Salt in the soul, steel in the eye and caution towards the winds: a mariner's guide for navigating a new academic psychiatry department.

Objectives: This paper describes principles and advice regarding the development of a new academic psychiatry department within a medical school for aspiring academic psychiatrists. We describe general principles based on the experience of the foundation of the Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at the Australian National University Medical School.

Conclusions: Perspicacious leadership and organisation are the foundation for an academic psychiatry department which delivers teaching, research and broader intellectual engagement with the medical and broader community.