Research Career Establishment Fellow in Cardiovascular Sciences

About Us

King’s British Heart Foundation (BHF) Centre of Research Excellence

The King’s British Heart Foundation (BHF) Centre of Research Excellence  is a major hub for interdisciplinary cardiovascular research, innovation, and training at King’s College London. Established in 2008 and now in its fourth round of BHF funding, the Centre brings together a vibrant community of biomedical scientists, clinicians, engineers, physical scientists, and data experts who share a mission to transform the lives of people living with heart failure.

Heart failure affects more than half a million people in the UK, and the Centre tackles this challenge through four ambitious research themes:

• Discovering new therapies for human heart failure
• Using advanced imaging and experimental medicine to understand disease mechanisms and predict therapeutic success
• Unravelling the impact of ageing on heart failure, particularly in HFpEF
• Pioneering precision cardiovascular medicine to deliver personalised care for patients of all ages, sexes, and ethnicities

The BHF Centre is hosted by the School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS) but spans the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine and connects directly with four major specialist cardiovascular hospitals through King’s Health Partners. This unique integration accelerates translation from discovery to clinical impact. The Centre also plays a vital role in developing the next generation of cardiovascular researchers through strong mentoring programmes, cutting-edge facilities, and a collaborative, inclusive, impact‑driven research culture.

School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS)

The  School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS) provides an outstanding multidisciplinary environment that underpins the BHF Centre’s research strengths. SCMMS hosts more than 65 academic groups and around 400 staff and 110 PhD students, spanning the Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Denmark Hill campuses. Its research is structured across major themes in cardiac, vascular, cardiometabolic, and diabetes & obesity science, supported by cross‑cutting basic and clinical science programmes.

About The Role

The Career Establishment Fellowships are prestigious posts funded by the King’s College London British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence. They are designed to support outstanding early-career scientists (typically 3–5 years post-doctoral experience) in establishing independent research careers in cardiovascular science, initially through a successful application for an external personal Fellowship.

Each Fellowship offers a competitive salary and research expenses (including consumables, travel, and technical costs). Successful candidates will receive support to apply for external fellowships, with the expectation that they will submit an application for an intermediate-level fellowship (e.g., BHF, UKRI, Wellcome Trust) within their first year. If the application is successful, fellows will be supported in transitioning to a tenure-track academic position at King’s College London.

Fellows will benefit from King’s world-class bench-to-bedside ecosystem, with access to outstanding facilities such as advanced imaging platforms (e.g., whole-body PET, low field and high field MRI), cutting-edge 'omics technologies, a High Throughput Screening facility, AAV manufacturing capabilities, and high-performance computing resources.

The ideal candidate will have a track record of high-impact first or lead-author publications, demonstrable potential for independent research leadership, and a well-defined cardiovascular research focus that complements and enhances King’s internationally leading work.

Fellows are expected to establish an independent research programme rather than continue within their current group. We are particularly interested in candidates whose work focuses on the biology of cardiac ageing(e.g. epigenetic mechanisms), genetics of cardiomyopathy, or novel biological questions in cardiovascular science that can be addressed using imaging-derived and multi-omics data.

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