University of East Anglia

Much of the information about our programme is available through our programme website, so please use the links below to access the latest information. In particular we recommend trainees look at our Programme Handbooks.

What to expect from teaching?

Please see this section of our website for key information about our teaching

Following the global pandemic, we have continued to deliver our teaching following a mixture of Face to Face teaching at UEA, and online/virtual delivery. We recognise that there are benefits and drawbacks of both approaches, and whilst we anticipate that both forms of teaching will be retained in the long-term, we remain in a process of review and evaluation of our approach.

Practically, teaching occurs between 9am and 5pm, with most lectures using a 3-hour format from 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm. Attendance at teaching is a mandatory part of the job role. Annual leave during teaching can only be granted in exceptional circumstances. There is an expectation that any missed teaching is ‘caught up’ appropriately.

What to expect from placements?

Please see this section of our website for more information about placements

Trainees will spend around 50% of their time on placement. Almost all placements are in the NHS, or in NHS funded services. There is a clear alignment between teaching and placement, such that trainees complete placements with Working Age Adults and Older Adults in Year 1, and then a placement with Children and Young People, and people with Learning Disability and/or Neurodevelopmental conditions in Year 2. Trainees complete two specialist placements in Year 3.

We have an incredible range of placements across the region, which has allowed us to support an expansion in our training numbers over recent years. Placements will expose trainees to working with a range of different types of clinical presentations, in a range of different types of service, with clients from across the lifespan, with different cognitive needs and adjustments, and with different clinical and therapeutic approaches. In recent years we have been able to offer an ‘International Training Opportunity’ (ITO) which has allowed some trainees to spend part of their final placement in Malaysia and Australia. We hope to develop this opportunity and are working with a number of other partners around the world to create opportunities for trainees. More information about the ITO and a video prepared by some previous trainees is available on the Clinical Placements page of our website.

Placements form part of the core programme assessment strategy, and all placements must be passed to complete the programme. Passing a placement involves appropriate competency development, completion of an appropriate number of placement days and workload. You will receive a Mid-Placement review including your university Personal Advisor. To help you develop, we require trainees to undergo regular observation as part of their clinical supervision. This will include the use of recordings of clinical sessions as part of your own development. 

Research

Please see this section of our website for more information about research.

The UEA ClinPsyD has a strong research ethos, supporting trainees to conduct pieces of research which make a real impact, and which lead to publication, but which are also achievable within the parameters of the training programme. Indeed, the structure of the research process, developed to support trainees to achieve and complete their research, is something we are particularly proud of. Trainees are able to choose from research ideas presented by experienced supervisors at a ‘research fair’, which are then developed further in collaboration with the allocated supervisor into a potential project. Trainees then receive additional feedback through pitching their research ideas to their peers and to staff, and ultimately through an assessed ‘thesis proposal’. This process means that trainees will find significant support in addressing conceptual and practical elements of the research process, but also that trainees have the opportunity to develop skills in understanding and improving research design. We encourage and support trainees also in developing their own research ideas, where it is possible to provide appropriate supervisory support of the project.

We organise the final ‘viva’ in a ‘block’, typically in May, when you will be asked to defend your thesis to an internal and external examiner. All trainees are expected to submit their papers for publication to a relevant journal.