The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7256 p31
5 July 2003

Society summary

Society offers £470,000 for R&D projects

Researchers are being invited to prepare proposals for projects funded to a total of £470,000 in the areas of workforce and education. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has three new projects to fund in its commissioned research and development programme.

The title of the first project is "Pharmacy undergraduate students: career choices and expectations across a four-year degree programme". The Society says that the work will help it develop a wider understanding of the future profile of the pharmacy workforce by focusing on the career aspirations, motivations and expectations of current pharmacy students and the career choices they are making. It will inform workforce planning and policy and developments in education as well as developments in service delivery and organisation. The maximum budget for this project study is £60,000.

The second project is entitled "Pharmacy workforce: a longitudinal study of careers among new pharmacy graduates (2004–09)". The study will follow a group of 2004 pharmacy graduates through the first five years of their careers, generating data relating to career, employment and training choices and tracking changes in motivations and aspirations. The Society says: "This research will inform our understanding of what influences decisions that pharmacists make in the early stages of their careers and the impact these decisions have on future careers." The maximum budget for this project is £70,000 a year for five years.

The title of the third project is "Teaching, learning and assessment methods in pharmacy undergraduate programmes". The Society says that the pharmacy education R&D reference group has identified that schools of pharmacy are developing teaching, learning and assessment methods in different ways. Innovations include the use of objective structured clinical examinations, clinical placement-based teaching and interdisciplinary teaching. The aim is to learn from these initiatives in order to develop best practice in pharmacy education and to inform the Society's regulatory role as it relates to accreditation of degree programmes and preregistration training. The maximum budget for the project is £60,000.

Dr Sue Ambler, the Society's head of practice research, said: "It is almost 10 years since the Society launched its first practice research strategy. This call for proposals is a major milestone and marks a significant step forward for the Society as a research funding body. The results will help the Council and staff at the Society to plan for the future of the profession and its workforce."

The Society's research manager, Zoe Whittington, can supply further information and application forms. She can be contacted at the Society's headquarters (tel 020 7572 2276; e-mail zwhittington@rpsgb.org.uk). The deadline for completed applications is 22 August.