An MPharm graduate has won a national award for her research into mental health pharmacy. 

Adeeka Saad completed the research for her final year project at Aston University this year and has been awarded the College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP) Undergraduate Project award. 

Her research project - ‘Student Perspectives on Experiential Learning Opportunities in Mental Health’ - involved running student focus groups to discuss the benefits of and barriers to experiential learning opportunities (ELOs) in mental health, such as clinical placement and simulation. 

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Aston University confirmed that it already offers ELOs in mental health pharmacy for the MPharm degree, and it said the school will “use her results as part of its curriculum review and development” and judges said the “work was of publishable standard”. 

Saad’s project concluded that ELOs have a “positive impact on preparing students for practice” .  

Her project won the award at the CMHP conference in Glasgow last month (October 11-12), which included two years of CMHP membership and a prize of £100. 

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“The project was the most enjoyable experience of my whole MPharm,” said Saad. “Attending my first pharmacy conference as a winner of an award was so motivating and rewarding.   “I was so happy to see that others had found my project so interesting and saw the value in my work." 

One of the judges from the University of Bath, Sarah Jones, said the research offered a “thoughtful analysis of the data she gathered on experiential learning opportunities available to MPharm students”. 

And one of her supervisors, Dr Hannah Macfarlane, said “she made an exceptional effort to understand and adopt the methodology, doing a great job on her first attempt at qualitative research in a limited period of time”. 

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Saad graduated in 2024 and is now a foundation trainee pharmacist in community pharmacy. 

Aston University’s pharmacy school unveiled a £3.3 million pharmacy training laboratory last month, including “state-of-the-art” facilities that can accommodate 83 students, an asepsis suite and a technician prep room. 

And in August, its pharmacy team won a teaching award from higher education charity Advance HE after introducing simulation software to support their pharmacy placements.