Brown Clinic Psychology Research Fellowship Program (RFP) 2023
The Brown Clinic Psychology Research Fellowship Program (RFP) provides advanced research experiences and promotes the development of independent investigators. Areas of emphasis include: adult, child, health psychology/behavioral medicine, and neuropsychology. RFP fellowships are funded through faculty research grants and/or through an existing NIH-Funded T32 fellowship listed below.
RFP fellowship positions are 1-2 years in duration. Agreement to continue for a second year of training, when available, is decided upon by the postdoctoral fellow and the primary supervisor midway through the first year. The supervisor informs the postdoctoral fellow that he/she would like him/her to stay a second year by mid-December. Postdoctoral fellows must make a decision by January 1st in order to allow sufficient time to recruit a replacement.
All postdoctoral fellowships are full-time positions.
All candidates for admission are held to the onboarding requirements of the hospital in which they will be employed.
All candidates for admission who are clinical/counseling/school psychologists are also strongly encouraged to purchase their own liability insurance (Professional Liability (Malpractice) Insurance for Pre-Licensed Psychologist) while on fellowship. Future employers may request that you supply proof of insurance while you were in training.
At this time, the State of Rhode Island mandates that all healthcare providers and healthcare workers have received a complete series of COVID-19 vaccine (one dose of Johnson & Johnson, two doses of Pfizer or Moderna). The sole exemption in the regulation is a medical exemption. For more information, please visit the Rhode Island Department of Health, COVID-19 Information website.
Postdoctoral fellows decide on the appropriate research activities in conjunction with the faculty supervisor. All individualized training activities for postdoctoral fellows must include explicit goals and activities for their fellowship. It is the responsibility of the primary supervisor to monitor that the fellow’s goals are being met.
Postdoctoral fellows in a research-focused fellowships spend at least 60% and up to 90% of their time on research. The primary goal of the RFP is to develop both the knowledge base and the skills to begin an independent research career within the chosen area of emphasis. This will include:
- a critical understanding of the literature and the current issues in the field; and
- the ability to independently develop a specific research project.
Postdoctoral fellows whose positions have a primary research focus are most often provided with experience working on grant-funded projects. Close supervision is provided for experimental design, research techniques, and grant writing. Grant writing is a focus of the training in some, but not all, of the fellowships.
The primary activities on a research fellowship may include:
- developing a grant proposal which is submitted for funding;
- propose, design, and implement a small research project; and/or
- conduct secondary data analyses on existing data sets.
Projects are typically conducted in collaboration with the faculty supervisor and can take advantage of ongoing programmatic research at Brown University.
The Postdoctoral Fellowship Training Program (PFTP), within the Clinical Psychology Training Programs at Brown: A Consortium of the Providence VA Medical Center, Lifespan, and Care New England, was formally established during the 1992-1993 academic year and listed as a professional psychology postdoctoral training program by APPIC at that time. By centralizing the operations in 1992, the PFTP became a Brown University, Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior (DPHB) program rather than a hospital-based program. The PFTP also established an administrative structure, as well as policies and procedures for all fellowships. In addition, the Consortium’s name was changed from “Internship Consortium” to “Training Consortium” in 1992 in recognition of the equal emphasis of the program on predoctoral and postdoctoral training.
The PFTP includes four programs: the Clinical Psychology Program (CPP), Clinical Child Psychology Specialty Program (CCPSP), Clinical Neuropsychology Specialty Program (CNSP), and Research Fellowship Program (RFP) and is responsible for maintaining records of all current postdoctoral fellows and alumni.
