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Job planning in academic psychiatry
Learn about the structure and activities specific to academic psychiatry and read guidance regarding what would constitute an acceptable job plan.
The Academic Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists considers academic psychiatry to be the business of all psychiatrists. However, it is well recognised that substantive clinical academic appointments are essential to the present and future of the NHS.
Typically, a substantive clinical academic has undertaken the necessary training to become a clinical consultant or senior SAS doctor with sufficient postgraduate research training to work at a senior level (usually senior lecturer/associate professor or above) in a research role at a Higher Education Institution (HEI).
Additionally, psychiatrists working in formal educational or leadership roles within HEIs are usually considered to be substantive clinical academic psychiatrists.
Academic training varies, with no clearly defined ‘ideal’ path for an aspiring academic psychiatrist to take. One potential pathway is to follow the Integrated Clinical Academic Training pathway (ICAT). In England, ICAT routes include undertaking a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellowship. This may be followed by an externally funded fellowship to obtain a higher research degree (PhD/DPhil level). This is typically followed by a period of research at the equivalent of a postdoctoral researcher level (often as an Academic Clinical Lecturer) where additional research training and experience is acquired.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there are distinct ICAT routes, which also offer the opportunity to pursue research, often with the opportunity to complete an externally funded PhD. Alternative pathways may be followed, with no requirement to follow the ICAT pathway, the range of potential paths to a career as a clinical academic psychiatrist are many and varied. It is also important for employers to recognise the unique skills and experience that may have been gained by the clinical academic psychiatrist in roles held outside of the UK, and at non-standard career grades.
When an academic psychiatrist is at the senior clinical lecturer / associate professor career stage (generally post-CCT), they will have typically obtained a higher research degree, have a record of peer reviewed research publications, student supervision, funding success, and engagement with relevant academic and scientific societies consistent with their career status as an emerging principal investigator and independent scientist. Related criteria apply for academic psychiatrists in medical humanities and educational roles.
A substantive clinical academic psychiatrist will often engage in research that includes (but is not limited in scope to) improving the understanding, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of mental disorders. They therefore have a pivotal role: in raising the profile of psychiatry nationally and internationally (particularly through an improved understanding of its scientific base, firmly embedded in medicine and basic sciences), engaging students into psychiatry through teaching and research, inspiring and nurturing interest in the next generation of potential psychiatrists and contributing to new developments of direct benefit to health services and patient care. Academic psychiatrists also have an important role in generating evidence to improve the understanding and treatment of psychiatric conditions, as well as facilitating the application of evidence to clinical practice.
Clinical academics are generally expected to be very active in public engagement and thus make important contributions to the public understanding and recognition of psychiatry and allied disciplines. It is expected that substantive clinical academic psychiatrists will have the academic knowledge and skills that are commensurate with their career stage. Important clinical research can be also carried out by psychiatrists whose main role is clinical but who have sessions set aside for academic work.
With this dual capacity in mind, all clinical academic job descriptions should specify that academic appointees are required to have an appraisal in line with the Follett principles. It is strongly recommended that joint appraisals are conducted, as this offers a number of potential advantages to the academic clinician and their employers.
A clinical academic psychiatrist combines clinical practice with a senior academic role which will usually include both research and teaching.
The clinical role of an academic psychiatrist will often be linked to their research interests and may therefore provide a specialist service with greater opportunities for patient engagement in research.
This is likely to be invaluable for collecting and reflecting on supporting information for revalidation.
They are highly trained and motivated individuals who lead the specialty and ensure that psychiatry, and its central role in understanding and treating mental illness, moves forward for the benefit of our patients.
A clinical academic psychiatrist fulfils leadership roles in two main areas: as a clinical consultant (or in some cases, senior SAS doctor) and as a senior university academic.
They will often take on leadership opportunities across the full scope of their NHS (or other healthcare provider) and University roles. Appointments to these roles should reflect the challenges of balancing often competing clinical and academic demands. It is imperative that the Clinical Academic is able to work flexibly to meet these competing demands and this should be reflected in their job plan.
