Research Associate in Human-Robot Interaction

Job id: 161305 . Salary: £45,031 - £48,607 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance .

Posted: 21 October 2026 . Closing date: 18 November 2026 .

Business unit: Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sci . Department: Engineering .

Contact details: Dr Oya Celiktutan . oya.celiktutan@kcl.ac.uk

Location: Strand Campus . Category: Research .

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About us

We are recruiting a motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join CO-STAR (CO-designing Socially inTelligent Assistive Robots for Future Healthcare), a research programme bringing together King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and the Royal Academy of Engineering. CO-STAR aims to advance socially intelligent assistive robots for future healthcare, combining cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and robotics with human-centred co-design and real-world clinical deployment. We are looking for a candidate who can join the project in January 2027 or soon thereafter.

The successful candidate will join the Department of Engineering at King’s College London and become a member of the Social AI & Robotics Lab (SAIR), led by Dr Oya Celiktutan. They will work closely with researchers, engineers, healthcare professionals, patients and other stakeholders at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT), providing a unique opportunity to conduct cutting-edge robotics research in close partnership with a major NHS organisation.

SAIR conducts research in multimodal machine learning and human-centred embodied AI, with a particular focus on developing autonomous agents that can perceive, understand and interact effectively with humans. The lab’s research addresses challenges in multimodal perception, human behaviour understanding and forecasting, robot learning, navigation and manipulation, and socially aware human–robot interaction.

SAIR’s research has been supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, EPSRC, the Royal Society, and EU Horizon programmes, as well as through industrial collaborations. The lab’s research has received several distinctions, including the Best Paper Award at IEEE RO-MAN 2022, the NVIDIA CCS Best Student Paper Award Runner-Up at IEEE FG 2021, and First Place and Honourable Mention Awards at the ICCV UDIVA Challenge 2021.

About the role

Imagine a future where robots meaningfully assist people with limited mobility and support patients and clinicians across healthcare environments. Assistive robotics has the potential to transform independence, wellbeing, and the delivery of care. Advances in AI are rapidly expanding what robots can perceive, understand, and do, bringing this future closer than ever. Yet a critical gap remains between technical capability and real-world deployment: robots still struggle to understand human behaviour, adapt to complex social situations, and operate safely and appropriately alongside people. Using the hospital as a living lab to advance human–robot interaction and integration with clinical workflows, the CO-STAR  project aims to bridge this gap.

CO-STAR will engineer the next generation of socially intelligent assistive robots that can interact naturally with people while meeting the demands of real-world healthcare environments.

The successful candidate will play a key role in shaping and delivering the research programme, working across  human–robot interaction, machine learning, socially intelligent AI, and healthcare robotics . They will contribute to the design, development, and evaluation of robotic and AI systems and work closely with the multidisciplinary CO-STAR team and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to translate research advances into real-world healthcare settings. Please refer to the Job Description for further details about the role and the required application documents.

The successful candidate will be expected to

• shape and conduct high-quality multidisciplinary research in collaboration with the CO-STAR project team;

• develop novel research in human–robot interaction, machine learning, and socially intelligent robotics;

• contribute to the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of robotic and AI systems within the scope of the project;

• disseminate research findings through high-quality publications and presentations at leading international conferences and journals;

• contribute to activities that maximise the academic, clinical, and societal impact of the research.

This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 21 months, with the potential for extension up to a total of 42 months, subject to funding arrangements. The desired start date is January 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Application Documents

Please read and follow the application instructions carefully.  Applications that do not comply with the requirements below, including the specified page limits, will not be considered.  Please submit only the requested documents, as additional or unsolicited materials may also result in rejection.

• Curriculum Vitae (maximum 2 pages):  Provide an up-to-date academic CV detailing your qualifications, research experience, technical expertise, and relevant achievements. Include a complete list of publications at the end of your CV ( excluded from the 2-page limit ) and  highlight up to three publications  that best demonstrate your research contributions.

• Supporting Statement (maximum 3 pages):  In the context of the CO-STAR project, provide a structured statement demonstrating how you meet the essential and desirable criteria outlined in the Person Specification.

• Address each criterion individually , using its corresponding title (e.g., Essential Criterion 1, Essential Criterion 2).

• Essential Criteria:  Address all six essential criteria individually, providing specific evidence and examples.

• Desirable Criteria:  Address all four desirable criteria individually, providing relevant evidence or explaining your motivation where applicable.

• PhD Completion Status:  If your PhD has not yet been awarded, clearly state your current stage of study, expected thesis submission date, anticipated viva date (if known), and expected date of completion.

Your responses should be  concise, evidence-based, and relevant to the CO-STAR project . Avoid general statements without supporting examples.

• Academic Referees:  Provide the names and contact details of two academic referees, preferably including your current or most recent research supervisor. Please indicate whether they may be contacted informally before the interview.

About you

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

Essential criteria

• PhD awarded (or near completion*) in Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related discipline.

• Strong research background in socially aware or human-centred AI, machine learning, robotics, and/or human–robot interaction.

• Strong publication record in high-quality peer-reviewed journals and/or international conferences, such as ICRA, IROS, RA-L, CoRL, AAAI, NeurIPS, CVPR, HRI, or related venues, commensurate with career stage.

• Excellent programming skills, particularly in Python, and hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks and models.

• Practical experience with the Robot Operating System (ROS), physical robotic platforms, and/or robot simulation environments.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts effectively to both academic and non-academic audiences.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of collaborative research, particularly in multidisciplinary environments involving researchers, engineers, and other project stakeholders.

• Experience with multimodal machine learning, foundation models, and/or neuro-symbolic AI approaches.

• Experience conducting human–robot interaction studies or evaluating robotic systems with human participants.

• Experience of, or strong motivation for, collaborating with healthcare professionals, patients, and other stakeholders in real-world clinical 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.

• Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who are close to completing their PhD will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

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 person specification section of the job description. 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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here .

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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

Interviews are expected to take place during the week commencing 30 November 2026.