Open now: BPS PharmaComedy Competition



The Society’s inaugural PharmaComedy competition is now open. This competition will celebrate the funny side of pharmacology: your best jokes, funny stories and silly memes that your fellow researchers, academics, clinical pharmacologists and industry professionals can relate to!

We, Graeme Henderson and Alistair Corbett, proposed the idea of a BPS Pharmacology Comedy competition inspired by our friend and long-time Society member Alexander (Sandy) McKnight who died on Boxing Day last year. Sandy was an outstanding scientist, well-known and respected in pharmacology and the wider scientific community but he was also a very funny man who told a joke better than anyone we have ever met. Many of us have laughed long and loud in his company whether at the punch line of a story or just a throwaway quip. 

A case in point was a meeting in Bavaria when we climbed a mountain with a group of international colleagues; by “climbed” we mean using a cable car to go up and walking down. While rehydrating after our descent, Sandy told a funny story which turned into a long and hilarious stream of jokes and anecdotes. The next morning a German colleague couldn’t stop smiling when he told us “I laughed so much last night my jaw is sore!”. 

Humour is often used in lectures, whether an amusing anecdote, a cartoon or whatever, to lighten the mood and often to emphasise a concept.  At the World Congress of Pharmacology in Glasgow there was a session at the Stand Comedy Club where the standup routines were given by Pharmacologists, so our proposal was not totally off-the-wall. With the enthusiastic support of the BPS, in memory of our late friend and to acknowledge his comedic talents, the Society has inaugurated this BPS Humour in Pharmacology Competition - PharmaComedy. 

The winner of the PharmaComedy competition will receive a £100 cash prize, and their entry, alongside a number of runners up, will be shared on the BPS website.

How to enter:

Members can submit entries in the following three formats:
  • Text (for one-liners, puns and short stories)
  • Video up to 30 seconds long (if you want to film yourself telling your joke, or show us a visual cue)
  • Image (for memes).
Your entries should be original, relevant to pharmacology and in good humour. Entries will be judged by a panel who will score entries based on this criteria.

To enter, please email editorialPM@bps.ac.uk with the subject line ‘PharmaComedy’. Include any text jokes in the body of your email, or, if you would like to send a photo or video, please upload to WeTransfer and share the link.

All entries must be submitted via email by Sunday 26 January.

Rules of entry

  • Entrants must be BPS members. 
  • Entrants can submit up to two submissions each. 
  • Any graphics or materials must not be copyrighted. 
  • Jokes must be original; adaptations of classic jokes to be pharmacological is acceptable, but joke stealing is not. 
  • Jokes should not be defamatory, or discriminatory on the grounds of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, classism or ableism or any other protected characteristics. 
  • Name checks to pharmacologists and scientists should only be done in praise, not as an insult. 
  • Video and photo entries must be shared via WeTransfer.
  • The BPS reserves the right to remove any joke from the running which does not comply with the above, or which would otherwise harm the reputation of the Society or its members.  
If you have any questions about the competition or how to enter, please email editorialpm@bps.ac.uk.

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Published: 06 Dec 2024
By Graeme Henderson & Alistair Corbett

About the author

Graeme Henderson & Alistair Corbett



Graeme Henderson is a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Bristol and a former President of the British Pharmacological Society. Throughout his scientific career his research interests have been focussed upon the mechanisms of action of opioid drugs. Currently he is involved in research into how poly pharmacology, the use of other drugs such as benzodiazepines, along with opioids enhances the likelihood of overdose death. Contrary to the impression that may be given by the accompanying photograph he is only an occasional golfer who does not play often enough to improve.

Alistair Corbett, now retired, was formerly Head of the Department of Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University.  Stemming from his time in URAD his research interests have centred on opioids, latterly on the role of opioid and other peptides in gastrointestinal disorders.  Unlike his partner in the accompanying photograph, Alistair plays golf regularly but can’t use the same flimsy excuse for his failure to improve.

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