For details about the Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis (CPJA), which is a college of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), and a list of member organisations, visit:

http://www.cpja.org.uk/

The Academic Centre, based at 94 Belsize Lane, London, was officially opened in October 2004. The Centre enables some Essex-based teaching, including the professional doctorate programmes, to be located in London, allowing students from a wider geographical area to enrol.

The Doctorate programme leads to a Professional Doctorate in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy,* or Analytical Psychology awarded by the University of Essex, based on:

1) A professional psychotherapy training leading to registration with the British Psychoanalytic Council or the Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis;

2) A psychoanalytic methodology course and research workshop and related assignments;

3) A thesis of 40,000 words.

The research component of the doctorate programme will normally last three years and all teaching will take place on Fridays. In Year 1 there will be two components (‘Psychoanalytic Methodology’ and ‘Research Workshop’). Alongside this, students will begin work on the research for their thesis. In Years 2 and 3 students will continue to attend the ‘Research Workshop’ and will complete their research and the thesis. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity for individual supervision sessions.

Candidates who can demonstrate their readiness may apply to submit their thesis after two years. Application for early submission is by requesting to have an additional supervisory board after the fourth term of study, at which the likelihood of the candidate’s being ready for early submission will be assessed.

• Psychoanalytic Methodology Seminars. This course will cover the major epistemological and methodological issues in doing clinical research from a psychoanalytic and Jungian perspective, and aims at teaching a critical approach to the way in which psychoanalytic thinking (from a Freudian, Jungian and Kleinian perspective) generates knowledge. The course, which consists of a two-hour seminar every fortnight during the autumn and spring terms, will be taught by staff of the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies and guest lecturers.

• Psychoanalytic Methodology Research Workshop. This workshop will take place two to three times per term, on alternate weeks with the ‘Psychoanalytic Methodology’ course and will be taught by members of staff from the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies. The workshop comprises both practical research methods teaching and student presentations, and supplements the research methodology seminars. The aim of the workshop is to facilitate the student in the preparation of their own research thesis, and introduce students to the fundamental aspects of undertaking a research project, including:

• developing a research question
• using databases and carrying out a literature review
• writing a research proposal
• ethics and informed consent
• on-going discussion of student projects

• Individual supervision. Students will be allocated an individual supervisor (a member of the University staff or an approved associate supervisor) at the beginning of the scheme but the supervisor may be changed when the topic of the research is settled (no later than the start of the summer term of the 1st year). For professional doctorates in which research involves control of transference and counter-transference and the generation of data from the clinical process, it might be appropriate to consult an associate clinical supervisor, and this would be done in consultation with the supervisor. In these cases, the supervisor retains responsibility for the project, but the associate clinical supervisor may be needed to monitor the clinical or observational process that generates the data. Such supervision would be at the discretion of the individual student, in consultation with the supervisor, and would need to be financed on a private basis. In cases of specialist knowledge areas an associate academic supervisor or consultant from outside the University might also be brought in on the same basis.

• Conditions of progress in the first year.

• Students will be expected to have a coherent proposal prior to acceptance on the programme and will start work on more detailed planning of their research thesis from the beginning of the first year, in consultation with the University supervisor.
• Students are expected to attend the Orientation Day which usually takes place at the Colchester campus on the Wednesday before the beginning of the academic year, at the beginning of October.
• Attendance on one day (minimum) of the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies Research Student Conference, which takes place at the Colchester campus at the end of May, is a requirement of the course. Attendance for the full conference (usually at least another day and including the Annual Freud Memorial Lecture) is strongly recommended.
• Assessment is based on (i) a review of the literature in the student’s chosen field of inquiry (4,000 words; deadline: Monday of the first week of the Spring term); (ii) a methodology paper (4,000 words; deadline: Monday of the first week of the Summer term); and (iii) an introduction to their project as a whole, which will normally be a new version of the original proposal, revised in the light of work done during the year, including the literature review and methodology paper (4,000 words; submitted to a supervisory board, which will normally be held in July). These three components will be coherent pieces of work, amenable to independent assessment, but it is expected that they will also provide the basis for chapters or substantial sections of the research thesis. These three pieces of work will make up the Research Portfolio for the first year of the course.
• Students’ literature review and methodology assignments will be considered by an examination board in the summer term. Their introduction and their work generally will be presented to, and discussed with, a supervisory board consisting of the supervisor and two other members of staff, at least one of whom will be a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, psychodynamic psychotherapist, or analytical psychologist. For details of the role and function of the Supervisory Board, see the Postgraduate Student Handbook.
• The Research Students Progress Committee (RSPC) will recommend proceeding to the 2nd year, considering whether students have: a) passed the literature review and methodology assignments; and b) shown satisfactory progress with the introduction/ research proposal as assessed by the supervisory board.

Work towards completion of the Research Thesis (not more than 40,000 words) will continue, supported throughout the year by:

• Research Workshop

This workshop will continue twice a term during the second year of the course and brings together all students on the professional doctorate in joint problem solving activity.

• Individual Supervision

This will be the key method of learning and support in the second and third years.

• In the summer term of the second and third years students will again present their work to a

supervisory board. (Students who apply to be considered for early submission of their thesis will have an additional supervisory board at the end of the first term or beginning of the second term of their second year in order to consider their application.)

• Throughout their studies professional doctorate students are urged to take advantage of the research culture of the Centre as a whole and in particular are invited to attend and, especially in their second and third years, to present at the Research Student Forum which takes place at the Colchester campus three times a term.

The thesis will be submitted no later than 15th September at the end of the third year, although extensions may be possible in certain circumstances in accordance with the University's regulations (see the Postgraduate Handbook). It will be assessed according to the procedures outlined in the University’s regulations for doctorates. This includes the appointment of an internal examiner who shall not be the trainee’s research supervisor and an individual thesis external examiner, who will both read the thesis and conduct an oral examination. Although the written assignments for the Psychoanalytic Methodology course must be passed, and the passes confirmed by an examination board, they do not contribute to the final assessment for the award of the doctorate, which is based solely on the research thesis. (However, applicants who pass the first year assessments but do not proceed to the thesis may be eligible for an exit award of a Certificate in Psychoanalytic Research.)

The course will begin in October and registration will be part-time for three years (or, if approved, for two years). Depending on the student’s research experience, some applicants may be required to attend the Centre’s two-day post-graduate introduction to research methods in Essex. This is normally held in early November or mid February.

Year 1 seminars will be taught on a Friday afternoon during the University terms. Individual supervision will need to be negotiated with particular supervisors, but is likely to take place on Wednesday or Friday.

In years 2 and 3 the ‘Research Workshops’ will take place on a Friday afternoon. Individual supervision will need to be negotiated with the particular supervisor, but is again likely to take place on a Wednesday or Friday.

Throughout all years students will need to be able to find time to carry out their research and their own personal study, and it is strongly recommended that students allow a minimum of a day-and-a-half per week (including Friday afternoon) in order to make this possible. Students are required to visit the University at least once per academic year; this is most likely to be during the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies Research Student Conference, usually held near the end of May.

1. The literature review and methodology assignments must each be passed with a minimum grade of 50%. The introduction/research proposal will be assessed on a pass/fail basis and must be passed. A pass in the first year assessments acts as a gateway into the thesis research proper, but does not contribute to the final assessment for the award of the doctorate.

2. However, applicants who pass the first year assignments but do not proceed to the thesis may be eligible for an exit award of a Certificate in Psychoanalytic Research.

3. The Research Students Progress Committee (RSPC) will consider whether students have:

4. The thesis is assessed in accordance with the normal arrangements for a PhD. An internal and an external examiner are appointed and a viva is held.

5. The rules of assessment applying to the first year assignments and the Postgraduate Certificate exit award are the same as those for Postgraduate Certificates generally. These can be found at:

http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/students/pgt/pgroa/PGT%2009-10/PG%20Cert_09.pdf

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Page last updated on 08 February 2011.
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