Academic Training in Psychiatry

Find out more about academic psychiatry and the requirements to spend time researching and teaching.

Academic psychiatrists split their time between clinical work, research (e.g. obtaining and analysing research data) and/or educational activities (e.g. teaching students, medical colleagues and allied professionals) to improve understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

The field of academic psychiatry is inter-disciplinary, cuts across all specialities and levels of practice, and is intrinsic to the wider specialty. It integrates interacting biological, psychological and social contributory factors, and interventions. Across the whole profession, including psychiatrists employed primarily as clinicians, academic psychiatry activity (e.g. research and education) enhances clinical care and outcomes, job satisfaction, recruitment and retention.

Research and teaching are at the core of academic psychiatry, but an academic psychiatrist also contributes to clinical oversight, writing, supervision, advisory work, governance, management, leadership and efforts to influence policy at all levels.

There are many routes trainees can utilise to engage with academic research, at all stages of training; some of these are outlined in the accordion below. 

There are opportunities to get involved in research while studying for an undergraduate degree in medicine, but the decision to begin a clinical academic career does not need to be made at this early stage. Intercalation allows medical students to take a year out of their degree, to study for an additional degree in a subject related to medicine. This provides an opportunity to develop skills such as scientific techniques, research skills and critical evaluation.  

The Associate Principal Investigator Scheme is a unique National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) development opportunity, aimed at any health and care professional who would like to get more involved in research as part of their career.

Find out more from NIHR

There are a small number of prizes and grants available to trainees through the RCPsych Academic Psychiatry Faculty and the Faculty have developed support for trainees in postgraduate training.  

The Mental Health Research Incubator is one of a series of incubators established by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). They have created a Mental Health Research Community Map which you can use to mental health researchers in your area, you can also filter by profession to identify psychiatrists only.