University of East Anglia

Our Vision and Aim

The UEA Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology is dedicated to developing a workforce of Clinical Psychologists, who are not only highly skilled clinicians, but are able to operate as the next generation of clinical leaders for our profession. The NHS, and our society, is constantly changing, and as an adaptable and responsive programme, we want to equip and support you to develop the skills that our mental health services and systems need to deal with the challenges of the future.

Our programme will enable you to become conversant, knowledgeable and confident in understanding relevant psychological theory, developing formulations, and then using this information to test hypotheses and apply evidence-based intervention strategies within a range of different clinical settings. We value the integration of clinical, academic and research skills which underpin the implementation of evidence-based practice, and hope that you will be challenged and inspired to think about how your research and practice can make a particular difference to people who are under-represented, marginalised or excluded. We want to encourage you to adopt an ethos of continual self-development that allows you to continue to develop in working with different clinical challenges over your career.

Finally, we want you to feel welcomed, included and involved in the programme throughout your time here. We have a programme team who, together, come from a broad range of professional and clinical backgrounds, but we all share a vision of wanting to deliver high quality clinical psychology training to help support you on your journey to becoming an effective, reflective and passionate clinical psychologist. 

Where is ‘East Anglia’?

If you've never heard of Norwich or even East Anglia, we think you will be pleasantly surprised. The region is a fantastic place to live and to study. The university itself is based in the beautiful and historic city of Norwich and is surrounded by beautiful market towns, countryside and coastline across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The vibrant and historical cities of Cambridge and Peterborough are located to the West of our region. The cost of living is also often reasonable compared to other areas of the country.

What about the UEA?

UEA is a well-regarded, high-ranking, research active university. The programme is located in the Norwich Medical School, and therefore benefits from active links to wider clinical research activity, as well as opportunities for Inter-Professional Learning (IPL).

Within the school, the programme is located in a wider Department of Clinical and Psychological Therapies (CPPT) which includes clinical research activity, as well as a range of other applied psychological training programmes. Over recent years, there has been significant expansion in training numbers across the department. Indeed, since the Clinical Psychology Doctorate training started at UEA in 1997, we have welcomed a number of CBT practitioner training programmes to the department, developing significant expertise in this area. In 2022, our programme gained secondary accreditation with the BABCP, and in 2024 our department was awarded the contract, as one of three providers nationally to offer formal postgraduate training in Mental Health Law, supporting the potential for senior professionals – including clinical psychologists – to become Approved Clinicians under the Mental Health Act.

How do we support our trainees?

We are really proud of the range of support that we offer to our trainees. We know that all of our applicants have worked hard to get to the stage of applying for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Whilst the Doctorate is itself hard work, we want to support all of our trainees to succeed, and so we provide trainees with a range of support mechanisms. This includes our advisor system, our buddy system, and Personal Support Tutors. Furthermore, trainees can access a range of services from the UEA’s student services, including individualised wellbeing and mental health support, and support for learning needs including English language and specific learning difficulties. There is a programme wellbeing committee which meets regularly to discuss programme approaches to supporting trainee wellbeing.

We know that over three years, it is to be expected that a number of trainees will experience personal stress or challenges and we are experienced in supporting trainees through all kinds of situations. We also know that many trainees come to training with a range of personal circumstances, and we aim to ensure that such trainees experience appropriate support. All trainees are allocated a personal advisor, a staff member who is generally the first point of contact about any queries or concerns. The advisor also conducts all mid placement reviews and can meet with you periodically throughout training to review your progress and offer support.

Other Relevant Information

Applicants may find the following links helpful sources of further UEA information:

• Please access this page of our website and the Research Conference Brochure 2024 is available to download as a PDF or can be downloaded here
• Trainee Job Description
• 2 of our current trainees who took part in the International Training Opportunity - video (at the end of the page)