As research typically involves collaboration between different organisations and disciplines; well beyond the traditional clinical multidisciplinary team, clinical academics are well placed to maximise ideas and approaches from other medical specialties and intellectual disciplines (psychology, sociology, economics, systems theory, law, politics, physics, mathematics, biology, engineering, AI, etc.).
Clinical academics also often have regional, national, and/or international leadership roles. Examples may include steering roles in organisations linked to their areas of specialism, leading on editorial activities (e.g. as an editorial board member of international peer reviewed journals), and leading on multi-site grant submissions and research studies.
The clinical academic is uniquely placed to translate clinical insights into research questions, assess quality of evidence, and ensure that the latest evidence is implemented and monitored in clinical practice. Through publication, presentation and editorial responsibilities they make sure that relevant findings are disseminated and accessible. Also, through leadership roles in national and international committees and learned societies, clinical academics engage with key stakeholders including policy makers and the public.
Successfully combining both clinical and academic leadership roles is demanding, and so clinical academics need to be both highly trained and motivated. The more senior the clinical academic, the more research, teaching and managerial leadership is expected alongside maintaining a key leadership role in clinical services.
The workforce of clinical academic psychiatrists has a key role in furthering understanding of, and treatment for, mental illness and in translating advances in basic science into benefits for patients and the general population. A major role is to generate new approaches, knowledge and services that help to drive forward improvements in diagnosis, treatment and outcome.
Some clinical academics specialise in advancing teaching methodologies and content. Spanning the areas of knowledge, discovery, innovation, dissemination and implementation means that the clinical academic is uniquely placed to drive service developments and will often provide clinical leadership as well as leading programmes of research.
Clinical academic psychiatrists may lead on the delivery and quality assurance of teaching and training in psychiatry. For example, leading on the education of undergraduate medical students, other under or postgraduates (e.g. dentistry, psychology, neuroscience, nursing, social work, pharmacy, occupational therapy, law) and those in postgraduate clinical training. Clinical academics thus have a key role in recruiting and training the psychiatrists of the future.
SAS psychiatrist job plans should follow the same principle as above. The College supports 8 DCC; 2 SPA for both speciality and specialist psychiatrists. The model job plan for SAS psychiatrists should reflect the 0.5 SPA difference, which should be added to patient facing DCC.
If the SAS doctor does not have formal or informal educational responsibilities in relation to resident doctors, medical students and other health professionals, the specific time allocated for this in the consultant model job plan should be added to DCC activities for either patient reviews or for liaison with families/carers/other professionals in relation to patient care as appropriate to the service and their role in the team.
Factors that should be taken into consideration in a job description include the following:
All Clinical Academic job descriptions should state clearly where the funding for the post originates, as this will indicate what the nature of the role will be. It is generally expected that the funding will nominally fall into one of the categories below:
- clinical academic posts jointly funded by an HEI and the NHS (or other healthcare provider)
- clinical academic posts completely funded by the NHS (or other healthcare provider)
- clinical academic posts completely funded by an HEI.
Clinical academic job descriptions should include all of the information required for a clinical job description of the relevant career stage. However, they should also set out the HEI roles that the clinical academic psychiatrist will be expected to undertake.
Within the clinical component of the job plan, The College strongly advocates for a minimum of 2 sessions of direct clinical care (DCC) and a minimum of 1.5 sessions of SPA for clinical academics. This SPA allowance should not be pro-rated and reflects a minimum allowance required primarily for CPD purposes. A clinical academic should have SPA time that is at least equivalent in duration to their clinical peers working the same WTE (as set out elsewhere in this document).
It should be clear what this SPA time comprises, and additional SPA time should be considered when additional responsibilities are taken on by the clinical academic psychiatrist. In case of SAS psychiatrists taking on a clinical academic post, their job plans should follow the same principle as those for consultants.
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