CoThesis AI

Startup

CoThesis is a research mentorship platform built for medical trainees. It guides you through every stage of a research project, using a 25-stage framework that supports more than 100 methodologies. The CoThesis AI mentor guides and supports you through each step, from finding and defining your initial idea to publishing and presenting your findings. 

Why CoThesis?

Nearly every specialty medical training program in Australia and New Zealand requires original research. Most trainees complete theirs without ever receiving formal methodology training. I know, because I'm one of them. As a rural psychiatry registrar, I've watched the same story repeat across training cohorts: competent clinicians, experts in their field, frozen when asked to do something they've never been taught. Not because they lack capability, but because they lack the vocabulary, the structure, and the support to take the first step.

The data confirms what trainees already know. 86.9% report no formal research methodology training. 56.6% lack adequate research mentorship - finding good supervision is described as "luck of the draw". And it shows: 88.9% of trainee research outputs carry moderate-to-high risk of methodological bias. These aren't individual failings. They're the natural result of a system where dedicated research mentorship and quality research education can be hard to find, especially outside metropolitan, well-resourced institutions.

What CoThesis does

The CoThesis AI mentor supports the user through Socratic teaching: asking the questions a great supervisor would ask, when one isn't available. It never generates submittable content. The trainee does the thinking. CoThesis helps the trainee build lifelong skills, but it won't write their paper for them.

The platform adapts to the user: first-time researchers get scaffolding, experienced researchers get help when they need it. This is supported by an evidence based knowledge library, adapted to the users specialty, experience and methodology. Lifetime accounts mean your research work persists across hospitals, colleges, and career stages - medical school to retirement. And CoThesis is additive. It doesn't replace supervisors - it supports them, extending their reach to the rural, regional, and overseas-trained trainees who currently face the widest gaps.

Where we are

CoThesis is in pre-launch development, targeting a public MVP in early 2027. Australian provisional patents protect the architecture, with key innovations converting to PCT.  Our waitlist drew signups from four colleges and five Australian states within its first ten days and we're soon launching a free research library of over 10,000 resources to build SEO and a user base prior to launch.

Why I'm at DHF26

I'm building CoThesis while training, in my last year before fellowship - because research support hasn't kept pace with research demands, and the trainees coming behind us deserve better.

If you're working on how the next generation of doctors learn to think, I'd like to meet you.

— Dr Dave Townsend, Founder

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