About CPP

Year 1 Pre-PhD: Pathway will support participants with project specific and basic research skills and guide the development of a successful PhD and scholarship application with an identified supervision team.

Years 2-4 PhD scholarship: Full-time enrolment into The University of Adelaide PhD program alongside clinical training.

Year 5 Post-PhD: Participants will receive mentoring and support for PhD thesis write-up and submission and to build successful post-doctoral pathways through fellowship applications.

*Participants may have the option to enter the program at Year 2 depending on stage of research training. 

The Pathway is available on a part-time basis. This may be preferable to medical candidates who must meet advanced training obligations, or to other candidates who wish to maintain a higher clinical workload.

Year 1 (equivalent) Pre-PhD: Pathway will support participants to develop project specific and basic research skills and guide the development of a successful PhD and scholarship application with an identified supervision team.

Years 2-4 (equivalent) PhD / work: PhD enrolment part-time (0.5 FTE, paid) along with usual paid clinical work (0.5 FTE). This PhD component will be required to be completed within 7 years.

Year 5 (equivalent) Post-PhD: Participants will receive mentoring and support for PhD thesis write-up and submission and to build successful post-doctoral pathways through fellowship applications.

The Clinician PhD Pathway provides participants with access to experienced clinical researchers and clinical scientists via a mentoring model.

A panel of mentors will support and guide budding clinical researchers in their specialist training and PhD progress, using the following methods:

• support from a panel of mentors, highly experienced clinical researchers and clinical scientists
• one on one support from allocated mentor/s and monthly group meetings with CPP network
• opportunity to present research progress to mentors and stakeholders to receive feedback
• a peer support network with fellow participants of the CPP
• a targeted training from our member organisations including:
  • planning research projects
  • writing grant submissions
  • research translation
  • establishing and developing your researcher profile including media training.

The following outlines potential earnings during the CPP’s full-time and part-time pathways, using an allied health professional as an example. Download the excel file to estimate your earnings throughout the CPP program. 

 

Minimum requirements are applicants who:

• are employed at CALHN in a medical, nursing or allied health* discipline.
  • *allied health applicants must be employed either:
    • (a) by CALHN:
    • as an Allied Health Professional (AHP) (audiologist, art therapist, cardiac physiologist, clinical psychologist, dietitian, epidemiologist, exercise physiologist, genetic counsellor, music therapist, neuro psychologist, occupational therapist, orthotist or prosthetist, perfusionist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, social worker, speech pathologist, or radiation therapist), or
    • as a Medical Scientist (MeS), or
    • as a Medical Physicist (MPH)
    • (b) by state-wide clinical support services in an allied health discipline, and based at a CALHN clinical site
       
• applications from CALHN employees pursuing a clinical pharmacology research career are encouraged
• medical trainees may rotate to other Local Health Networks but must remain a CALHN-affiliated trainee
• medical specialty trainees must be in an advanced training post at CALHN during the whole of the first year of the CPP
• meet requirements for a University of Adelaide Scholarship.

Highly desirable requirements are applicants who:

• meet requirements for Adelaide University Scholarship.
• have demonstrated their continued engagement in research (i.e. enclosing evidence of supporting projects, committees, and a record of publications and/or grants.

2025 Clinician PhD Pathway application (for commencement in 2026)

Please provide the following as a single PDF document:

1. Completed applicant details and eligibility form: download word document form

2. Applicant CV (maximum 4 pages) detailing:

• Current/anticipated CALHN position (for medical staff list current appointment, clinical speciality, stage of training), contract status (i.e. FTE, contract or permanent, substantive)
   
• Clinical achievements:
   
  • Qualifications
  • Key roles and achievements
  • Academic courses
  • Professional scholarships, awards, prizes and recognitions
     
• Research achievements:
   
  • List a maximum of 5 peer reviewed publications, including full publication reference (international serial number, URL, DOI, impact factor, citation, journal ranking, short description of the applicant’s contribution to the work and its impact/influence)
  • Trial involvements
  • Conference abstracts
  • Grants
  • Research awards
  • Other research outputs (e.g. inventor on patent applications (PCT) and granted patents, creative works, site PI)

3. Research project proposal (maximum 400 words) outlining the following:

• Proposed PhD research area
• Impact of proposed research
• Feasibility of proposed research
• Alignment with clinical career
• Proposed supervision

4. Letter of support

As part of your application, please include a letter of support (maximum 400 words) from an academic referee. This should reference your potential for completing a PhD, your research skillset, and address your ability to meet Adelaide University’s PhD criteria. Typically, this will be performed by a proposed supervisor.

Please ensure you have completed all sections of the application before submitting to Health.CALHNPhDProgram@sa.gov.au. 

Applications will be ranked based on:

• clinical achievements (30%) 
• research achievements (30%) 
• research project (15%) 
• alignment with clinical career (20%) 
• suitability of supervisory team (5%) 

Applications will be screened for eligibility, and each will be reviewed and scored by a panel comprised of CPP mentors. This review process will produce a shortlist of applicants who will be interviewed, most likely during August. 

Following interviews, we anticipate having the 2026 cohort confirmed by the end of September. All successful candidates will be expected to commence in February 2026.