Academic research
We are fortunate to have a great network of universities and highly regarded academics within our regions, creating excellent opportunities for registrars interested in exploring academic research.
How can you explore academic research during your GP training?
If you are interested in trying out academic research or building on existing research skills, you may be able to undertake an academic post during your training.
In an academic post, you have the opportunity to complete a research project, gain teaching experience and attend relevant courses and conferences under the supervision of an experienced, widely recognised and respected academic (usually an academic GP).
By the end of your term you will be able to review literature, critically appraise an article, design a research question, develop an appropriate methodology, implement a research project and present its findings, usually through conference presentations and an article submitted for publication in a peer reviewed journal.
Why consider an academic post?
- It’s a great way of experiencing research and teaching in a supported environment.
- It can help you decide if you are interested in research, provide you with useful contacts in the research and teaching world and offer a different perspective on your clinical work.
- If you already have a developed interest it can be furthered during an academic post.
- Research provides the opportunity to challenge yourself and learn different skills during your training.
- Most importantly you contribute to the evidence base for general practice and primary care.
How do you apply?
Academic post applications open annually:
GP Synergy requires registrars considering an academic post to contact GP Synergy’s medical educator that oversees the academic portfolio, Dr Parker Magin, as early on in the process as possible to find out how an academic post works, why it might be good for you, and to work on the application (in collaboration with your prospective supervisor). You also need to contact your Academic Department / supervisor.
Registrar Academic Projects
| Year | College | Registrar | University | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | RACGP | Yvonne Gia Yen An | Western Sydney University | Uptake of advanced care planning in Western Sydney among the Vietnamese speaking community. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Laura Elsom | Western Sydney University | Hepatitis C treatment in general practice: educational and support needs of GPs and GP registrars. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Katie Fisher | University of Newcastle | The prevalence and associations of telehealth consultations and other aspects of GP registrars' billing practice: a cross-sectional study nested within the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) study. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Darran (Zhiyong) Foo | University of Wollongong | The impact of rurality on the Primary Care Interval for (the pathway to treatment of) breast cancer. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Isabel Hanson | University of Sydney | Social Prescribing in General Practice: a qualitative analysis of GP knowledge and behaviours in the Sydney Local Health District. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Louisa Ling | University of Notre Dame | Understanding the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the management of asthma in general practice from the perspective of the general practitioner. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Olivia Missiakos | Western Sydney University | Increasing willingness to engage in prevention and screening for cervical cancer in women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds living in Western Sydney (NSW). |
| 2021 | RACGP | Seren Ovington | Australian National University | The Impact of the COVID 19 Pandemic on General Practitioners: A Qualitative Study. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Tasnuba Pervez | Western Sydney University | What is high quality paediatric care in general practice and how is this achieved? Perspectives of parents, paediatricians and general practitioners. |
| 2021 | RACGP | Sophie Wu | University of Wollongong | To what extent is advance care planning being done by general practitioners in cancer patients, and what are the factors that influence whether it is being done? |
| Year | College | Registrar | University | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | RACGP | Edwina Brown | University of Notre Dame | Australian general practitioner chlamydia testing rates among young people; a follow up study. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Christopher Darragh | University of Wollongong | A study of emergency staff attitudes regarding GP communication to emergency departments in Australia. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Laura Elsom | Western Sydney University | Hepatitis C treatment in general practice: educational and support needs of GPs and GP registrars. |
