Head of Research & Data (Founding Team), Fully Remote

Help build the evidence base that could transform how mainstream NHS healthcare approaches anxiety, stress, chronic pain, and emotional distress.

This is a genuinely rare opportunity for someone to build the entire research and data function from scratch — study design, data architecture, governance, analytics, everything — and will help shape the evidence base that could influence how the NHS approaches stress, anxiety, chronic pain, and emotional wellbeing. It’s fully remote, part‑time, and perfect for someone who wants to combine scientific rigour with real‑world impact.

About The Mind-Body Healing Project

The Mind-Body Healing Project (https://themindbodyhealingproject.org) is a newly launched charity with an ambitious mission: to make evidence-based mind-body tools, particularly EFT tapping, accessible within mainstream UK healthcare.

We believe that people have far greater capacity to influence their own wellbeing than most are ever taught. By combining simple self-help tools with rigorous research, we aim to build a bridge between personal empowerment and clinical credibility.

We’re already in discussions with NHS Trusts about pilot programmes and are building partnerships with researchers, clinicians, and health charities. Our long-term vision is to create one of the UK’s leading research programmes exploring how mind-body approaches can support prevention, early intervention, self-management, and recovery within healthcare.

To help make that vision a reality, we’re looking for our first research hire.

Please note: prior knowledge or experience of EFT tapping is not required. We’re looking for someone with strong research, data, and analytical expertise who is excited by the opportunity to build a rigorous evidence base and explore an important healthcare question with an open and scientifically grounded mindset.

Why this role matters

This is not a typical charity research role.

You will be responsible for helping design the entire research and data infrastructure that underpins the charity. From participant surveys and longitudinal outcome tracking to future integration of NHS data and biomarker research, you’ll help create the systems that allow us to generate robust, real-world evidence at scale.

In the early stages, you’ll work directly with the Founder to shape the research strategy, data architecture, governance model, and operating approach. As the charity grows, you’ll play a central role in determining what evidence we generate, how we generate it, and how that evidence influences healthcare policy and practice.

The opportunity

We expect funding to be secured around September/October 2026, at which point the role will become a paid part-time position (approximately 3 days per week), fully remote with flexible hours.

We’re looking for someone who is excited by the mission and willing to contribute a small number of hours per week before funding arrives. Any pre-funding work would be tracked via timesheets and paid retrospectively once funding is secured.

We recognise this is an unusual ask. In return, you’ll have a rare opportunity to help shape a charity from the ground up and build a research function with national impact from day one.

What you’ll be doing

Short-term (starting now – time commitment: 1-2hrs/week)

In the pre-funding phase, this role will primarily act as a strategic advisor to the Founder. The day-to-day work will remain with the Founder, with the successful candidate providing guidance, challenge, and expertise to help establish strong foundations for the charity’s research and data function.

• Advising on research design and methodology for upcoming NHS pilot programmes
• Helping shape the charity’s research strategy and long-term data roadmap
• Reviewing and providing input into participant surveys and outcome-measurement frameworks
• Advising on how to embed research governance, ethics, GDPR, and information governance requirements into the charity’s operating model
• Recommending options for a secure, scalable, AI-enabled research data platform
• Helping define the approach to future NHS and biomarker data integration
• Providing research and data expertise to support discussions with NHS partners, researchers, and potential funders

Once funding is in place (time commitment: approx. 3d/week)

• Leading the charity’s research and data function
• Managing all participant, survey, and outcomes data
• Designing and overseeing research studies and programme evaluations
• Building partnerships with NHS organisations, universities, and research institutions
• Producing reports, publications, and evidence summaries
• Supporting grant and funding applications through robust impact measurement
• Developing innovative approaches to analysing health and wellbeing datasets
• Building a world-class evidence base for mind-body approaches within UK healthcare 

Why this role is unique

Most research leadership roles involve inheriting an existing function, dataset, or operating model.

This role is different.

You will have the opportunity to design the research and data function from the ground up, shaping everything from study design and participant data collection through to the architecture that supports long-term outcomes research and future NHS data integration.

As the charity grows, the remit of the role is expected to grow with it. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to shape the future direction of the research programme, influence strategic partnerships, and build a specialist research and data capability around them over time.

For someone excited by innovation, evidence generation, and healthcare transformation, this is a rare opportunity to help create something genuinely new.

About you

You may come from healthcare research, academia, data science, health analytics, NHS research, epidemiology, public health, psychology, biomedical sciences, health informatics, or a related field.

More important than your exact background is your ability to combine rigorous scientific thinking with entrepreneurial energy.

You are likely to have experience in several of the following:

• Research design and evaluation
• Survey design and quantitative analysis
• Healthcare datasets and health outcomes measurement
• Data governance, GDPR, and research ethics
• NHS research environments
• Data architecture and information management
• AI, automation, or modern analytics platforms

• Translating complex findings into clear, actionable insights

Most importantly, you’ll be excited by the possibility of helping create a new evidence base that could influence how healthcare supports millions of people.

Interested?

This is an opportunity to help shape a charity at the very beginning of its journey and build the evidence for an approach that, if proven effective, could improve quality of life for millions of people living with stress, anxiety, chronic pain, and other long-term health challenges.

If you’re excited by the idea of helping create the evidence base that could bring mind-body approaches such as EFT tapping into mainstream UK healthcare, we’d love to hear from you.

Location

Fully remote (UK)

Hours

Part-time (approximately 3 days per week) with flexible working hours

Salary

£65,000–£75,000 FTE (£39,000–£45,000 pro rata for 3 days per week), depending on experience

Funding is expected around September. Until funding comes through, the role would be advisory (around 2 hours a week, with me doing all the legwork), and all time would be paid retrospectively. This is an unusual proposition, but for the right person it’s an extraordinary chance to shape something from the ground up.

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