The vacant chair: headless psychiatry departments in the Group of Eight universities of Australia

Objective: This paper considers reasons that may be contributing to the unusual synchronicity of five vacancies for Chairs/Heads of Department of Psychiatry in the Group of Eight University Medical Schools in March 2019. Conclusion: University psychiatric departmental head vacancies arise from a number of factors: challenges and limitations in public sector psychiatry and universities; structural problems with such appointments; lack of a developmental pipeline for academic psychiatry; and other attractive alternative options, such as private practice.