Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry prizes and bursaries
Background
This travelling fellowship is awarded biennially from funds bequeathed by Dr John Hamilton, past Honorary Secretary of the then Forensic Section, and College Fellow. It is intended to encourage psychiatrists working in the field of forensic psychiatry to broaden their knowledge and experience through travel to recognised forensic centres.
Proposals to visit developing forensic services in order to support, advise and teach will also be considered. Visits are expected to last about two to four weeks and would normally be to centre (s) overseas.
Prize
£2,000
Who can enter
The fellowship is open to UK higher resident doctors in forensic psychiatry and to consultants in forensic psychiatry in the UK in substantive posts.
Rules
Please email us a detailed proposal in not more than 1,500 words describing how the time will be spent. Though not essential, you may wish to pursue a research topic or a comparative study.
Our judging panel will rate your proposal according to its originality, its relevance to forensic psychiatry, its potential for enhancing services and its feasibility and will look for:
a description of the background to the proposal, its aims and purpose, the methods by which these will be achieved and the likely implications of having completed the visit.
Be ambitious, but the assessing panel will also place great weight on focus and feasibility. This fellowship may, for example, provide an opportunity to initiate an international research collaboration, or pave the way towards it, but completion of worthwhile research in 2-4 weeks is unlikely.
Other examples of supportable proposals include (but are not confined to) learning an assessment or management technique which would not otherwise be possible, or providing training in something along these lines for a developing service which would otherwise have a development gap.
- details of the centres to be visited and the reasons for visiting
- intended immediate and short-term outcomes and how these will be measured or demonstrated - with a statement of longer-term implications where possible
- details of the costs involved, including travel costs
- details of any other sources of funding, where relevant.
The following should also be received by the closing date:
- a full curriculum vitae
- two professional references, including one from either the training programme director for resident doctors or clinical director or equivalent for consultants. References may be checked, so referee contact details should be provided
- information about the centre(s) to be visited
- an email from the host centre confirming that your visit has been accepted
- confirmation from your employing authority that study leave will be granted if the application is successful.
The winner will be selected by the executive committee, normally via a nominated panel.
We reserve the right not to award the fellowship if no suitable application is received.
Your visit should take place within one year of the award being made.
The successful candidate will be expected to submit a report to our Chair on the conclusion of the fellowship. The successful candidate will also be expected to submit details of how the fellowship fund was used, including copies of receipts.
Submissions
Submissions are now closed. Please contact us for any queries.
Prize information
The Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry is offering a monetary prize for an essay of 4,000 words. The winner will also receive a bursary to attend the Faculty conference.
The bursary will include registration for the full conference, attendance at the conference dinner and money towards travel, accommodation and subsistence.
Authors of high-scoring essays may be invited to make a short presentation about their essay at the conference.
How often
Annual.
Eligible
Medical students from UK medical schools who submit the essay before graduation or no longer than three months after graduation.
Rules
- The essay title is: "How should we, as Forensic Psychiatrists, balance Individual Rights and Public Safety, when Managing the Risk of Interpersonal Violence?"
- The essay should be no more than 4,000 words including footnotes and appendix. The bibliography does not count towards the word count.
- Please include the word count on your essay.
- The essay should be researched from relevant literature and based on theory. Essays which are written around clinical cases are not eligible.
- Please do not include your name in the essay text.
- Please also include a short curriculum vitae, removing personal details (name, address etc) names of institutions or organisations or anything that could identify you.
- The examining panel may decide in certain circumstances that an oral examination is necessary.
- Candidates are advised, where possible, to discuss their essay with a Forensic psychiatrist.
- The prize will be judged by a panel appointed by the Faculty executive committee and their decision is final.
- The winner of the prize will be awarded prize money (amount tbc) and a bursary to attend the Faculty conference.
- The authors of high-scoring essays may be awarded bursaries to attend the Faculty conference and may be offered the opportunity to present about their essay.
Submissions open
Submissions are now open for the 2026 prize. The deadline is midnight on 5 December 2025.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
2024
- Winner – Savannah Rowe – read essay (PDF)
- Winner – Evelyine Jose – read essay (PDF)
2023
- Winner – Luke Smith – read Luke's essay (PDF)
- Winner – Juliet Buckle – read Juliet's essay (PDF)
2021
- Winner – Beth Michell – read Beth's essay (PDF)
- Winner – Ramandeep Purewal
2019
- Winner – Andrew Taylor
2018
- Winner – Jinal Patel
2017
- Winner – Emma Ross
2016
- Joint winners – Marissa Lewis and Gunjan Sharma.
Our research prize aims to encourage research in the field, provide a platform for research and to bring the results of research to the attention of faculty members.
Prize
£500 and a certificate.
Frequency
Annually
Who can enter
The prize is open to researchers in the field of forensic psychiatry from all professions, including resident doctors and senior staff.
Note: Any researcher of any grade who has submitted an oral presentation for our annual residential meeting will be eligible for entry to the prize and will be automatically submitted, providing the entry meets all submission criteria.
Where presented
Our annual faculty conference.
Rules
- All eligible applications to present at the annual residential meeting will automatically enter the prize
- occurs prior to the meeting by a panel nominated by our executive
- is based on of the submission abstract, taking into account originality, methodology, and research findings
- Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give an oral presentation of their work.
- Approximately six presentations will be shortlisted for oral presentation
- The prize will be awarded by a panel of three judges who are nominated by our academic secretary
- The judges' decision will take into account the academic quality of the project, the quality of the oral presentation and how the presenter deals with questions from the audience and judges
- The judges' decision will be final and no prize will be awarded if a sufficient standard is not reached.
Submissions and date
Please see conference information for closing date and submission advice. The closing date will be the same as the date for submission of annual residential meeting poster and presentation entries, usually in October each year.
2023
Winner- Dr John Tully
2022
Joint winners - Dr Lindsey McIntosh and Dr Howard Ryland
2021
Winner – Professor Lindsay Thomson
2020
Winner – Dr Roland Jones
2019
Winner – Dr Joanne Parry
2018
Winner – Mr Jack Tomlin
2017
Winner – Dr Conor O'Neill
2016
Winner – Dr Kapil Sharma
The Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry offer up to 10 bursaries for UK medical students to attend the National Forensic Psychiatry Resident Doctors Conference, held annually.
2026 Conference details
Date: TBC
Venue: TBC
Award
The bursaries include free registration and £500 towards travel, accommodation and subsistence.
Frequency
Annual
Who can apply
UK medical students
How to apply
Please email us a brief statement about why you would like to attend the meeting, together with a short CV, Please remove any personal information and names of organisations/institutions from your CV.
Submissions
Submissions for the 2026 bursary are not yet open.
Please send any questions to Faculty Committees.
Please remove any personal information and names of organisations/institutions from your CV.
This bursary is to support attendance at the Irsee residential seminar held in August or September each year. The bursary will be paid on submission of confirmation that your place had been booked.
Background
Laws and justice systems are well known to differ between countries; attitudes to mental disorder and its definitions may also differ between nations. Nevertheless, we seek and find common ground on mental disorder and ways in which it may lead to harm to others and/or offending.
The Ghent Group is an informal group of European forensic psychiatrists interested and experienced in training in the field. It is named after their first meeting in Ghent, Belgium, in 2004, and focuses on the commonalities and differences in training in different European countries.
A residential seminar has been developed - initially by academic forensic psychiatrists from the universities of Munich, Cardiff and forensic mental health services in Denmark in conjunction with Bildungswerk Irsee.
Over five days, participants study and reflect with an expert in international law from the Max Plank Institute and senior forensic psychiatrists on the theory and practice of service delivery to the courts and to patients through didactic sessions, academic debate and case discussions.
The seminar
The seminar will be held on 4-8 August 2025 in Kloster Seeon.
Amount
£1,000
Who can apply
The award is open Forensic Faculty members who are UK Resident Doctors (ST4-6) in forensic psychiatry or UK consultants in forensic psychiatry.
Rules
- Please email us an up-to-date CV and a brief statement (up to 500 words) on your reasons for wanting to attend the seminar, the ways in which attendance would specifically benefit your training, development or practice, and how you might disseminate the learning experience
- Entries will be evaluated by a panel nominated by the executive committee.
Submissions
Submissions are now closed for the 2025 bursary.