| 2020 | ACRRM | Sylvia Lim | University of Notre Dame, Wagga Wagga | How rural general practitioners can be advocates for change, with a particular focus on clinical waste reduction in rural health services. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Ashvini Munindradasa | Australian National University | Evaluating a structured, evidence based health intervention program to manage weight reduction in obese patients in a rural GP setting. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Alexandra Pavli | University Of Sydney | Ethnographic case studies examining barriers and enablers to environmental sustainability in general practice. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Shakif Shakur | Western Sydney University | Understanding the perceptions and attitudes of African refugee men residing in Greater Western Sydney towards sexual health, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS - an exploratory, qualitative study. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Tim Tse | University of Sydney | Understanding the protective effect of influenza vaccination on subsequent acute myocardial infarction and stroke. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Rajdeep Ubeja | University of Sydney | The effect of electronic Medication Management (eMEDs) on GP satisfaction with medication handover in discharge documentation. |
| 2020 | RACGP | Jessica Yip | University of New England | Investigation into the frequency, enablers and barriers to usage of computerised cognitive behavioural therapy in general practice. |
| Year | College | Registrar | University | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | RACGP | Ashwin Kaniah | The University of Newcastle | 1) A secondary cross-sectional analysis of GP registrars’ prescribing for older patients, comparing medications prescribed and medications ceased (deprescribed) during office-based consultations. 2) A secondary descriptive analysis of GP registrars’ deprescribing in older patients. 3) A cross-sectional study of practicing GP's deprescribing of medicines in older patients. |
| 2019 | RACGP | Kathleen Wild | The University of Newcastle | Attitudes to environmental sustainability in general practice. |
| 2019 | RACGP | Jessica Fitch | University of Sydney | Acceptability and usability of the “One Key Question” in Australian primary healthcare. |
| 2019 | RACGP | Antony Bolton | University of New South Wales | Caring for methamphetamine users in general practice: barriers & enablers to the provision of proactive, structured health care. |
| 2019 | RACGP | Katrina Giskes | University of Notre Dame Australia | Using a hand-held medical device for opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation in rural general practice settings. |
| Year | College | Registrar | University | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | RACGP | Alum Sheila Uyirwoth | University of Notre Dame Australia | Review of ethical considerations in non-surgical cosmetic procedures in general practice in the context of current guidelines. |
| 2018 | RACGP | Ciara McDonald | University of Sydney | Exploring effects of providing consent information to parents on intention to vaccinate at six weeks. |
| 2018 | RACGP | Jonathan Lim | University of New South Wales | Experiences of overweight patients with preventative care: Can it be improved with eHealth and teamwork? A subproject of the HeLP-GP Study |
| 2018 | RACGP | Lewis Ryan | Australian National University | The effect of models of primary care on the quality of referrals to specialists. |
| 2018 | RACGP | Melinda Choy | Australian National University | Understanding how ehealth impacts the therapeutic relationship: a qualitative study evaluating the effect of eCHAT on the therapeutic relationship between doctors and patients with substance dependence in a general practice clinic. |
| 2018 | RACGP | Rachel Turner | University of Newcastle | Prevalence and associations of, and barriers to, prescribing of Long Acting Reversible Contraception by GP registrars: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study plus a secondary analysis of ReCEnT study data. |
| 2018 | RACGP | Saima Majeed | University of Notre Dame Australia | A study to evaluate the acceptability and usability of the NSW Health template 'Making an advance care directive' in general practice patients in rural NSW. |
| Year | College | Registrar | University | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | RACGP | Rebekah Hoffman | University of Wollongong | Junior doctors; burn out and wellbeing. Understanding the experience of burnout in GP registrars and hospital equivalents. |
| 2017 | RACGP | Steve Martin | Australian National University | Nutrition education for medical students – a qualitative study evaluating the impact of the hidden curriculum. |
| 2017 | RACGP | Kathleen O'Brien | Australian National University | What is the relationship between physical health, participation in physical activity outside of school hours, with risk of mental illness and behavioural disorders in kindergarten children in the ACT? |
| 2017 | RACGP | Anna Samecki | University of Notre Dame Australia | Wasted waiting time – are we missing an opportunity for more effective health promotion in the general practice waiting room? |
| 2017 | RACGP | Fazeela Uppal | University of New South Wales | Infectious infections – minimising the spread of infectious disease in the general practice setting – A qualitative study on current infection control practices in Sydney metropolitan GP surgeries. |
| 2017 | RACGP | Bosco Wu | Australian National University | The lived experiences of junior doctors with respect to empathy throughout medical training and the implications for patient care and doctor resilience in general practice and the hospital environment. |
| 2017 | RACGP | David Cosgriff | Western Sydney University | Understanding factors that influence patients with chronic disease in Western Sydney to visit multiple general practitioners in order to promote continuity of care. |
| 2017 | RACGP | Jennifer Dai | University of Sydney | How do gender and sexuality diverse young people access and experience the health system? |
