Newsletter: December, 2025

_{Head of Department, Professor Chris Davey}

Department of Psychiatry Quarterly Newsletter – December, 2025

Message from the Head of Department

Welcome to the fourth and final edition of the Department of Psychiatry newsletter for the year. As we approach the end of 2025, I want to take a moment to acknowledge everyone's contributions.

It’s been an eventful final quarter. Last week we held the DoP End of Year Symposium and Awards, which featured a keynote address from Professor Josselin Houenou and showcase presentations from EMCRs and students. We also held the annual awards ceremony for the MD3 and Master of Psychiatry Teaching Awards, and presented the 2025 Bruce Singh Award.

We have seen further achievements in the last part of the year. Dr Maria Di Biase was awarded the 2025 Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research; Mindful received a further round of funding from the Department of Families Fairness and Housing; and Dr Christiane Kehoe was awarded the 2025 Strategic Grants for Outstanding Women. Congratulations to all.

The Australian newspaper published its 2026 Research Magazine recently, with the University of Melbourne ranked as the number one university for research in psychiatry. I am not sure how robust their methodology is, but it is a good recognition of the high calibre of work we do.

Our academic and professional staff continue to work hard to ensure the success of our teaching programs. The Master of Psychiatry program has over 100 students enrolled currently, with 51 students graduating this year. So far, we have almost 100 students enrolled for 2026, with enrolments not closing until January.

We have also launched the Clinical Psychiatry Course, our new non-award (RANZCP FEC) course, and it’s fantastic to see our first enrolments for 2026.

I look forward to another busy year for the department in 2026. The Beattie Smith Public Lecture (the 101st iteration) has been scheduled for March 26th: keep an eye out for more information in the new year.

Thank you once again for your hard work in 2025. I wish you all a happy, safe and well-deserved holiday break.

Professor Chris Davey
Head, Department of Psychiatry

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