Job Description

The post will be based at the St. Thomas' Hospital site and may involve working at local community sites across South London. As part of this work, you must be prepared to travel across different sites in a time effective manner, to work in public community facilities or the homes of families. If the operational outlook of this project changes, you may be required to adapt ways of working to secure the outcomes of the project, which is funded to finish at the end of this post.
Responsibilities will include assisting and leading with outreach and engagement events, training Community Research Link Workers from third sector organisations and running interviews and workshops with parents and carers of babies across cultural groups within the catchment of South and South-East London. Effective working across organisational groups and cultures, secure data management, efficient planning of events in the community, and dissemination of the study results are key requirements for succeeding in this role.
This position is available as a part-time (90% / 4.5 days a week) non-clinical post for 18 months.
Main duties of the job
Main duties and responsibilities will include:
Leading the recruitment of Community Research Link Workers (CRLWs) from diverse communities from South-East London (SEL)
Leading the training of CRLWs and developing their interviewing skills for undertaking this qualitative research.
Recruiting and gaining informed consent from parents and carers of babies to participate in semi-structured interviews.
Conducting interviews and supporting CRLWs to conduct interviews with parents and carers of babies.
Conducting focus groups with parents and carers, healthcare professionals and experts, to develop and engage with prototype intervention tools.
Ensuring secure data management, anonymization, transcription and annotation of interview and workshop transcripts.
Leading qualitative analysis of transcripts under the supervision of the research team.
Leading the day to day running of the engagement events, interviews, focus groups and dissemination events.
Liaising with the wider research team.
Assisting with report writing and dissemination of the research findings.
You are also expected to undertake other activities appropriate to your grade as directed by your line manager. This job description reflects the present requirements of the post. As duties and responsibilities change, the job description will be reviewed and amended in consultation with the post holder from time to time.
About us
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK's best-known hospitals - Guy's, St Thomas', Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield - as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK's busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and - as part of King's Health Partners - we are one of England's eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research. We have one of the National Institute for Health Research's biomedical research centres, established with King's College London in 2007, as well as dedicated clinical research facilities.
We have around 22,700 staff, making us one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers locally. We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and continue to develop new and existing partnerships with local people, patients, neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities and charitable bodies and GPs.
Details
Date posted
01 July 2025
Pay scheme
Hospital medical and dental staff
Grade
Doctor - other
Salary
49,909 to 61,825 a year Band 7
Contract
Fixed term
Duration
18 months
Working pattern
Part-time
Reference number
196-MED4881
Job locations
Guys and St Thomas' Hospital
Westminster Bridge
SE1 7EU
Job description
Job responsibilities
An opportunity for a fixed term Research Fellow appointment is available in the Department of Paediatric Allergy. The post holder will join a dynamic clinical academic team of consultants with a strong reputation for developing innovative translational interventions, and track record for designing large, randomised control trials. The Childrens Allergy department was founded in 2006 and has grown rapidly since by putting translational pathways into clinical practice. The department works closely with Guy and St Thomas Trust (GSTT) community healthcare teams and across the South-East London Integrated Care System, involving Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley boroughs.
The Research Fellow will work on a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded study. The Department has led the two largest food allergy prevention randomised clinical trials in the UK and continues to develop and enrol children on multiple allergy prevention and treatment trials. Children from black and Asian demographic backgrounds are more likely to develop food allergy during early life, and the current Research for Patient Benefit NIHR grant supports the co-design of a new community-based intervention to facilitate the dietary prevention of cows milk, egg and peanut allergy. Cross-cultural working is a strong theme in this project, and we are involving Community Research Link Workers to best elicit and interpret the views and experience of local families and develop an intervention that best supports the dietary progression of their children. The successful candidate will be jointly supervised by the study lead Dr Tom Marrs, Consultant Paediatrician, Professor Michael Ussher (Professor of Behavioural Medicine at both City St Georges, University of London and Stirling University) and Dr Kate Fryer (Clinical Research Fellow at the Deep End Research Alliance and Division of Population Health, University of Sheffield).
Due to the nature of this work, we particularly welcome female applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds. Most importantly, you should be committed to the ethos of health equity. Job description
Job responsibilities
An opportunity for a fixed term Research Fellow appointment is available in the Department of Paediatric Allergy. The post holder will join a dynamic clinical academic team of consultants with a strong reputation for developing innovative translational interventions, and track record for designing large, randomised control trials. The Childrens Allergy department was founded in 2006 and has grown rapidly since by putting translational pathways into clinical practice. The department works closely with Guy and St Thomas Trust (GSTT) community healthcare teams and across the South-East London Integrated Care System, involving Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley boroughs.
The Research Fellow will work on a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded study. The Department has led the two largest food allergy prevention randomised clinical trials in the UK and continues to develop and enrol children on multiple allergy prevention and treatment trials. Children from black and Asian demographic backgrounds are more likely to develop food allergy during early life, and the current Research for Patient Benefit NIHR grant supports the co-design of a new community-based intervention to facilitate the dietary prevention of cows milk, egg and peanut allergy. Cross-cultural working is a strong theme in this project, and we are involving Community Research Link Workers to best elicit and interpret the views and experience of local families and develop an intervention that best supports the dietary progression of their children. The successful candidate will be jointly supervised by the study lead Dr Tom Marrs, Consultant Paediatrician, Professor Michael Ussher (Professor of Behavioural Medicine at both City St Georges, University of London and Stirling University) and Dr Kate Fryer (Clinical Research Fellow at the Deep End Research Alliance and Division of Population Health, University of Sheffield).
Due to the nature of this work, we particularly welcome female applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds. Most importantly, you should be committed to the ethos of health equity.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• First degree in a relevant field

• Postgraduate degree in a biomedical or related subject and/or relevant professional qualification

• Experience of health-related research
• Experience of qualitative research
• Experience of data collection and data management

• Experience of working with underserved communities

• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills for both academic and non-academic audiences
• Computer literacy and competence in standard software packages

• Knowledge of behaviour change theories (e.g., COM-B)
• Proven facilitation skills in co-production workshops

• Enthusiasm for working to address health inequalities, and ability to adopt culturally appropriate ways of working
• Self-motivated, organized and able to prioritize and meet deadlines
• Reliability and commitment, paying attention to detail

• First degree in a relevant field

• Postgraduate degree in a biomedical or related subject and/or relevant professional qualification

• Experience of health-related research
• Experience of qualitative research
• Experience of data collection and data management

• Experience of working with underserved communities

• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills for both academic and non-academic audiences
• Computer literacy and competence in standard software packages

• Knowledge of behaviour change theories (e.g., COM-B)
• Proven facilitation skills in co-production workshops

• Enthusiasm for working to address health inequalities, and ability to adopt culturally appropriate ways of working
• Self-motivated, organized and able to prioritize and meet deadlines
• Reliability and commitment, paying attention to detail