Clinical research in an academic psychiatry department: some general principles and case studies

This paper gives guidance for developing collaborative clinical research within an academic psychiatry department.

We describe the experience at the Australian National University Medical School, and present three case studies.

The results reveal that general principles include, but are not limited to, intellectual curiosity, mentorship, collaboration and protected time.

We conclude that a particular strength of a new research department at a medical school may be close collaborative research within clinical settings.