Head of School of Basic & Medical Biosciences
About King’s
King’s College London is ranked 5th in the UK in the 2026 QS World University Rankings, and 31st in the world, with a turnover exceeding £1.3 Bn. It is the fourth oldest university in England, and is based in the heart of London.
Kings has over 40,000 students from over 150 countries studying in person and online, and has over 12,000 employees. King’s academics are members of 9 Faculties, based on 5 campuses in central and SE London. Together the King’s community delivers a comprehensive portfolio of outstanding and impactful research and education in close partnership with the vibrant ecosystem across London along with other universities and partners across the globe.
King's College London offers an intellectually stimulating environment in which to work, where staff are dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and learning in the service of society. We are a multi-Faculty institution, providing high-quality education, research and innovation across the humanities, sciences, medicine, law, dentistry, and social sciences.
King’s Strategy 2030 sets out how we take our purpose to make the world a better place forward, with four key priorities including student success in and beyond university, investment in research and education excellence that responds to the changing world, to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, and sustainable finances for a secure future.
King’s provides world-class education which enables students to become rounded critical thinkers, set up for success and with the character and wisdom to strive for social change. Through enquiry-driven research, King's delivers transformative insights and solutions that have the power to advance and accelerate global progress. Our comprehensive range of disciplines are organised into nine Faculties:
- Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
- Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy
- The Dickson Poon School of Law
- Faculty of Arts & Humanities
- Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences
- Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences
- Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
- King’s Business School
Please see the link below for supporting information for prospective applicants. This also includes some background information about the university including rankings, research outputs, King’s Health Partner Trusts and our current fundraising initiative.
Appointment details
Reports to: Professor Ajay Shah
Salary
Professorial. This role will attract an honorarium which will be paid in addition to the appointee’s existing salary, for the period that they are in the leadership role.
Terms
The appointment as Head of School is fixed term for a period of 5 years, once renewable, with the role running in parallel to the holder’s substantive Professorial appointment in the Faculty.
Closing date for applications
30 November 2026 23:59
Vacancy ID
161845
Role purpose
The Head of the School of Basic & Medical Biosciences is a key leadership role in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine. They are expected:
- To provide strategic and operational leadership within the School.
- To align the School’s strategic objectives with those of the Faculty, with responsibility for the delivery of these, to optimise the School’s and Faculty’s performance and ongoing sustainability.
- To enable the School and Faculty to excel in education, research and knowledge transfer activities, encouraging and fostering collaboration and ensuring consistency of practice and process.
- To represent the School’s interests in the development of Faculty and university policy, and to be responsible for the implementation of Faculty and university policy within the School.
- To be responsible and accountable for health and safety in the School.
- To manage academic staff performance in the School.
- To be responsible for the overall resourcing and performance of the School.
- To foster a stimulating, innovative and inclusive cultural and academic environment across the School enabling students and staff to thrive and develop.
The role holder will be a respected academic of international standing who is an experienced leader and has successfully delivered positive change.
In addition to the Head of School position, the role holder will be appointed to a permanent Professorial position in the School of Basic and Medical Biosciences.
Role profile
Leadership & Planning
- Provide strategic vision and leadership.
- Lead the delivery of the School plan, and contribute to the Faculty’s annual planning process.
- Contribute to Faculty leadership through membership of the Faculty Executive Board, deputising for the Executive Dean where appropriate and contributing to the Faculty’s financial planning.
- Chair the School Executive, which oversees the School’s performance and delivery of key targets and activity, ensuring School objectives are delivered at the appropriate level of quality and appropriate reporting mechanisms to and from the Faculty.
- Foster a culture that develops leadership capabilities, providing opportunities to staff to gain leadership experience and supporting succession planning for key School leadership roles.
- Lead by example to foster a collegial academic environment, engaging in cross-School, -Faculty and -University initiatives, participating in leadership opportunities, recognising and celebrating these contributions.
Academic Leadership
- Ensure the quality of education and research across the School, ensuring these align with REF and TEF expectations and requirements.
- Oversee School partnerships, locally, nationally and internationally, facilitating interactions and establishing expectations, working with Faculty Partnership leads where appropriate.
- Encourage a culture that embraces innovation and the development of new ideas to maximise impact in all areas of academic endeavour.
- Foster and promote research excellence working closely with the University’s Research Strategy & Development team; identifying collaborative research endeavours across the School, Faculty, University and with partner organisations and opportunities for research innovation, impact and knowledge transfer.
- Ensure peer review and other support mechanisms exist for research grant applications and allocate appropriate resources (including staff, space, facilities) to deliver the research.
- Ensure appropriate education contributions in the School, both the level and quality of contribution, and identify colleagues to take on key leadership and organisational roles to support of the education programmes.
Resource Management
- Oversee the recruitment, retention and performance of academic staff, managing the PDR process and associated outcomes.
- Review academic promotions applications, maintaining consistent quality and standards.
- Manage staff appointed to the School’s academic leadership roles (Heads of Departments and School Leads for Education, Research & Impact, People & Culture, Partnership, PGR) to support a culture of academic excellence.
- With the Faculty Director of Operations, work closely with the Head of School Operations to deliver excellent professional services support for the School.
- Embed a culture of diversity and inclusivity across the School, actively addressing areas of potential bias in relation to the School’s staff and student community, and maintaining the School’s policies on diversity and inclusion.
- Oversee for the School’s finances, including the establishment budget, building resilience and financial sustainability, aligned with the Faculty’s budgeting processes.
- Oversee for the allocation and use of space and facilities in the School.
- Take responsibility for business continuity, and health and safety for the School.
Other duties
To carry out other duties as may reasonably be required by the Executive Dean of Faculty, the University’s Vice Presidents, the Vice-Chancellor & President, or the Council.
Key responsibilities (for the Professorial post)
- As a principal investigator, deliver research excellence in the area of basic and medical biosciences, including high-quality publications and supervision of PhD students.
- Secure large-scale research grant funding to support an internationally leading research programme. This will include productive collaborations within academia, industry and other relevant partners.
- Attract and nurture the most promising early career researchers within a supportive, collegiate culture.
- Contribute to the teaching of undergraduate and/or postgraduate students in topics in an area related to the post-holder’s area of expertise.
This role description reflects the core activities of the role. These may be changes in the emphasis of duties and it is expected that the role-holder recognises this, adopting a flexible approach to work and willingness to participate in training.
If changes to the role become significant, the role description will be reviewed by the role-holder and line manager, providing the Human Resources department with the revised role description.
Essential Criteria
The Head of School will be an experienced leader and internationally leading academic at Professorial level who will bring energy and commitment to the role. They will have a significant level of leadership experience with evidence of working strategically and of delivering objectives. They will have an outstanding academic track record and have an understanding and appreciation of the breadth of basic and medical bioscience research at King’s, within and beyond the School of Basic & Medical Biosciences.
Candidates will be outstanding communicators who can inspire staff, students and external stakeholders. In addition to demonstratable academic standing and authority, the role holder will be experienced in working in partnership, representing and negotiating on behalf of King’s. They will be committed to professional development – their own and that of colleagues, from PhD to Professor – and have a clear understanding of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities.
Knowledge and Experience
- PhD (or equivalent higher degree) in a relevant subject.
- Academic excellence with an internationally leading profile.
- Proven ability to attract programmatic research funding.
- Demonstrable success in academic strategic leadership and management at a senior level in a large complex organisation, including strategic planning, and management of change, risk and budgets.
- Experience of leading a broad range of activities working across academia and professional services, resolving complex issues and delivering long-lasting impact.
- Experienced in working in different settings, adapting and using culturally competent behaviours.
- A successful record of fostering a culture that supports academic excellence within a varied academic environment, including innovation and continuous improvement.
Skills and Competencies
- Proven ability to provide strong and visible academic leadership and vision that is both inspiring and inclusive.
- A confident, inspirational and engaging communicator, with the ability to articulate a vision that is both inspiring and inclusive.
- Clear thinking and decisive, with ability to operate both strategically and highly operationally, as required.
- Strong influencing and collaboration skills, with the ability to communicate across disciplines, sectors and locations, building trust and strong networks both within and outside of the university, including with students and the public.
- Ability to work collegially to resolve problems and implement change successfully.
- Effective collaboration skills, with a strength in cultivating connections and trust.
Personal Attributes
- Open, collaborative, inclusive, approachable and reliable with a determination to deliver.
- Strategic and institutionally minded, balancing School interests with wider Faculty and institutional priorities.
- Decisive yet inclusive, able to pursue a clear vision while responding constructively to the needs of colleagues, departments, School and the Faculty.
- A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion including widening participation.
Desirable Criteria
- An understanding of the UK higher education environment.
About the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
The Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine is one of the largest and most successful centres for biomedical research and education in the UK. We were ranked 9th in the world for Life Science & Medicine in the QS World University Rankings 2026.
With expertise in basic, translational and clinical science, our mission is to advance knowledge and impact in human health and medicine through delivery of world-leading education and research. The Faculty’s activities embody the university’s overall purpose: to be in service of society through academic excellence, with our work having a positive impact locally, nationally and globally.
We develop innovative approaches to the prevention, prediction, diagnosis and management of conditions, with increasing focus on cross-cutting areas such as experimental medicine and advanced therapies. Our work is underpinned by the latest technology and advances in digital health and AI, and we champion interdisciplinary, cross-Faculty collaboration, bringing talented and ambitious people together to make the most of our collective expertise.
People & Culture
We employ more than 2,000 staff, including the full-time-equivalent of 500 academic and teaching staff, more than 700 research staff and a further 700 professional services staff. We are organised into six Schools (see below) and the cross-cutting Centre for Education.
We are proud of our diverse community and continuously strive to create an inclusive environment where students, staff and visitors feel welcomed and valued for their contributions. We recognise our responsibility in ensuring our work is accessible and benefits all societal groups in the UK and worldwide. We want our rich diversity to be reflected across our community, from undergraduate students to executive leadership; and seek to put equality, inclusion, support and transparency at the heart of our practice, policies and processes.
The Faculty’s People & Culture Team has a comprehensive programme of initiatives to support these aims. These include the Harold Moody Lecture series, our monthly People & Culture Cafés, a comprehensive suite of training aimed at tackling bullying and harassment as well as learning and development schemes.
The Faculty holds a silver Athena Swan award (first achieved in October 2018 with reaccreditation in 2024) and contributes directly to both the university Athena Swan Charter and the Race Equality Charter.
Structure & Location
The Faculty is located on four campuses – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Waterloo and Denmark Hill, in close proximity to our NHS partners: Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. We work closely with them all under the umbrella of King’s Health Partners.
The Faculty’s six Schools are:
- School of Basic & Medical Biosciences
- School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
- School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences
- School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences
- School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences
- School of Life Course & Population Health Sciences
Since our educational programmes build upon and inform research excellence, each School provides a dynamic and collaborative environment both for research and for education. We offer an extensive range of undergraduate, Masters and postgraduate research (PhDs and MD Res) degrees, as well as short courses for professionals seeking further skills and qualifications.
Education
As the largest of the nine Faculties at King’s, our student body numbers nearly 8,500 students, comprising around 5,800 undergraduates, 1,550 postgraduate taught students, and 1,100 postgraduate research students.
The School of Bioscience Education and the Guy’s King’s & St Thomas’ (GKT) School of Medical Education deliver a comprehensive education portfolio, ranging from professional health programmes and courses covering Medicine, Nutrition & Dietetics, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy to several different programmes within biomedical sciences and biomedical engineering.
We nurture our students to be curious, independent, interdisciplinary learners and thinkers, equipped to realise their potential, thrive in their lives beyond King’s, and make a difference in the world. We are committed to the highest standards of academic excellence, student experience and student outcomes, and we continually develop our research-informed curriculum to attract the best as well as to respond to the changing environment around us.
In the latest Teaching Excellence Framework review in 2023 (which evaluates the quality of undergraduate student experience and outcomes), King’s was awarded a Silver rating, and Gold for its graduate employment rates and opportunities. The Faculty is committed to widening participation, and we work closely with underrepresented students and the organisations that support them, particularly in our local communities, to remove barriers to access to higher education and to a student’s educational journey.
We have a number of international education partnerships, including the joint education initiative with the Shenzhen University of Science & Technology (SUSTech) in South China where students can receive a joint KCL-SUSTech BSc in Biomedical Sciences or Biomedical Engineering, with an option to undertake a final year King’s Masters in London. We also have a partnership in place with Abdullah Al Salem University (AASU) in Kuwait to support the creation of AASU’s new Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. In the UK, we have worked in partnership with the University of Portsmouth to be able to offer a branch campus arrangement, offering students the chance to study for a King’s medical degree in a part of the country where there is a severe shortage of GPs.
Research
The Faculty has major research strengths across a wide range of areas from fundamental to applied bioscience and clinical medicine, and we host several nationally awarded Research Centres. Thanks to close collaboration with colleagues in the NHS Trusts that are part of King’s Health Partners, our research findings have direct impact within clinical settings for the benefit of patients.
Our research excellence is reflected in the REF2021 outcomes, with 94.1% of our submissions rated 4* (world leading) or 3* (internationally excellent). We attract an annual research grant income of around £100m, which enables this outstanding performance.
We also have several national and international partnerships that result in productive research collaborations. In 2016, King’s became a founding academic partner in the Francis Crick Institute alongside UCL and Imperial College. In addition to joint academic appointments between King’s and the Crick, the partnership funds a vibrant PhD studentship programme and provides opportunities for mid-career academics to be seconded to the Crick for a fixed period.
About School of Basic and Medical Biosciences
The School of Basic & Medical Biosciences is a major focus for discovery-led basic science within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London, bringing together a broad and diverse community of scientists working across the biomedical sciences.
Based predominantly at Guy’s campus, immediately adjacent to the clinical excellence of Guy’s Hospital, and with sites at St Thomas’ and Denmark Hill campuses, the School comprises more than 450 staff and postgraduate researchers, providing an outstanding environment for interdisciplinary research and education. The School brings together five internationally renowned research departments; Centre for Human and Applied Physiology (CHAPS), Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine (CGTRM), Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics (MMG), Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics (Randall), St John’s Institute of Dermatology (St John’s). Our distinctive strength lies in the breadth of science within the School and the connections between disciplines across basic, translational, and clinical research. Researchers work collaboratively to address major health challenges in areas including (but not limited to) cell biology, cellular biophysics, muscle research in health and disease, rare and common genetic disorders, advanced therapies across cancer, diabetes and ocular degeneration, aging and skin health and draw on our research to play a key role in educating the next generation of scientists, clinicians and academic leaders.
Strong academic links across the Faculty, King’s and clinical departments in our partner NHS Trusts under the umbrella of King’s Health Partners provides an environment in which to explore fundamental questions about the biology of human health and disease from multiple perspectives. The School also plays a key role in King's wider ambition to advance interdisciplinary science, providing a bridge between the fundamental life sciences, physical sciences, and clinical research. Researchers are able cross disciplinary boundaries, build collaborations and pursue ambitious interdisciplinary science contributing to the development of innovative technologies, therapies and clinical applications—and to translate fundamental discoveries into meaningful real-world impact.
About King's Health Partners
King’s Health Partners is the clinical academic partnership between King’s College London and three major NHS Foundation Trusts: Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley. Its mission is to pioneer better health for all, together, by connecting partners, building capacity through education and training, and creating opportunities for innovation across research, education and care. Its Strategy to 2030 sets out an ambition for a reimagined health and care system with people, education and research at its heart, underpinned by the principles of integrating mind and body, equity, diversity and inclusion, and co-creation with patients and communities. The strategy focuses collective effort on three priorities: delivering personalised health, accelerating digital health and improving population health, with the aim of improving outcomes for patients and communities, enhancing skills and careers for staff and students, and strengthening system sustainability and economic growth.
Please quote the vacancy id: 161845 in all correspondence.
Closing date for applications: 30 November 2026 23:59
Application process
To apply for this post you will need to register on the King’s College London Job application portal here, and submit the application form, along with the following:
- a statement setting out your reasons for applying for the post and highlighting the particular skill and experience which demonstrates your fit to the role (2 pages max)
- a curriculum vitae
Selection process
At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.
We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.
When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.
Contact us
For more information regarding our courses please contact us using the details below
Terms of Role
The successful candidate will be appointed for a fixed period of five years, with the opportunity for renewal once thereafter. This role complements and sits alongside the substantive position the role holder holds in the university; the duties associated with this role are to be undertaken in addition to the appointee’s responsibilities under their substantive position. The appointment attracts an honorarium and will remain in place for the duration that the individual is undertaking the role.
