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As a school, we have strong ties with industry, including established pharmaceutical companies and tech start-ups. These relationships give students the opportunity to build contacts, making it easier to find work when they graduate.

Our school also consists of a diverse range of academic staff, ranging from practising pharmacists and medicinal chemists to pharmacologists. They all contribute to the teaching of our Pharmacy students and are keen to share their expertise. We also outreach to schools to inspire the next generation of pharmacists.


Outreach

Here are details of some of the activities that the School of Pharmacy undertake to inspire budding scientists.

Inspiring talks

Our academics in the School of Pharmacy offer a range of inspiring talks that can be delivered at secondary schools. We are happy to deliver to a wide range of year groups, but these talks are aimed at Years 10-12.

  • Brain Glue: Sticking it to Dementia - Nearly a million people in the UK today are living with dementia. In this lecture, Dr Mark Dallas outlines some of the challenges in finding treatments for brain diseases, and explored the potential of glial cells in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
  • Predicting the Future - If only we could predict the future! Scientists are often asked to predict what will happen to improve healthcare. In this taster session, Dr Al Edwards explores how understanding science can help us inform how our body reacts to medicines.
  • What is Antimicrobial Resistance? - Antimicrobial resistance happens when microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites) change when they are exposed to antimicrobial drugs (such as antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, antimalarials, and anthelmintics). Dr Angela Bithell explains how as a result, medicines become ineffective and infections persist in the body, increasing the risk of spread to others.

More information and book a pharmacy talk

Taster days

Would you like to find out more about studying Pharmacy? Our Taster Days offer the opportunity to find out what studying Pharmacy is really like. Further information will be posted here as details are confirmed.

More information

Discover Reading Podcast

The Discover Reading Series is a regular podcast from the University of Reading showcasing Reading’s pioneering work on the great issues of the past, present and the future through a series of discussions with world leading academics and researchers. 

Out and about

Our staff and students are always keen to inform the public about their research and engage with them through science festivals. For example, we helped to bring the internationally acclaimed Pint of Science Festival to Reading for the first time in 2018.

Making Epidyolex

Imagine making a medicine and transforming lives! It is a long process that begins in the lab and ends up in the clinic. This video maps the journey from molecule to medicine that scientists at the University of Reading took in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies.

Who we work with

We work with a wide range of third parties, giving you lots of opportunities to network and build new relationships.

Industry

The close relationship between the science underpinning pharmacy, the pharmacy profession, and the pharmaceutical industry is reflected in our many links with industry.

In addition to traditional links with "big pharma" and multinational pharmacy chains, we have links with many other industrial partners such as biotechnology firms, technology SMEs and other high-tech groups.

Tech start-ups

Innovation in healthcare, whether developing new drugs, novel formulations, or innovative technology, is often commercially driven by the formation of a new company.

Reading School of Pharmacy has links with entrepreneurship experts at the Henley Business School to ensure these opportunities are spotted early, and to guarantee that some of our research can be translated into real patient benefit.

Patients and public

Our research is often focused directly at the interface between healthcare provider (e.g. the pharmacist) and the patient or public.

This clinical practice research is highly collaborative and takes a wide range of forms, ranging from student research projects (e.g. audits in local hospitals) through to longer research projects sponsored by the NHS or industrial partners.
Outreach provides a sense of achievement in seeing people hear something for the first time or find they understand what they may have previously thought of as complex 'science stuff'.
Dr Alister McNeish

Stories

Find out more from our students and staff about what it's like to study and work in the University of Reading School of Pharmacy.

PhD

Find out more about our PhD programmes, including how to apply, the support on offer, fees and funding, why study with us and more.

Our staff

Meet our teaching and academic staff, and find out who might be teaching you on our various courses.