Prizes and bursaries

Prize

Best Oral presentation (1st £500)

Best Trainee/SAS doctor poster (1st £100, 2 runners-up £50 each)

Best Medical Student/Foundation doctor poster (1st £100, 2 runners-up £50 each)

Frequency

Annually

Eligible

Medical Students, Psychiatry F1-F2, Specialty trainees (CT1-3, ST4-6), and SAS doctors in the UK

Regulations

I.         All applicants must be working in the United Kingdom.

II.       Applicants should be Medical Students, Foundation doctors, Specialty trainees (CT 1-3, ST4-6), or SAS doctors.

III.     Applicants should submit an abstract to the Faculty conference. Please follow the instructions on the Call for Papers.

IV.      All posters submitted with a trainee, medical student, foundation doctor or SAS doctor as the lead author will automatically be entered into the Poster Competition.

V.        Authors who want to be considered for the Oral Presentation prize, should tick the relevant box.

VI.      Three assessors nominated by the Faculty Chair will judge the posters and presentations at the meeting.

VII.    Presentations will be judged on clarity of presentation, time-keeping, originality of content, relevance to meeting, methodology and clarity of ideas; for the oral presentation quality of aids is an additional category.

VIII.  In the event that none of the applications is considered to be of a satisfactory standard, no award will be made.

Closing date

Please email your submission to the Events Team around 3 months before the meeting (check Call for Papers for Faculty residential meeting)

The Neuropsychiatry Faculty has established this prize to raise the profile of neuropsychiatry and to encourage medical students to pursue further study and professional training in this area.

Prize

£250 plus subsidised attendance at the Faculty annual meeting.

Frequency

Annually.

Who can enter?

All undergraduate medical students in the UK. To be eligible, the applicant must be a medical student on the day that they are entering the essay, and this can be before the deadline.

Regulations

• Eligible students are invited to submit a review of up to 5,000 words (references and bibliography are not included in the word count, but footnotes and appendices are). This should take the form of a systematic review. The review topic will be announced each year.
• 2025 topic: How can the mental health of people with neurological conditions be improved in the UK? Discuss the best evidence for different service models for the delivery of mental healthcare in neuropsychiatric conditions
• The review should be the candidate’s own work.
• Applicants must provide a letter of support from their supervisor. The supervisor can be a personal tutor or educational supervisor and can be a non-medic in medical sciences.
• Submissions should be submitted by email. The reviews will be judged by a panel of three Faculty Executive members. Criteria for judging merit will include: following the recommended structure of a systematic review; clarity of expression; quality of critical appraisal; quality of the conclusions. The Faculty reserves the right not to award the prize if no entry reaching the agreed minimum standard is received.
• We are not able to provide feedback.
• The prize will be advertised annually to Student Associates and medical schools.
• The prize winner might be asked to give a presentation at the Faculty conference in September. The Faculty will provide a subsidised place for the winner at the Faculty conference and a mentor to help the student gain maximum benefit from attending the conference. The winning review will be published in the Neuropsychiatry Faculty Newsletter.

Closing date

30 April 2025. Please submit your entry to neuropsychiatry@rcpsych.ac.uk.

The prize is awarded for research undertaken in neuropsychiatry.

Prize

£500

Frequency

Annually

Eligible

Medical students, foundation doctors, specialty trainees (CT1-CT3 and ST4-ST6) including non-psychiatry trainees, or consultants in psychiatry (within three years of their first consultant appointment), based in the UK.

Regulations

1. Submissions should take the form of an original piece of work such as a research project, a comprehensive audit or service evaluation, meta-analysis, or literature review. This can be work that has already been published elsewhere in the last 2 years.

2. Research involving collaboration between workers, whether psychiatrists or in other disciplines, may be submitted, but the prize may be shared between no more than two eligible applicants.  In each instance where collaborative research is submitted, there should be a clear indication of which parts of the research were undertaken by each worker and a statement to this effect signed by all collaborating workers must be submitted.

3. Applicants should submit – by email:

• A paper presenting their research. Submissions, which may include figures and tables, must not exceed 6,000 words (references and bibliography are not included in the word count, but footnotes and appendices are)
• A current, concise curriculum vitae together with a list of appropriate publications.
• Medical students, foundation doctors and trainees should submit a letter of support from their supervisor.

4. Recipients of the prize will be invited to present their work at the faculty annual residential meeting.

5. The prize examiners will be appointed by the Faculty Executive. No prize will be awarded if a sufficient standard is not reached. We are not able to provide feedback.

Closing date

Please send your entry by 30 April each year to neuropsychiatry@rcpsych.ac.uk.

The Faculty awards bursaries annually to enable all UK junior psychiatric trainees (CT1-3, ST4-6), SAS doctors, Foundation doctors, and medical students to undertake an activity linked to Neuropsychiatry and the Faculty’s strategic objectives. This can include attending the Faculty conference.

Up to 10 bursaries may be awarded, up to a value of £200 each, up to an annual total of £2,000.

The bursaries will be advertised in announcements about Faculty meetings, the Faculty newsletter and circulated to Student Associates.

Regulations

1. Applicants should submit a covering letter (giving details of why financial support is required and other sources of funding that have been explored) and details of the activity that they need the funds for.
2. Applicants must provide a letter of support from their supervisor.
3. All expense claim forms, together with all original receipts and tickets, must be submitted to the Faculty Finance Officer within four weeks of the conference. Applications for reimbursement received after that time will not be accepted.

Closing date

Bursaries can be awarded any time during the year. Please send your request to the Faculty Finance Officer via neuropsychiatry@rcpsych.ac.uk.

The Neuropsychiatry Faculty has established an annual bursary to enable a psychiatrist from a low- and middle-income (LAMI) country (defined as World Bank classification C and D) to attend the Faculty Annual Residential Meeting (usually held in September) in order to give an oral or poster presentation or deliver a workshop.

The bursary is intended to cover the cost of economy class travel, accommodation, free registration and attendance at the Conference Dinner, up to a maximum of £1,500.  Informal mentors will be identified for the bursary-holder to enhance their introduction to Faculty members and their enjoyment of the meeting. 

Regulations

1. Psychiatrists from LAMI countries who intend to present at the Faculty annual residential meeting and wish to apply for the bursary should submit:
   1. their abstract
   2. a brief CV
   3. a letter stating what financial help is required.  The letter should include details of any other sources of funding that have been approached.  Candidates should also state how they believe their attendance at the meeting will benefit their service and practice.
2. A decision-making panel of Faculty Executive members will make the award against an agreed set of criteria. 
3. The successful candidate should submit an expense claim form with all receipts within 4 weeks of the conference. If an advance against the bursary is required for travel etc., alternative arrangements may be negotiated with the Faculty finance officer, but in all cases supporting documentation for the expenditure will be required.
4. The successful candidate will be asked to submit an article giving their feedback on the residential meeting experience and any plans for disseminating their learning in their home country.  If appropriate, the article will be published in the Faculty Newsletter.
5. The Faculty reserves the right not to award the bursary if applications received are not of a sufficient standard.

Closing date

Please send your application by 30 April each year to the Finance Officer via neuropsychiatry@rcpsych.ac.uk.