Polyxeni Tsea profile photo

Making the leap to study in Brighton from Greece gave me tools for life

International Pharmacy alum Polyxeni Tsea tells us how her university experience as a whole, not just her degree, set her up for a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry.

As an international student coming to the UK, Polyxeni tells us how the University of Brighton equipped her both personally and professionally for life and career beyond graduation.

She tells us about learning independence in a new country, the experience of meeting people from all around the world working as a Student Residential Advisor and how her degree has directly linked to her career working for DEMO S.A.

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Grace-Oreyeni-standing-in-font-of-a-Royal-Pharmaceutical-Society-banner

Scholarship provides a boost for University of Brighton student

Pharmacy student, Grace Oreyeni, was awarded the Black and Black-Mixed Heritage Progression Scholarship.

The Progression Scholarship includes financial support as well as access to other support, such as free gym membership and access to mentoring and networking opportunities. Here she tells us how the scholarship has impacted her so far.

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Wulan Koagouw receiving her award on stage

Brighton graduate receives top award for her impactful science research

University of Brighton graduate and leading ecotoxicologist, Wulan Koagouw, has won a Science and Sustainability Award for her pioneering research in Indonesia.

Wulan was honoured at the Study UK Alumni Awards in Indonesia for her research into environmental sustainability and water quality in her home region, Jakarta, which she started as part of her PhD in Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at University of Brighton.

As an ecotoxicologist, Wulan’s research focuses on the harmful effects of toxic pollutants, such as man-made synthetic chemicals and their by-products, on the environment.

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Shirin Alwash-standing in front of a canal

Pharmacist committed to providing opportunities for the next generation

Pharmacy graduate Shirin Alwash shares the importance of supporting new pharmacists and the positive impact of diversity at Brighton.

Shirin, who works as a Training and Development Manager for Paydens Pharmacies, is inspiring the next generation of pharmacists.

Reflecting on her own journey and experience to create work-based training programmes to help prepare and upskill new graduates for a career in the pharmacy industry; Shirin is a true example of the Brighton Effect. She is taking that energy and using it to help others embarking on a similar career path.

Shirin also tells us about how meeting people from different backgrounds during her time at Brighton was important for the communication and relationship-building skills she has carried with her into her career.

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David Webb with Debra Humphris and Summer

Pharmacists will play an increasing role in front-line clinical healthcare, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer tells pharmacy students at Brighton

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, David Webb, on his visit to the university, told students that this was an exciting moment for the profession.

In a speech to staff and students at the University of Brighton this week, David Webb said that changes such as the introduction of prescribing skills training to the undergraduate MPharm degree and the Pharmacy First initiative will mean that pharmacists play an increasingly important role in primary healthcare delivery.

David Webb told the audience: “From 2026, all newly-qualified pharmacists will be independent prescribers. The aim is to enable better patient care and use of skill mix in pharmacy and enable effective deployment of the skills and knowledge of Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. This is an exciting step towards opening new horizons, across all sectors, including urgent care.”

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Come to an applicant event

Our applicant events are a great way to learn more about your course after you have applied, to get to know us better and make sure we are the right university for you.

To book you’ll need your University of Brighton student number which you’ll find on any emails you’ve received from us about your application.

Online subject Q+A sessions

Online applicant subject q+a sessions are for students who have applied to Brighton – you don’t need to hold an offer to attend. These sessions provide a chance to ask questions to academics and current students before attending one of our on campus applicant days.

If you have applied to study on one of our biology, ecology, biomedical science, geography or environment courses join us online on Wednesday 21 February.

Book your place

On-campus applicant days

Your chance to check out the campus and also attend talks and tasters from your subject academics, our current students, student support services and have a tour of our accommodation. .

If you’ve applied to one of our pharmacy, biology, ecology, biomedical science, geography or environment courses courses we have two upcoming campus events at the Moulsecoomb campus:

  • Saturday 23 March
  • Wednesday 24 April

Book your place

We look forward to seeing you!

School students wearing lab coats learning in a science lab

Sciences Saturday Club

We have an exciting opportunity for secondary school students to take part in a science based project led by University of Brighton staff and students at our Moulsecoomb campus. For anyone interested in science this is a fantastic way to explore the universities labs with hands on experiments.

