King's College London
Research Scientist in Health Coaching
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About Us
King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. We are dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place. We are delighted to announce exciting new opportunities to join our community.
EMBRACE is a visionary, multicomponent International research programme, the first of its kind in the world, supported by Inkfish with £35M core funds over six years, starting in April 2025. It is a global study of 60,000 participants, including 20,000 mothers, 20,000 infants and up to 20,000 partners. It brings together world-leading clinician scientists across six distinguished Healthcare organisations, world-leading AI & technology companies, together with premier biotech companies, with the overarching aim to fast track major scientific breakthroughs, revolutionise maternal and early childhood health through precision-personalised interventions, powered by a groundbreaking symbiosis of cutting-edge AI combined with human support.
About the role
The post holder of Research Scientist on the EMBRACE programme led by Professor Josip Car focuses on physical activity interventions during pregnancy with particular emphasis on the role of health coaching approaches in supporting behaviour change. There remain gaps in evidence and unanswered research questions related to physical activity and exercise during pregnancy spanning physiological, psychological, social, and clinical domains. In particular, there is a need to better understand how personalised, coaching-informed interventions can support motivation, confidence, and sustained engagement in physical activity across diverse populations. This highlights the need for comprehensive interdisciplinary research to understand how to optimise physical activity recommendations. The post holder will contribute to the design, delivery, evaluation, and dissemination of intervention strategies that incorporate health coaching principles aimed at promoting safe, sustainable physical activity among pregnant individuals This may include working with digital health tools, co-designing interventions with service users and practitioners, and evaluating outcomes relevant to maternal health and wellbeing.
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This post offers an exciting opportunity to work within an interdisciplinary team in maternal health, exercise science, health coaching, digital health and population health, and to make a real-world impact on clinical practice and public health policy. The post holder is expected to collaborate with colleagues, present findings at conferences, publish research, and co-supervise project students, ensuring the project’s success and broader scientific impact.
This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 30/09/2029.
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.
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About You
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- PhD in relevant field *
- Knowledge of pregnancy-specific guidelines for physical activity
- Experience in physical activity research and/or interventions during pregnancy or related populations
- Good effective communication (both oral and written) skills, including research papers and reports, and presentations at conferences
- Experience of writing research reports and papers accessible to both academic and lay audiences
- Experience of evaluating digital health interventions such as apps or use of smartwatches and other wearables and synthesising evidence from multiple sources
- Project management skills - ability to initiate, plan, organise, implement and deliver programmes of work to tight deadlines
- Evidence of actively addressing areas of potential bias when engaging with public, patient, or community groups
*Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.
Desirable criteria
- Experience with evaluation of wearable physical activity monitors and measurement tools
- Experience with Patient and Public Involvement
- Highly data-driven approach to problem-solving and decision-making
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