Life as a Clinician-Scientist

Do you want to push the boundaries of knowledge as part of your career in medicine or health? Discover life as a clinician-scientist.

Clinician-scientists work at the cutting edge of health, combining clinical skills with trailblazing research. They lead the discovery and development of new treatments, reveal insights into health and disease, and their work significantly impacts patient care.

Our Life as a Clinician-Scientist (LACS) program provides unique insights into this career path and how you can follow it. Learn from Australia’s top clinician researchers as they share stories and skills from their career journey to inspire you to forge your own path.

Who should attend?

LACS events aim to encourage and inspire medical and other clinical students, junior clinicians and early career researchers to combine a career in research with their clinical practice. Events feature presentations and discussion panels from Australia’s leading clinician-scientists, with opportunities to ask questions, seek advice and network with experienced experts and others on this journey.

Discover the many pathways to this exciting and rewarding career, which offers a lifetime of challenge, discovery and fulfilment. 

What is a clinician-scientist?

Life as a clinician-scientist is never dull. Clinician-scientists, or clinician-researchers, combine research and direct patient care to make significant impacts on public health.

Their unique experience allows them to take insights from the bedside to answer fundamental scientific questions, then translate those insights back into practice to improve patient care.

"I really loved hearing about how people's interests and passions can eventuate into research in every area of medicine"

– Past attendee

About the events

We know it can be hard to get started in research or to continue on this career path. Our events are designed to give you first-hand insights from Australia’s leading clinician researchers on:

  • How they got started in research.
  • How they balance their clinical and research work – and how they combine this with ‘life’, e.g. families and other interests.
  • The latest cutting-edge research, which is changing practice and the delivery of healthcare.
  • The skills needed to succeed, such as how to frame a research question, how to write a paper, and how to communicate your science. 

You also have the chance to chat to speakers individually and meet representatives from universities and research institutes to discuss their work and potential opportunities.

Events are designed specifically for individuals studying or working in medicine, nursing and midwifery, and allied health professions.

Get involved

Interested in adding to your CV and working with clinician-scientists to organise an event?

We have a volunteer program for individuals interested in helping us organise our events. Contact our Programs and Events Manager, Leila Hutton, if you would like to volunteer to help with an event: [email protected].

Further information about upcoming Life as a Clinician-Scientist events can be found on our Events page, or sign up for our Hypothesis newsletter.

Upcoming events 2025-26

Month Event Mode
TBC Brisbane In-person
TBC Sydney In-person
TBC Perth In-person
TBC Melbourne In-person
TBC Adelaide In-person
TBC Canberra In-person
TBC Allied Health Online
TBC Nursing & Midwifery Online
TBC Regional & Rural Online

* Events are subject to change

View past events

 

Be inspired by Australia’s eminent clinician-scientists.

Find videos from past events in our video library, including talks from Professors Ian Frazer, Ingrid Scheffer, Sharon Lewis, Rinaldo Bellomo, Sandra Eades and Brendan Crabb.

Find out more about Life as a Clinician-Scientist

Want to learn more? Get involved? Be the first to know about upcoming events?

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Subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter, Hypothesis, created for the next generation of clinician-scientists. It includes information about upcoming events, tips on pursuing research or clinical work, inspiration from leading clinician-scientists, and opportunities to assist you in meeting your career goals.

This program is also supported by funding from the Australian Government. The views expressed in relation to this activity do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government.

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