Kersalake Fellow
Full time, two-year fixed term contract.
For 40 years, NEF has turned big ideas, rigorous research and community power into real-world change. At this critical moment in politics, we’re looking for a talented researcher to join our team.
The late Lord Kerslake was a lifelong advocate for social justice and worked tirelessly in his career and in retirement to promote access to secure, affordable housing for all. At the time of his untimely passing he was Chair of the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the Peabody Trust and the Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping hosted by St Mungo’s. These three organisations have come together to honour Bob by creating a Kerslake Fellowship to work on improving outcomes in housing and homelessness, and especially for social housing.
Employed at NEF for a two-year contract initially, this role will help develop policy and practice capable of delivering big shifts in housing policy that will result in genuinely affordable, high quality and secure homes for all. The Kerslake Fellow will produce high-quality research that will help build the evidence base in social housing and homelessness, generate recommendations for actions that will lead to better outcomes, and build relationships with key stakeholders that will help deliver policy change.
We’re looking for someone with a relevant degree (or equivalent experience), a solid understanding of the housing sector and the challenges and opportunities it faces. At least three to five years’ experience in planning, developing and managing multi-stakeholder projects and/or campaigns. Just as important is the ability to ability to deal with people at all levels, internally and externally, demonstrable organisational and administrative skill and a commitment to building the new, environmentally sustainable economy with redistribution of power and resources at its core.
Role: Kerslake Fellowship
Hours of work: Full Time (32 hours per week under NEF’s Shorter Working Week)
Salary range: £42,868 — £45,850
Location: Hybrid
London-based staff are expected to spend two days a week in our central London office, but we will explore different arrangements with individuals where this is helpful to support making reasonable adjustments for those with protected characteristics and/or caring responsibilities.
Contract type: Two-year fixed term
How to apply
Deadline for applications: midnight, 30th November 2025
Interviews: First stage short online interview 4th December 2025 and final stage in person at our London office on 8th December 2025
Start date: ASAP
To apply, please send your CV and one page letter of interest (in Word format).
Please also complete the Equality and diversity monitoring form on our website.
You must be eligible to work in the UK, as we are unable to sponsor visas.
NEF is committed to equal opportunities, and we particularly welcome applications from people under-represented in research and policy — including Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates; disabled people; LGBTQIA candidates; people with mental health conditions; and those from working class backgrounds. We also strongly encourage applications from anyone who is prepared to learn and grow on the job, and stress that past think tank experience is not required.
As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.
The New Economics Foundation works with people igniting change from below and combines this with rigorous research to fight for change at the top.

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Job id: 130465
Salary: £39,076 - £43,909 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
Business unit: Students & Education
Department: Social Mobility & Widening Participation
Location: Waterloo Campus
Category: Professional & Support Services.
About us
The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.
Within the Social Mobility & Widening Participation Department we believe all young people should be able to have high expectations for their future. This means equal access to education and career opportunities. We run programmes that aim to empower young people and their supporters from under-represented backgrounds to access and succeed at university.
We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, a collection of wide-ranging professional services in place to support King’s students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King’s faculties to do so.
About the role
As part of our mission to break down barriers to university access and address wider educational inequalities, the Social Mobility & Widening Participation (SMWP) department has developed a dedicated strand of place-based outreach. This approach, rooted in the specific needs of local communities, is becoming increasingly impactful across King’s and is gaining recognition across the sector. Through our Access & Participation Plan 2025–2029, we have made ambitious commitments to expand our place-based work to improve young people’s educational outcomes and tackle barriers to university access and broader social inequalities.
Our place-based approach focuses on addressing localised challenges such as mental health, pathways to citizenship, access to English language provision, and employment and fair wages. We work in close partnership with South London Citizens to achieve this shared mission. This role leads the development and delivery of collaborative, community-led initiatives and supports the wider integration of this approach across King’s. Through these initiatives, the postholder empowers community members to design, launch, and sustain impactful campaigns that respond directly to local needs. They will work closely with Citizens UK organisers and colleagues across King’s to build strong partnerships and drive meaningful, place-based change, including engagement in broader local, regional, and national initiatives.
Using community organising methodology, the postholder will lead and expand our core place-based programmes: Parent Power South London and Empoderando Familias, delivered with South London Citizens, and EmpowerESOL, facilitated in collaboration with internal King’s teams. A key focus will also be the strategic growth of our flagship Parent Power programme into new regions, in partnership with The Brilliant Club. This initiative empowers parents and carers to engage actively in their children’s education while building networks of community organisers who drive change locally and nationally.
At the heart of this role is a commitment to collaboration and community, both external and internal, as powerful drivers of social impact. The postholder will also support and develop the WP Champions Network, a university-wide staff community passionate about social mobility. By curating resources, delivering training, and shaping its strategic vision, they will help embed widening participation across King’s, amplifying its impact within and beyond the university.
This is a full-time role (35 hours per week) offered on an indefinite contract.
We welcome applications from candidates with experience both within and outside the Higher Education sector, where they can demonstrate the skills and commitment needed to succeed in this role.
About the role
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- Relevant work experience and/or education: We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. Relevant work experience might include work in schools, with charities or you may have previous experience in youth work or community organising. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training.
- Experience or understanding of place-based community organising.
- Experience of building relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds, working in different areas and with different priorities.
- Evidence of having acted in a leadership role with peers or in local community activities.
- Ability to communicate complex and specialist information orally and in writing in a compelling way.
- Ability to inspire, build relationships and bring people from a range of backgrounds together to deliver short-term projects and to build power.
- Ability to plan significant projects or areas of work delivered to a high standard.
- Understanding of the widening participation agenda and/or the role of higher education in social mobility.
Desirable criteria
- Direct experience of place-based approaches to community organising.
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.
Closing date: 30 November 2025
Interviews are provisionally scheduled to be held on Tuesday 9th December.
This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service Clearance.