Research Assistant (BioResource)

About us:

We are looking to recruit a highly motivated Research Assistant for BioResource within the NIHR BioResource Centre Maudsley.

You will be based in the KCL Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, within the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) working on an exciting programme of projects, such as the UK Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI UK) the GLAD-MHG Omics Cohort, one of the UK’s most ambitious precision psychiatry initiatives, hosted in the NIHR BioResource Centre Maudsley and supported by the UK Government’s Office for Life Sciences.

These centres offer a diverse research environment that is open, welcoming and supportive to all. The faculty-wide initiatives are supported by an active Diversity & Inclusion Team.

About the role:

This will be a post working on fundamental recruitment, research, and data analysis tasks based in the NIHR BioResource Centre Maudsley. The BioResource is focused on recruiting participants with mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders as well as other health conditions in diverse populations.

The post-holder will have extensive involvement in the GLAD-MHG Omics Cohort, one of the UK’s most ambitious precision psychiatry initiatives, hosted in the NIHR BioResource Centre Maudsley and supported by the UK Government’s Office for Life Sciences.

The GLAD-MHG Omics Cohort builds on the established GLAD Study (>38,000 participants) and will recruit a further 12,000 people with recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), including 2,500 with longitudinal biosampling. This resource will combine multi-omic profiling, advanced digital phenotyping (e.g. wearable data, AI-based speech analysis), and NHS medical record linkage, all curated in the DATAMIND Trusted Research Environment.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 18 months.

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

• Postgraduate degree in a relevant subject (e.g. genetics, data science, psychology). Undergraduate degrees will also be considered if accompanied by relevant experience.
• Excellent organisational, communication, interpersonal and administrative skills
• Excellent time-management skills with ability to work to deadlines
• Ability to communicate complex ideas to a range of audiences
• Good all-round IT and database skills including experience of maintaining of Secure web databases
• Knowledge and experience of Qualtrics or similar platforms
• Ability to identify and resolve problems which may impact on agreed objectives

Desirable criteria

• Some experience of R, Python or similar programming languages.
• Knowledge of data management and governance considerations when working with clinical data.
• Knowledge or understanding of quantitative research methods
• Experience or interest in eating disorders and/or general mental health

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