Dr Helena King

I am an interdisciplinary social scientist and aspire to be a flexible and supportive conduit of work which improves the health of disenfranchised underserved communities.  My PhD and UKRI post doctoral studies researched psychosocial phenomena associated with nature interactions in the context of landuse management and biodiversity levels.   I then applied this knowledge via a fully funded NERC KTP internship (Natural Environmental Council Knowledge Transfer Partnership) shaping policy on UK quarry restoration to maximise benefits to nature and human wellbeing.

Following this I worked in the third sector gaining experience in health and social care practice and frontline community services.   Roles included a partnerships manager in a regional hospice that cared for children and adults with life limiting conditions, a senior manager in a social enterprise helping people experiencing homelessness, and consultancy for a charity supporting people living with HIV.   In these roles I co-designed projects with practitioners, applied for grant and corporate funding, monitored project impacts and wrote reports for public sector and philanthropic funders.   I returned to higher education in 2017 as a project manager in the Faculty of Business and Law, undertaking diverse activities including research portfolio and funding pipeline management, data collection, textual output creation, webdesign, direction/production of videos, event management and evidence into practice activities.           

I started teaching in 2019 in the Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise, whereby I led first year curriculum development on vulnerability, multi-agency working and public protection and was one of the module leads for the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship.  Between 2021 and 2023 as a secondee to the School of Health Wellbeing and Social Care I developed second year curriculum on the social and environmental determinants of mental health.  I have undertaken a Teaching Excellence Framework project to design wellbeing resources for students and produced online distance learning content on topics such as third sector healthcare, biopsychosocial theory, mental health impacts of long-term physical conditions and health stigma.    

Since 2019 I have led 2 internally funded research projects on third sector delivery of mental healthcare to stigmatised groups, and have been co-investigator on a further three externally funded projects in collaboration with colleagues from KCL and UCL.