New Fellowship Program

A new Fellowship Program is being developed to prepare psychiatrists for a fast-changing world – fostering compassion, cultural safety, and patient-centred care; sharpening skills to evaluate and apply treatments; and building leadership and digital literacy to navigate modern mental health care with confidence and integrity. 

This is more than an update. It’s a complete rethink of how we train and assess psychiatrists. 

The process of designing the new program will include a comprehensive review of learning outcomes, curriculum, teaching and learning environments, and assessments, guided by three key principles: 

• A generalist approach to meet workforce needs across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. 
• A competency-based medical education framework. 
• A hybrid assessment model, with both workplace-based assessments and external clinical and written exams.  

The goal is to create a program that:  

• Strengthens clinical mastery including formulation, evidence-informed reasoning, and therapeutic decision-making across biological, psychological, social, and cultural domains.  
• Develops compassionate, culturally safe and patient-centred psychiatrists grounded in relational, ethical, and recovery-oriented care. 
• Equips psychiatrists with future-focused capabilities, including digital and AI literacy and the ability to understand how health systems connect to deliver safe, effective, and personalised care. 
• Fosters collaborative and adaptive leaders who can navigate complexity, uncertainty, and system-level reform. 
• Demonstrates clear alignment between curriculum, desired outcomes, and assessment.  
• Reflects contemporary priorities and harnesses advances in medical education, technology, and cultural safety.  
• Inspires trust in the quality and relevance of psychiatric training across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, while meeting community and workforce needs.

Background 

Since the introduction of the current Fellowship Program in 2012, psychiatry and the health system have evolved significantly. COVID-related challenges required rapid changes to training and assessment, and after 13 years, the current program shows some misalignment with modern psychiatric priorities and the expectations of trainees and communities. At the same time, advances in medical education offer opportunities to strengthen outcomes and better prepare psychiatrists for the complexity of contemporary mental health care. 

The College recognises that incremental changes to the 2012 Fellowship Program are no longer sufficient. Work is underway to design a new Fellowship Program for implementation by 2030 - one shaped by member input and contemporary priorities. 

Impact on the current Fellowship program 

While the new program is being designed, the Education Committee will continue to manage and implement quality improvements to the current Fellowship Program, particularly where required for compliance and accreditation. However, where possible, changes will be limited to avoid unnecessary disruption before the new program is implemented. 

Taskforce 

The New Fellowship Program Taskforce – made up of senior RANZCP Fellows, educational specialists, and external experts – is shaping the vision and guiding principles for the new program as the first step in its development.  

In 2026, the Taskforce will share a high-level prototype for broad consultation with members and stakeholders. This prototype will outline the program’s vision, principles, and structure. After consultation, detailed development and implementation will be led by the Education Committee and the Dean of Education. 

Stay updated 

More information about the New Fellowship Program will be added here as development progresses.

Contact

newfellowshipprogram@ranzcp.org