.
• Excellent interpersonal communication and team-working skills.
• Motivated and driven to improve the lives of people diagnosed with cancer.
• Excellent organisational and project management skills.
• Self-motivated, proactive and takes initiative to problem-solve.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of conducting research within an NHS setting, particularly patient recruitment.
• Experience working with vulnerable populations or families impacted by cancer.
• Experience with NHS ethics approvals.
• Experience with Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) or co-design.
• Experience with psychophysiology or neuroimaging methods.
• Experience with statistical packages including SPSS, R, and/or MATLAB.

38,482 to 41,130 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance