Sustainable Research Coordinator

About us

King's College London is home to world-class research, supported by an extensive network of laboratories across our campuses. These labs are vital for discovery but are also highly resource-intensive, consuming far more energy and water than other spaces, generating significant waste, and relying heavily on single-use materials.

In 2025, King's became a signatory of the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, confirming our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of research and aligning with sector-wide goals. Major funders share this commitment and now require funded labs to meet minimum sustainability standards. We're proud to say King's was one of the first universities to meet this target, achieving 100% adoption of LEAF accreditation last year.

To remain competitive in research, we must go beyond the minimum and strive for excellence in Sustainable Research. Our Climate & Sustainability Strategy sets ambitious targets and as part of this commitment, we're implementing practical, evidence-based approaches that reduce environmental impact while enabling outstanding science.

About the role

We're looking for a Sustainable Research Coordinator to help embed sustainability at the heart of research at King's College London.

In this role, you'll lead initiatives that reduce environmental impact without compromising scientific excellence. You'll drive accreditation through frameworks such as LEAF, Green Disc, and My Green Lab, and champion a culture of environmentally responsible research across King's.

Reporting to the Sustainability Innovation Lead (Research), you'll work closely with academics, researchers, and technical teams to influence everyday behaviours, deliver training, and share our strategy at events and departmental talks. You'll also manage projects, analyse data to identify opportunities, and showcase successes through compelling case studies and presentations.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of sustainable research at King's, with a real chance to make a lasting impact both within the university and in collaboration with external partners. It's a hands-on role shaping the future of sustainable research and helping King's tackle global challenges while enabling outstanding science

Hybrid Working:

This role offers a flexible working arrangement, blending remote and on-campus work. To effectively engage with research operations, the post-holder may spend up to four days a week on-site, gaining invaluable insight into King's laboratory environments and day-to-day activities.

This is a permanent, full-time (35 Hours per week) position (35 Hours per week).

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Laboratory Experience - Hands-on experience working in laboratory environments or similar technical settings.

2. Knowledge of Sustainability Frameworks - Practical understanding of lab sustainability frameworks such as LEAF, GreenDisc, and My Green Lab.

3. Data Analysis Skills - Proven ability to collect, analyse, and interpret data to inform decisions and drive improvements.

4. Communication Skills - Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex sustainability concepts clearly to non-specialist audiences.

5. Presentation Skills - Confident in preparing and delivering visually engaging presentations tailored to diverse audiences, ensuring clarity and impact.

6. Stakeholder Engagement - Outstanding interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to engage and inspire academics, researchers, and technical staff to adopt sustainable practices.

Experience representing a project or organisations at public events, conferences, and community forums.

7. Organisation and time management - Ability to plan and coordinate multiple activities, including training sessions, community engagement events, audits, and reporting, ensuring all deadlines and priorities are met effectively.

8. Facilitation and Project Delivery - ability to adapt communication and content to drive and support sustainable research initiatives.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience supporting or managing lab activities, including sample storage, biobanking, data management, cold storage and biobanking or process optimisation for sustainability.

2. Knowledge or experience in computational or data-driven research environments, with awareness of the sustainability implications of digital research infrastructures.

3. Experience in designing and delivering lab training for staff in laboratory and computational research environments.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

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 advert. 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.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.