Our Research Conference is an annual event held for all our third year doctoral trainees in Clinical Psychology at the end of September. The Conference provides trainees with the opportunity to give an oral or poster presentation of their research to an audience of around 200 peers, University staff and stakeholders with second year trainees encouraged to submit abstracts of their work in progress too.
The conference is opened by senior members of the Faculty of Medicine and Health reflecting the status within the Faculty of the research conducted and disseminated through the Clinical Psychology Doctorate. All cohorts attend the conference as part of their training, highlighting the strong experiential approach we take to training in research on the Programme. We also invite a range of other Programme stakeholders including staff, supervisors, service users and carers and colleagues within the Medical School, other Schools across the University and clinical and community service partners.
Here is the recording of our 2020 conference:
Various prizes and commendations are awarded. A key prize is the Ross Chernin Memorial Award, in memory of Ross who was a Trainee at UEA and Clinical Psychologist in the region. The award is generously supported by his family. Ross’s passion and values as a Clinical Psychologist are reflected in the prize being offered for the project which makes the biggest difference to service users or participants. The Malcolm Adams Prize recognises excellence in clinical practice, and resonates with Malcolm’s adage ‘Be useful and make a difference’. The Ken Laidlaw Award recognises excellence in the quality and endeavour of research undertaken during the programme. This is a fitting tribute to the impact Ken had on raising the status of research within the UEA Doctorate in Clinical Psychology programme. Prizes for best presentation and best poster, voted by delegates, are also given.
In addition to providing the experience of submitting to and presenting at a conference, the event has become an important rite of passage for trainees as they reach the end of three years of training. The conference is not only about sharing and discussing the high quality and methodologically diverse clinical research that has been completed, but also reflecting and celebrating with friends, peers and colleagues.
A conference brochure and booklet of abstracts is produced which includes updates about the programme as well as information about all the research included and a list of recent trainee research publications.