This is an exciting and unusual joint post across both King’s College London and the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM).

 

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas:

 

• Educating the next generation of change-makers

• Challenging ideas and driving change through research

• Giving back to society through meaningful service

• Working with our local communities in London

• Fostering global citizens with an international perspective

 

The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a Faculty of King’s College London and the largest academic community in Europe devoted to the study and prevention of mental illness and brain disease. The Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre, is an interdisciplinary research centre investigating the interplay between genetics (‘nature’) and the environment (‘nurture’) in psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions and individual differences across the lifespan. SGDP scientists lead some of the UK’s foremost longitudinal cohort and twin studies, including TEDS, eRISK, Dunedin and GLAD. Our collaborative research and training spans behavioural, molecular and statistical genetics, experimental psychology and psychiatry, and neuroimaging.

 

The South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) has the most comprehensive range of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the United Kingdom. This includes services for children and young people with emotional, behavioural, psychiatric, and neurodevelopmental problems. Our services cover a spectrum of inpatient, outpatient and community-based resources delivering care to local and national patients. The services are renowned nationally and internationally, with evidence based clinical practice that thrives on our close links with the IoPPN.

 

Staff within CAMHS provide the main national training programmes for undergraduate, and post-graduate trainees from all the key mental health professions and academic and service interests work in a collaborative and mutually beneficial way. The new Pears Maudsley Centre (PMC) for Children and Young People which opens shortly, plans to transform the mental health of children and young people. Sitting at the heart of the King’s/SLaM Denmark Hill campus, the PMC is a £90M state-of-the-art hub for mental health research focused on children, adolescents, young adults and their families. It brings together scientists and clinicians from varied professional backgrounds to deliver rapid, relevant findings determining which children are most at risk of mental ill health, developing effective strategies on how to prevent development and deterioration of mental health problems and establishing personalised multi-modal treatments with avenues for scalability. The PMC is the only facility in Europe whose primary focus is on mental disorders and neurodevelopmental conditions affecting Children and Young People.

This is an exciting opportunity for a clinical academic psychologist (Lecturer level) with strong research and clinical experience to join the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London (IoPPN-KCL). This full-time position will be shared by IoPPN-KCL (0.6 FTE) with the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), Southwark Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (0.4 FTE). This position allows for considerable synergy between academic research and education, and clinical service delivery.

 

In this role, you will build a research programme in an area of child and adolescent mental health, developing studies and applying methodologies that complement the department’s vibrant interdisciplinary and collaborative research. You will attract external funding as principal investigator, as well as collaborating with other research groups.

 

You will actively contribute to education and training of the next generation of scientists by supporting the MSc in Developmental Psychology and Psychopathology, and other courses, leading the “Psychological Approaches to Treatment” module, developing new clinical placements and supervising student projects.

 

The post is also a rare opportunity for a clinical academic psychologist to help shape the King’s Maudsley Partnership (KMP) research strategy for the mental health of children and young people. The post holder will develop their own research interests and prioritise research in child Clinical Psychology by establishing collaborations with other researchers within IoPPN and KCL, and institutions external to KCL. The post is closely linked to the new Pears Maudsley Centre (PMC) for Children and Young People which plans to transform the mental health of children and young people.

 

You will work clinically within a SLaM Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, which will be negotiated to ensure it meets a service need and the clinical and research interests/expertise of the post-holder. The service will be in the field of child mental or neurodevelopmental disorders. A key aspect of the role will be to enhance links between the SGDP Centre and clinical colleagues in the new Pears Maudsley Centre (PMC) for Children and Young People, and the ability to represent the clinical and academic activities linked to the PMC is integral to the role.