Research Assistant in Nutritional Sciences

About Us

Department of Nutritional Sciences

The Department of Nutritional Sciences explores the relationship between diet, health and disease from molecules to populations. Based at King’s Waterloo Campus, the Department of Nutritional Sciences combines over 60 basic and applied scientists, dietitians, nutritionists, doctors and public health experts. Our mission is to find new ways to improve health and to prevent and treat nutrition-related disease.

About the role

We have two Research Assistant positions for a Nutritionist or Dietitian to gain excellent research experience working alongside a team of experts and to use their skills to advance understanding of dietary intake in gastrointestinal disorders. We are part of a large group of researchers across the UK undertaking an exciting cohort study to investigate clinical, microbial, genetic and dietary predictors of responsiveness to biologic therapies in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel disease). King’s is leading on the dietary assessment component of the research.

These roles will involve receiving and tracking 4-day food diaries from patients with Crohn’s disease and to enter these onto a food composition database for nutrient analysis, and novel databases to quantify intakes of prebiotics, food additive emulsifiers and ultra-processed food intake. The post holders will lead on data entry of food diaries together with a PhD student and will be closely supported by a Postdoctoral Research Associate with expertise in dietary assessment and nutritional epidemiology. There will be the opportunity to be involved in the manuscripts that focus on the dietary aspects of this study in which the candidate has been involved. There is also the opportunity to get involved in other research projects in diet and gut health within the team, including human dietary intervention trials, food preparation for participants in trials and systematic reviews.

This is an exciting opportunity to gain expertise in dietary assessment following gold-standard operating procedures and to receive training from experts in the field. It will also be a fantastic opportunity to enhance research skills in a centre of excellence for those wanting to develop a research career.

The post-holders will be based within the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the School of Life Course and Population Sciences, working face-to-face, full time from the Waterloo Campus of King’s College London, and will report to Professor Kevin Whelan.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 10 months.

About you

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

Essential criteria

• BSc or MSc in Nutrition or Dietetics
• Registered as an Associate Nutritionist / Nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition or as a Dietitian with the Health and Care Professions Council
• Experience of entering food diaries into a food composition database
• Excellent understanding of the UK food supply and of the foods eaten across the whole of the UK and by people from a range of ethnic backgrounds
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team on a project
• Exceptional attention to detail and organisational skills
• Excellent time keeping and time management
• Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias

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