Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 5 Clinical Research Assistant within the Mood Disorders Research Clinic. The clinic has been created to support and develop clinical trial activity and research in mood disorders in the trust and is part of a national network of research clinics supported by the NIHR funded Mental Health Mission.  

The post holder will be chiefly responsible for recruitment and follow-up of trial participants, data acquisition and entering, managing and maintaining trial files, ensuring CRF completeness, supporting bids for new trials; supporting collection and collating clinic data activity, routine data collection from patients, administrative support at the clinic and liaison with related clinical services.

The post holder will report to Prof. Quentin Huys, as well as the Research Delivery Manager for NLFT, and work closely with the trust’s research delivery team, as well as the dynamic team of researchers working in the Applied Computational Psychiatry lab at UCL.

The ideal candidate will both have experience in mental health, and in the support of clinical projects including organizing and collecting data. They will need good interpersonal and management skills as they will need to work in a clinical setting (including collecting data from patients) and build effective professional working relationships with clinicians and academics in other departments and Universities.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will undertake a range of duties that assist in delivering on research studies within the Mood Disorders Clinic and the wider NLFT trust, including but not limited to:

• Recruiting research participants to studies, mainly focusing within the Mood Disorders Research Clinic. 
• To complete data collection and research studies measures, including questionnaires, structured interviews, bloods samples and EEG. 
• Maintain participant CRF and trial site files.
• Support assessment of proposed protocols for local implementation in the trust.
• Support development of appropriate local standard operating procedures according to trial protocols including risk management, and adherence to policies, ICH-Good Clinical Practice and NHS Research Governance Framework.
• Close collaboration and integration with research delivery team.
• Adhere to administrative systems and procedures for collection and collation of clinic activity
• Setup of routine data collection from clinic attendances
• To actively promote research amongst trust staff, service users, carers, relatives and the public.

Working for our organisation

North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.

Our Five-Year Strategy:  

1. We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.

2. With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all

3. We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.

4. We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology. 

In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.