The University of Reading announced the partnership this week (August 18) to “develop shared research projects” and the “dedicated research unit” created in Kuwait will be called the Health Services Research, Policy and Innovation Unit (HSRP). 

The HSRP will be led by experts from both Reading and KuPhA and will “initially focus on pharmacy practice as well as health services research and policy”. 

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Reading said it will promote “staff and student exchanges” and make both “co-investigators on future grant applications”. 

It will also facilitate the “sharing of academic materials and publications between Reading and KuPhA”. 

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Its associate professor of pharmacy and health services research Dr Mamoon Al Deyab said it’s an “exciting opportunity” for Reading to "expand our research impact in the Middle East and collaborate on projects that will directly influence healthcare policy in the region”. 

“We are creating a platform for meaningful international collaboration that will benefit both our academic community and the broader pharmaceutical profession,” Al Deyab added. 

The KuPhA is a publicly-funded professional body dedicated to “supporting pharmacists” and “advancing pharmaceutical practices in the country”. 

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Research will be done in collaboration with other academic and health institutions and the KuPhA chair Dr Ahmad Taqi said he hopes the partnership will “help to increase the number of specialised pharmacists in Kuwait”.

It comes after Teesside University last week announced it has partnered with a Malaysian university to allow students studying its new MPharm degree to complete a “clinical training” exchange abroad.