Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Executive Dean

Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
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About the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
The Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM) is one of the largest and most successful centres for biomedical research and education in the UK. The Faculty has unparalleled expertise in basic, translational and clinical research, which is deployed to inform and deliver our education programmes, enhance clinical innovation and serve our communities.

People​​​​​​​
Teaching
​​​​​​​The Faculty employs almost 1,900 FTE staff, of which there are 440 FTE academic staff and 800 FTE research staff. ​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​The Faculty is configured as seven Schools and the cross-cutting Centre for Education.

The Faculty holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, achieved in October 2018. ​​​​​​​It has a comprehensive programme of initiatives to support an inclusive environment and culture, and promote diversity across our staff and student communities, as well as the leadership of the Faculty.
Against the main benchmarked metrics of gender, disability and BAME the diversity of our student and staff community looks strong; however, we are aware that deeper analysis shows that the programme we have put in place is needed to address specific areas.

The Faculty is led by the Executive Dean, supported by the Faculty Leadership Team.

Structure and location


The Faculty is located on four sites – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Waterloo and Denmark Hill on the King’s College Hospital site – reflecting our strong partnership with clinical centres of excellence.
The seven Schools are:


Each provides a scholastic environment to pursue research and to train the next generation of researchers and practitioners through postgraduate research programmes and short courses, as well as contributing to the delivery of the undergraduate education programmes.

Education

Magnetic Resonance Imaging research facilities tour
With an undergraduate student body of around 4,800, the Faculty’s School of Bioscience Education and the Guy’s King’s & St Thomas’ (GKT) School of Medical Education deliver a comprehensive biomedical education portfolio, including professional health programmes (Medicine, Nutrition & Dietetics, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy) and a wide range of BSc programmes in biomedical sciences.

The Faculty also has 1,710 students registered on our ~40 Masters programmes covering basic science through to programmes for health and allied health professionals.
Embedded in research groups in our Schools, there are 1,014 postgraduate clinical and non-clinical research (PhD/MDRes) students, approximately 25% of whom study part-time.

Alongside these education programmes is our short course and continuing professional development provision which supports professionals to gain or refresh their skills and knowledge. Overall, the Faculty’s education programmes currently generate in the region of £70M per annum in tuition fee income, with additional UK Government annual core support of £18M for education.

The Faculty is in the process of setting up the first UK-partnered Medical School in China, in collaboration with the Southern University of Science & Technology (SUSTech). This is part of an ambitious project to establish a world-class Joint Education Institute in Shenzhen, China. The Joint School of Medicine plans to engage with the med-tech industry in southern China and Hong Kong to generate pedagogical and curriculum advances. In addition to Medicine, the Institute will deliver programmes in Biomedical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, with plans to develop a wider portfolio of jointly delivered programmes.

Research

​​​​​​​
The Faculty is recognised as having major strength in a wide range of research areas relevant to life sciences and medicine, from fundamental to applied research.
Medical students
There are several nationally awarded Research Centres hosted within the Faculty. Assisted by our close collaboration with clinical colleagues in the King’s Health Partner Trusts and the linked NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and outstanding infrastructure, the Faculty’s research findings are able to impact directly on the clinical setting and on health outcomes for patients.

King's Health Partners is an Academic Health Sciences Centre with twenty-two thematic Clinical Academic Groups and five Institutes that bring together academics and clinicians who are committed to ensuring faster translation and adoption of research innovation into clinical practice. Having our academic staff based alongside their NHS counterparts further strengthens this dialogue between clinical and basic science, helping to accelerate the uptake of novel diagnostics, treatment and therapies.
The Faculty’s research excellence is reflected by the outcomes of REF2014, with 91.8% of the Faculty submission rated 4* (world leading) or 3* (internationally excellent). The breadth of the Faculty’s research is reflected by the fact it submitted returns to seven units of assessment including Clinical Medicine in which the Faculty ranked first in the UK in terms of the proportion of our overall submission that was ranked 4* or 3*. This work is only possible due to the wide range of funding that the Faculty attracts: it currently has an annual research grant income of about £100M from a range of research council, charitable funding sources and research contracts, with the UK Government’s core support for research being in the region of £27M per annum.

Both the Faculty’s research and education is built on a platform of partnerships across King’s College London, across London (including the Francis Crick Institute and London Advanced Therapies), nationally and internationally. In 2016, King’s College London became a founding academic partner alongside UCL and Imperial College in the Francis Crick Institute, London. In addition to joint academic appointments between King’s and the Crick, the partnership funds a vibrant PhD studentship programme and opportunities for mid-career academics to be seconded to the Crick for a fixed period. This research partnership has created productive collaborations, as demonstrated by the rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
19th
in the world for Pharmacy & Pharmacology
(QS World University Rankings 2021)
24th
in the world for Anatomy & Physiology
(QS World University Rankings 2021)
16th
in the world for Clinical, Pre-Clinical and Health (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021)

King’s College London

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 sciences, humanities, medicine, law, dentistry, and social sciences.

​​​​​​​As a member of the Russell Group, an association of leading UK research-intensive universities, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards in research and education. King’s is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres spread across its three teaching hospitals.
King's College London
King’s is one of the top 10 UK universities, ranked 31st in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2021) and the fourth oldest university in England, based in the heart of London. King's has over 31,000 students from some 150 countries, and over 8,500 employees. King’s is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of about £1BN (2020/21).

King’s Strategic Vision looks forward to our 200th anniversary in 2029. It shows how King’s will make the world a better place by focusing on five key strategic priorities: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; an international community that serves the world.


Leadership and structure


The Executive Team comprises:




King’s comprises nine faculties, each with an academic leader and professional services lead: Executive Dean of Faculty and Faculty Operating Officer (FOO). Professional Services are provided in every Faculty as well as centrally to deliver support for students and staff.


The nine Faculties are organised into two groups, with the Executive Deans reporting to the Provost & Senior Vice President (Arts & Sciences) or Provost & Senior Vice President (Health).


Our faculties:




Further information on our NHS strategic partners: