News from the Department of Psychiatry

The Department of Psychiatry has had a productive first half of 2026, marked by growth across education, research and public engagement. Established in 1964, the Department has grown considerably since then. Its main campus office is in the Alan Gilbert Building in Parkville, and it extends to clinical hubs at Austin Health, Royal Melbourne Hospital, St Vincent's Health, Northern Health, Western Health, Albert Road Clinic (Ramsay Health Care), and The Melbourne Clinic (Healthscope).

Pictured: Professor Christopher Davey, Head of the Department of Psychiatry.

The Department comprises around 300 academic, professional and honorary staff, and more than 200 students across our graduate research and coursework programs. Our Master of Psychiatry has provided formal education for psychiatry trainees for many years, and this year it was joined by the new Clinical Psychiatry Course (CPC), a Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP )accredited, non-award teaching program for trainees. The first semester of the CPC is now complete, with enrolments exceeding expectations, and the feedback from students has been very positive.

The Department also plays a central role in the medical curriculum of the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program: third-year MD students complete mental health rotations at each of our clinical sites, and Departmental staff teach into other years of the course. The Discovery subject, 'When the Going Gets Tough,' offered to MD2 students, focuses on psychological trauma and trauma-informed practice – increasingly recognised as essential to good clinical care – and has been well received by students.

A central aim of the Department is to deepen our understanding of mental disorders across the lifespan, and to improve the care available for them. Our research is organised around five Research Themes: Neuroscience in Ageing; Mood, Anxiety and Trauma; Neuropsychiatry; Systems Neuroscience; and Health Policy and Systems Science. The themes reflect the Department's research strengths and encourage collaboration across groups.

We have shown significant growth in research activity, with researchers in the Department being awarded more than $40 million in funding over the past 10 years, primarily from the National Health and Medical Research Council. Researchers in our Health Policy and Systems Science theme, the most recently launched of the five themes, are leading two significant initiatives – developing and implementing a new process for assessing the support needs of National Disability Insurance Scheme participants, and acting as the lead university partner for the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The Department has held the annual Beattie Smith Public Lecture since 1925. This year's lecture was given by Professor Soraya Seedat of Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who spoke on the long-term effects of childhood trauma and the importance of addressing it, with particular attention to low- and middle-income countries, where its prevalence is especially high.

The Department also holds a monthly Academic Seminar Series, covering a broad range of mental health topics presented by Departmental staff and invited guests. We welcome all members of the Melbourne Medical School community to join us and hear about recent developments in mental health research and clinical practice.