Directors from the University of Exeter’s Clinical Education Development and Research (CEDAR) visit Sunway University’s Department of Psychology to explore partnerships in training, research and postgraduate programmes

Directors from the University of Exeter’s Clinical Education Development and Research (CEDAR) visit Sunway University’s Department of Psychology to explore partnerships in training, research and postgraduate programmes

In November 2018, Professors Kenneth Laidlaw and Eugene Mullan of the Clinical Education Development and Research (CEDAR) group, a clinical training and research unit within the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter, UK, visited the Department of Psychology at Sunway University. Prof. Laidlaw is the Programme Director for both the Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) Programme and the Postgraduate Research Programme, while Prof. Mullan is the Director of Clinical Training.


Professors Eugene Mullan and Kenneth Laidlaw flanked by Assoc Prof Alvin Ng and Prof Nigel Marsh of the Department of Psychology during their visit to Sunway University.

The primary focus of the visit was on ways and means to develop training programmes at a postgraduate level for graduates in psychology who are interested in pursuing further studies in clinical competencies. The emphasis for such programmes would be on mental health management within the Malaysian context. Discussions also included possible avenues for addressing the lack of clinical psychologists for mental health care services in Malaysia. Pathways to both upskill existing psychology officers as well as to train new ones to an acceptable competency were formulated. The fundamental model discussed for such training was the stepped-care delivery of mental health services, as currently practiced in the UK.

These discussions led to a meeting with Dato’ Tan Yoke Hwa, Head of the Department of Allied Health Care under the School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences (SHMS) at Sunway University. This meeting saw the visiting professors share their ideas for an improved mental healthcare training and delivery system that may be adapted into the Malaysian setting. Dato’ Tan, who was previously the Director of the Allied Health Sciences Division in the Ministry of Health Malaysia, was able to provide some insightful inputs into the discussions.


Prof Mullan opening the talk on CEDAR while Prof Laidlaw looks on.

Prof. Mullan and Prof. Laidlaw, who is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Sunway University, took the opportunity to give a brief talk on CEDAR and their clinical psychology programme to students of Sunway University’s BSc (Hons) Psychology Programme. Those students who attended the talk were interested in furthering their studies by undertaking postgraduate training in professional clinical psychology. The two Exeter Professors also introduced the model for their new Master programme in Clinical Associate Psychology, which drew a lot of interests from the students. This programme has been approved by the British Psychological Society and provides graduate psychology students with another option for pursuing clinical training at a postgraduate level and allows them to practice as a mental health professional. It is also a stepping stone into doctoral-level training in clinical psychology. Many students had specific and pertinent questions for the two professors after the talk, indicating that they have thought deeply about pursuing postgraduate studies in clinical psychology, and are receptive to the new Master’s programme for Clinical Associate Psychologists.


Prof Laidlaw and Prof Mullan with the students after their talk.

This visit strengthened the Department of Psychology’s relationship with Prof. Laidlaw, who first visited Sunway five years ago when he was a Programme Director at the University of East Anglia, and developed a new relationship with Prof. Mullan, who is a recognised leader in the training of clinical psychologists in the UK. Prof Mullan is in the forefront of training new levels of mental health professionals in England and is recognised by the British Psychological Society as an expert in training clinical supervisors, a process known as ‘training the trainer’.

This new link with clinical psychology training activities at the University of Exeter brings to three the number of world-class, UK-based, postgraduate clinical psychology training programmes that have working relationships with Sunway University’s Department of Psychology. The existing links with the University of East Anglia and the University of Sussex have already provided Sunway University Psychology staff and students with new opportunities for academic exchanges, training and research collaborations. Similarly, the new link with the University of Exeter will provide benefits to Sunway staff and students and, ultimately, mental health services in Malaysia.