Mental ill health accounts for some 15% of the disease burden in developed countries, yet spending on mental health research makes up just 5% of the total UK health research budget and psychiatry has been identified as a vulnerable clinical discipline.
In January 2012 the Academy formed a working group to develop a position paper on the training of academic psychiatrists in the UK.
The final report was launched in March 2013. It identifies the challenges and barriers in recruiting and retaining trainees, and makes recommendations to strengthen academic psychiatry to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental ill health.
In June 2013 the Academy held a meeting with several stakeholder organisations as a first step to facilitate the implementation of the report's recommendations. A report of this meeting is available to download on this page. The Academy will review progress on the implementation of the report in late 2014.
Sir David Carter FRSE FMedSci, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University of Edinburgh and Formerly Chief Medical Officer of Scotland (Chair)
Professor Jeremy Hall, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh
Professor Paul Harrison, Head of Translational Neurobiology, University of Oxford
Mr Peter Hutchinson, Senior Surgical Fellow, University of Cambridge
Professor Shitij Kapur FMedSci, Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
Professor Christopher Kennard FMedSci, Head, Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford
Professor Geraint Rees FMedSci, Director, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
Professor Trevor Robbins CBE FRS FMedSci, Head of the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge
Professor Sir Simon Wessely FMedSci, Vice Dean, Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry King’s College London
Observers:
Professor Nicholas Craddock FMedSci, Department of Psychological Medicine and Neurology at the Cardiff University School of Medicine and Treasurer of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Dr Gavin Malloch, Programme Manager for Addiction & Mental Health. Medical Research Council
Professor Jim Neilson, Dean for NIHR Faculty Trainees
Dr John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Head of Clinical Activities, the Wellcome Trust
Secretariat
Dr Kathryn Adcock, Policy Secondee from the Wellcome Trust
Mr Laurie Smith, Policy Manager, the Academy of Medical Sciences
Dr Suzanne Candy, Director of Biomedical Grants and Policy, the Academy of Medical Sciences
As part of our engagement with the community in the lead up to the report's publication, we consulted several key stakeholders and held a workshop.
A full list of workshop participants can be found in the final report.
Strengthening academic psychiatry in the UK
