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