| 2017 | RACGP | Emily Deck | University of Sydney | Advance care planning in general practice – implementation of a screening tool with GP registrars in metropolitan Sydney - GP registrar experience with advanced care planning – how to help them start the conversation - starting the conversation: assisting general practice registrars with initiating advance care planning. |
| 2017 | RACGP | Lisa Harris | University of New England | GP education on the effect of organophosphate pesticides on the health of farmers. |
| 2017 | RACGP | Gostinna Lalana Kapuwatte | University of Sydney | Access 3 - rural and remote young people |
| 2017 | RACGP | Ally Lyon | Western Sydney University | What are the perspectives of female refugees in Western Sydney on cervical cancer and its prevention? |
| Year | College | Registrar | University | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | RACGP | Natasha Beg | University of New South Wales | Treating co-morbid depression and nicotine dependence in primary care: the Webquit pilot study. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Thomas Fung | University of Western Sydney | Oral health in general practice: reported presentations, practitioner confidence, knowledge, current practice and training needs. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Kelly Hamill | University of the Sunshine Coast | Co-sleeping: is there an increased risk of SUDI if no other risk factors is present? An analysis of 11 years of SUDI deaths in Queensland from 2004-2014. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Tejas Kanhere | University of New South Wales | Electronic Activity Monitoring Systems (EAMS) as a primary healthcare intervention for promoting weight loss in overweight or obese patients. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Ying Ying Liew | University of New South Wales | Access to and experiences of health care by young people of refugee background in NSW. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Alison Lyon | University of Western Sydney | What are the challenges and opportunities for learning in gGeneral practices situated within culturally and linguistically diverse communities? |
| 2016 | RACGP | Iresha Perera | Australian National University | Using the evolution of Australian primary health care as a comparative case study, how can we understand and model the influences governing the implementation of a general practice specialist training pathway in developing countries, using Sri Lanka as a reference country. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Isuru Ratnayake | University of New South Wales | Application of multi-morbidity indices and computerised prediction tools to identify the subset of patients in general practices who may benefit from anticipatory care planning. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Kate Reid | Australian National University | How can general practitioners open helpful discussions about weight management with parents of overweight and obese children? What works? What doesn’t work? |
| 2016 | RACGP | Yasin Shahab | University of Western Sydney | Culturally competent general practice care for people from Pacific Islander Backgrounds with diabetes in South-West Sydney. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Chi So | Australian National University | Assessing the effectiveness and patient perceptions of warfarin vs novel oral anticoagulants: an Australian rural perspective. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Thomas Stewart | University of New South Wales | Current practice, uncertainties and barriers to investigation of OSA in diagnosing patients with hypertension in the primary care setting. |
| 2016 | RACGP | Hannah Visser | University of New South Wales | Analysis of care provision, disease progression and associated factors for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People attending a multidisciplinary diabetes complications and assessment clinic in regional NSW. |
Meet some of our academic post registrars
Dr Seren Ovington
Murrumbidgee & ACT
Dr Seren Ovington is undertaking an academic post to explore the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on general practice – how it has affected GP’s professional identity, their clinical practice, their patient-doctor relationships and their mental health.
Dr Isabel Hanson
Central, Eastern & South Western Sydney
Dr Isabel Hanson is undertaking an academic post in 2021, her project aims to identify barriers and consider how to increase social prescribing in the Australian context.
Dr Katie Fisher
Hunter, Manning & Central Coast
As part of her academic post Dr Katie Fisher will be working with the ReCEnT project focusing on the billing aspect of GP registrar consultations and telehealth uptake by registrars.
Dr Tim Tse
Central, Eastern & South Western Sydney
With a love of statistics, problem solving and teaching, Dr Tim Tse is undertaking an academic term to understand the protective effect of influenza vaccination on subsequent acute myocardial infarction and stroke.
Dr Sylvia Lim
Murrumbidgee & ACT
ACRRM registrar Dr Sylvia Lim is exploring how rural general practitioners can be advocates for change, with a particular focus on clinical waste reduction in rural health services.
Dr Shakif Shakur
Central, Eastern & South Western Sydney
An interest in refugee health has contributed to Dr Shakif Shakur undertaking an academic term to understand the perceptions and attitudes of African refugee men residing in Greater Western Sydney towards sexual health, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS.