Vision
The Department of Psychiatry was established in 1963, following the University of Melbourne’s longstanding teaching of psychiatry since the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine in 1876. The Department is large and complex, having several units and centres consisting of 22 different working groups dispersed over 17 different geographical locations. All units are involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching to trainee psychiatrists, higher education candidates and in various diploma courses. Research in the broad areas of psychiatry, psychology and neurosciences is undertaken in specialist programs at the centres.
The aim of the Department is to advance psychiatry both nationally and internationally through commitment to excellence in teaching, research and clinical leadership and through involvement in the development of service systems. The Department brings together its clinical and academic expertise to enhance the quality of these clinical services.
Specifically, the Department's objectives are as follows:
- To provide teaching programs in psychiatry of the highest quality, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as training of the highest standard in clinical and research domains.
- To generate new knowledge relevant to psychiatry, psychology and the neurosciences through research and postgraduate programs which are internationally recognised, as well as to contribute a biopsychosocial approach to health in both research and teaching.
- To enhance departmental research output with cohesion around some specific themes, allowing opportunities for work in areas of overlap and even radical departures into specific areas of which may be of strategic significance to the Department.
- To ensure a leadership role for the Department in education, training, research, policy, and service development in Victoria, Australia, and internationally, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific Region.