The undergraduate pharmacist project award is for projects undertaken in mental health by undergraduate pharmacy students.
The award includes attendance at CMHP’s annual conference, usually held in October, with all accommodation and reasonable travel costs included, and two years’ CMHP membership. The award will be made to a winner and runner up. In addition, the winner will receive a prize award of £100.
The 2024 call will open on 28 March. Closing date for applications: 28 June 2024
Criteria
To be eligible, your project must have been undertaken during your undergraduate course. It is expected, but not essential, that this was as part of your final year project (or equivalent for sandwich courses). However, it must not have been part of your foundation trainee training. The project can be undertaken in any sector of pharmacy, including community, hospital, primary care, academia and industry.
Your project must be wholly or mainly about a subject related to the practice of mental health pharmacy. It is anticipated that most projects undertaken by undergraduate pharmacy students will be as part of the audit cycle, or a literature search as part of service development or evaluation, although applications need not be limited to such projects.
Your project can be completed individually or as a pair. You must have undertaken the project during or in the year preceding the call for applications.
If successful, you must be willing to submit your project as a poster at the CMHP Annual Conference, usually held in October. The prize award for attendance at the conference will be for both students if the project is undertaken as a pair. We expect to share winning abstracts with the wider membership.
Process of application
Please pay attention to the requirements when constructing your report and take care to complete all sections.
For your application to be considered, reports must be provided with a covering letter that states all the following in order:
- The full title of your project
- Your details
- full name
- home or work address (that will be valid after 1st September)
- correspondence email address (that will be valid after 1st September)
- telephone/mobile number
- The address(es) of the establishment(s) where the project was undertaken/where the data were collected
- The name, address and email address of the supervisor or tutor for the project and all other co-applicants as appropriate
- A statement confirming that you undertook the work yourself without assistance other than that of a supervisor or tutor
- A statement acknowledging that you are willing to present your project as a poster at the CMHP Annual Conference.
- A signed and dated declaration from your supervisor or tutor that the report is of publication standard and quality.
We recommend you use the report structure and sub-headings described below and we ask that the overall 1500 word count is not exceeded – this includes the 350 word count for the abstract.
The abstract and then subsequent report should be included that follows the IMRAD format (Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion). You should also reference your report accordingly using Vancouver style referencing.
The abstract should summarise the study, so as to be comprehensible by an external reader. It should identify key findings, include actual numerical data from findings (if appropriate) and draws insightful implications of the research.
Before submitting your abstract, please read the Guidelines for project award abstract submissions 2024.
Submitting your abstract
Please submit your application to [email protected] before the deadline of 28 June 2024.
Judging
A panel of three judges will consider the applications anonymously.
The decision of the judges is final; no communications will be entered into.
The award
An award will be made to a winner and runner up. We expect to notify the winner and runner-up in writing by 1st September. The award will include attendance at the CMHP Annual Conference, where the award will be made. All accommodation and reasonable travel costs will be funded as part of the award.
This award is funded by the CMHP.
Previous winners
- 2023: Ellen Grosvenor, The University of Manchester and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust:
A survey of the multi-disciplinary team to gather their views on the priorities for community mental health pharmacy services in a mental health trust - 2022: Not awarded
- 2021: Danielle Lee, University of Manchester: Evaluation of Depot Antipsychotic Medication incident reports within a mental health trust to facilitate quality improvement
- 2020: Not offered
- 2019: Katherine Greene, University of Manchester: A systematic review of interventions designed to improve medicines safety in mental health hospitals
- 2018: Matthew Francis Spreadbury, The University of Manchester: Exploring the Potential Role of Community Pharmacy Teams in Suicide and Self-harm Awareness and Prevention.
- 2017: Meena Karsan Kerai, The University of Manchester: The views of nursing and pharmacy staff towards involving pharmacy teams in the administration of medicines in a mental health hospital
- 2016: Hannah Brownsell, University of Reading: An audit of anticholinergic cognitive burden in elderly mental health and dementia patients
- 2015: Samiah Hassan: A qualitative exploration of the barriers to community pharmacy supporting people with mental health problems adhering to medication
- 2014: Medha Kothari
- 2013: Bilal Mukhtar: An audit assessing rapid tranquilisation incidents at central north west london (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust
- 2012: Fiona Fraser, University of Strathclyde, for “Pharmacists and the prescribing and administration of PRN medicines: What are the issues?”
- 2011: Eleanor Bevan; Community Pharmacists’ Recognition And Response To Symptoms Of Depression. MedwaySchool of Pharmacy
- 2010:Hannah (Beba) Bowden; Cyclodextrins with Pluronic®F-127 as Carrier Systems in Gene Delivery using Drying Technology: Progressive research in the field of mental health pharmacy