Scholarly Project

This page is for candidates wanting to find out about and prepare to undertake the Scholarly Project.

About the Scholarly Project 

• The Scholarly Project involves original research in an area relevant to psychiatry.
• It is a summative assessment of the RANZCP Fellowship Program.
• The Scholarly Project should be successfully completed by 60 months FTE training.
• It is assessed at the standard expected at the end of Stage 3. 

Structure and format

Scholarly Projects must be 3000–5000 words in length. You can select your own topic and project format, based on your research interests.

Possible project formats:

• a quality assurance project or clinical audit 
• a literature review 
• empirical research (qualitative or quantitative) 
• a case series 
• an equivalent project as approved by the Scholarly Project Subcommittee.

Exemption from the Scholarly Project

You may have already completed a piece of research that exempts you from completing the Scholarly Project. 

Learn more about the Scholarly Project exemptions.

Steps to completing your Scholarly Project

If you don't qualify for an exemption, follow these steps:

1. Find a suitable supervisor.
2. Decide on the topic and format of your project.
3. Develop a project proposal.
4. Submit your project proposal to your Branch Training Committee (BTC) for approval.
5. Seek local ethics approval if relevant.
6. Ensure your approved proposal has been added to InTrain before you begin your project.
7. Submit your Scholarly Project before the next submission cut-off date.
8. Receive your result and feedback.
9. If you receive a conditional pass or a fail result, complete any revisions and resubmit.

Some Certificates of Advanced Training require the successful completion of a Scholarly Project. Consider the research requirements of the Certificates of Advanced Training when planning your Scholarly Project, as you may only need to complete one project to satisfy both requirements. 

Selecting a supervisor and co-supervisor

You must have a principal supervisor for your Scholarly Project, and you may also have a co-supervisor who has specific expertise in your area of study. 

• Your principal supervisor must be a College-accredited supervising Fellow. 
• Your co-supervisor does not need to be a Fellow of the College.

Developing your project proposal

Using a relevant template below, develop a project proposal to submit to your Branch Training Committee (BTC) for approval.

Your proposal should outline: 

• the aim of the project 
• the project question and/or hypothesis 
• the proposed research methodology 
• the proposed supervisor’s name and credentials. 

Your proposal must be approved by your BTC before you start your project.

Proposal forms by format

• Scholarly Project proposal form – Case series [MS Word; 101 KB]
• Scholarly Project proposal form – Literature review [MS Word; 104 KB]
• Scholarly Project proposal form – Other project [MS Word; 57 KB]
• Scholarly Project proposal form – QA project or clinical audit [MS Word;105 KB]
• Scholarly Project proposal form – Qualitative research [MS Word; 106 KB]
• Scholarly Project proposal form – Quantitative research [MS Word; 104 KB]
• Scholarly Project proposal form – Mixed methods research [MS Word; 93 KB]

Modifying your project or proposal

You will need to send a revised proposal to the Branch Training Committee for consideration if you want to:

• change aspects of your project
• select a new project topic
• change your proposal because it's been rejected.

Authorship

You must be the major author of their Scholarly Project. A major author is defined as an author who has made a substantial contribution to all the following areas: 

• study design 
• data collection 
• analysis and interpretation of data 
• writing of the manuscript. 

Assistance can be provided by a supervisor or other person.  

Two trainees may collaborate on a shared project. The intention to collaborate must be noted in the project proposal.

Submission 

There are 3 submission rounds each year. Submit your Scholarly Project before the final submission date for your project to be considered for that round of assessment. 

Submit your project via email to scholarly@ranzcp.org along with the form below. 

• Scholarly Project submission form [PDF; 250 KB]

Fees 

$954.00 

Payment for the Scholarly Project is done via the submission form above. Submissions will not be processed without payment. 

Past papers and study support

The College has published a set of successful projects and resources you might find helpful when working on your Scholarly Project.

Assessment framework

The following framework is used by markers to guide their overall assessment and provide feedback. You can use this as a reference.

• Scholarly Project assessment framework [MS Word; 103 KB]

Results

Results are released on the dates specified in the exam timetable. When released, the results are available from the Results page. 

Surveying RANZCP members for your project

Contact traininghelp@ranzcp.org for information about the approval process to conduct a survey of RANZCP members as part of a Scholarly Project.

Contact 

assesshelp@ranzcp.org