The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7299 p598
15 May 2004

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Nottingham university pharmacy student is “Graduate of the year”

Pharmacy student Conall Watson has won the title “Graduate of the year 2004”.

Mr Watson, originally from Belfast and now studying at the University of Nottingham, came first in a competition open to all students, run by student magazine Real World, online student service HigherInsight and the company PricewaterhouseCoopers. They were looking for a “university student who is passionate, innovative and proactive”.

After submitting a written entry, he was interviewed by telephone and then face-to-face by the judges at the London-based finals. “The winner stood out,” one of the judges commented.

Mr Watson is the environment and social justice officer at Nottingham University. As well as keeping up with his pharmacy studies he has organised the university’s “One world” week, including multicultural events and an ethical careers fair. He wrote the student union’s submission to the government on an international trade agreement and co-founded the Tibet society, campaigning for human rights. He has worked at a hospital for Tibetan refugees in India and has run societies, sports clubs and was treasurer for the university’s conservation society.

Mr Watson told The Journal that his campaigning started at university: “I didn’t see any point in waiting to qualify before starting to campaign.” He says that fitting in his many interests with his pharmacy course has not been a problem “although the one thing that suffers is sleep”.

He is currently preparing for his finals, which start this week, writing his dissertation on the public understanding of science.

He hopes to carry out his preregistration year in hospital pharmacy at Barts and the London NHS Trust and to go on to work with voluntary organisations such as VSO or Médecins Sans Frontières, either as a health professional or as an advocate. He is also interested in corporate social responsibility. Although tempted to use the £8,000 prize to reduce his student debt, Mr Watson will be visiting New York in June to work with the organisation Students for Free Tibet.