It’s hard to believe that when this is published, we will be approximately a month away from Pharmacology 2016. The team at the Schild Plot is focused on delivering another lively and successful meeting, with many new activities planned. This year, we are very excited to be holding our Welcome Reception at the National Gallery, so we hope that you can join us for a glass of wine amongst one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world. There’s still time to book for the meeting and social events if you haven’t done so already (the meeting is free for members to attend!). If you are planning to attend, I look forward to seeing you there.
2016 has been another productive year for the Society. A summary of our activities in 2016 will be presented as part of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 14 December from 12:15–14:15 (at Pharmacology 2016). I would encourage you to attend to find out more about how the Society is managed on your behalf. However, if you’re unable to attend, slides and materials from the AGM will be available to our members through the ‘My Society’ section of the website.
In the last edition, I talked about our Focus on Pharmacology project and said that I hoped to be able to update you further with the great work that we’re doing to understand and support pharmacology teaching in the UK. For those who may have missed it, the Focus on Pharmacology is a mammoth research project that aims to help us understand the health and well-being of our discipline in the UK, with the intention of creating strategic goals, products and services to support and develop pharmacology, and our members, in the years to come. I’m now pleased to be able to share a number of outcomes from the project, some of which will be launched at Pharmacology 2016.
The first outcome of the Focus project is our new core undergraduate pharmacology curriculum, which will be launched on Wednesday 14 December during the Pharmacology meeting. The new curriculum sets out the core knowledge, skills and attitudes that pharmacology graduates must be able to apply upon successful completion of an undergraduate degree. It is the culmination of over a year’s work using the Delphi process to gain the input through various workshops of an expert group formed of individuals working across the pharmacological spectrum. As part of the launch on 14 December, we will be holding an interactive workshop to showcase innovative approaches to pharmacology education that will support the new core curriculum from 09:00–11: 00. We hope that you will be able to join us for this launch.
A major aspect of the Focus project has been a review of the Integrative Pharmacology Fund (IPF) and this work has also now been completed (see ‘What’s next for UK in in vivo education and training? Lessons from the ‘Integrative Pharmacology Fund’ for more information). The resulting report evaluates the impact of the £22 million fund since its launch in 2004 and make recommendations for in vivo education, research and training going forward. The IPF report will be formally launched on 1 December at the Genesis Conference and should pave the way for the Society to engage in the important subject of in vivo skills and training in the years to come. Do keep an eye out on our website in early December for more information.
More outcomes of the Focus project, some of which we hope to be able to discuss with you at the meeting in December, include an audit of undergraduate pharmacology teaching in the UK, and an assessment of the impact of the discipline that will be distilled from a huge range of Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case studies. We expect to pull all of these important research strands together, along with the work already undertaken, to help inform the Society’s strategy from 2018, so I expect you’ll hear more from me on this in the future!
If you’re interested in finding out more, please do join us in the hour following our AGM, when Dr Anna Zecharia, the Society’s Head of Education, Training and Policy, who has led on Focus, will be discussing the project and its outcomes in more detail.
In other news, there have been a few team changes at the Society in recent months to let you know about. Since last writing to you, Lee Page has joined our team as Clinical Education, Training & Policy Manager. After 14 months at the Society, Talja Dempster, Head of Meetings & Events, left the Society in October to take up a new position a GSMA. Susanne Schweda, our former Meetings Manager, has taken over Talja’s position on an interim basis and Charlotte Cordrey has joined the Society as Events Manager to support Susi’s busy department I’m sure you will join me in welcoming Lee and Charlotte to our team, and thanking Talja for all the positive contributions she’s made during her time at the Society.
It’s been another fantastic year at the British Pharmacological Society. Thank you to all our members for your support. On behalf of the team at the Schild Plot in London, I wish you a Merry Christmas!
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