Students in years 10 and 11 will experience a series of practical workshops delivered in the labs which will explore how science plays a key role in our daily lives. The sessions will cover ‘the Earth from above’ (flying drones), ‘Do fruits have DNA?’, ‘The entangled life of fungi: the good, the bad and the ugly’ and ‘The secrets of the genes’. 

Dates: 3 Feb, 10 Feb, 24 Feb, 2 Mar (no session on 17 Feb due to half term)
Time: 09:30 – 12:30

The Saturday clubs will run over four Saturdays and are free to participants, priority is given to student who are from a widening participation background.

For more information email outreach@brighton.ac.uk

Matt Ingram, Melanie Flint, Kirsty Smallbone, Funmilola and Jenny Minto with one of the mannequins.

‘Sim people’ help teach student pharmacists

Student pharmacists will be able to test their treatment skills on three new ‘sim people’ following a reorganisation of teaching space.

The idea is to hone students’ communication skills and decision-making when faced with patients in a variety of challenging scenarios. By ‘treating’ the mannequins for medical conditions such as anaphylactic shock, taking a blood pressure or responding to unspecified pain, our student pharmacists can build confidence before clinical placements.

  • Safoora Azimi-Yancheshmeh administers asthma medication to one of the 'Sim' people
  • Laptops showing video link of mannequins
  • Dr Funmilola Fisusi demonstrates a therapy session with one of the 'Sim' people
  • Dr Melanie Flint mimics examining the breasts of on of the 'Sim' people

Lecturers don’t even have to be in the room to see how students are performing – they can keep tabs on what’s going on from a separate centre of operations via a live video link. As well as responding realistically to different medications, the mannequins also include a hidden microphone, which will allow lecturers to ‘speak’ on their behalf and respond in real time to what students are doing.

Jenny Minto, Principal Technician in the School of Applied Sciences, has been helping to set up the mannequins. She said: “In the past, students have had to work in quite large groups and haven’t had much hands-on experience, but now they can all have a turn as opposed to watching everybody else. When we get them in small groups, they can really have a go rather than feel embarrassed about getting it wrong in front of their peers.”

The student pharmacists will also be able to practise what it would be like to call other healthcare professionals – for example, to request a consult – via a telephone link from the treatment rooms to the lecturers’ centre of operations.

Hands-on experience

The mannequins were purchased two years ago from Laerdal but the reorganisation of teaching space in Huxley building on Moulsecoomb campus means that they can now be used to their full potential. The fully articulated dummies can be posed in a number of ways and the hope is to have them in a variety of situations – lying down on a hospital bed hooked up to a heart monitor, for example, or sitting up in a facsimile of a GP’s consulting room.

In line with other Inclusive Practice work being done in the School of Applied Sciences, the mannequins were chosen with diversity in mind, with dark hair and skin. They also come with interchangeable genitals and detachable breasts, meaning that student pharmacists can practise treating patients of different sexes – for example, examining the model breasts for lumps to rule out breast cancer.

Dr Melanie Flint, Reader in Cancer Research and the leader of a stress and breast cancer programme at the University, is excited by the possibilities. “I teach the breast cancer case for Pharmacy,” she said. “In our workshops we take students from diagnosis to living with cancer, as part of which an advanced clinical care nurse will come in and show them how to palpate breast tissue. That’s very important for Pharmacy students, with one in seven women being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Although Pharmacy students don’t currently perform breast exams, they do get people coming into the clinic with suspected lumps so they need to learn about that.”

Having the mannequins will be invaluable, she believes, not just to give a physical demonstration but as a way of helping students to practise talking to patients. “The most important part is the communication,” she said. “Even if you have somebody who’s newly diagnosed who comes into the pharmacy clinic, if you’ve got a pharmacist who knows about this and can show empathy, they’re the skill sets we want to get from our workshops.”

According to Dr Matt Ingram, Associate Dean (Academic Operations) in the School of Applied Sciences and Principal Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences, the new facilities have the potential to supplement students’ learning in other ways too. “The idea is that, in addition to their usual lectures, the students will be able to book one of the rooms to come in and practise, subject to availability,” he said.

“Thanks to the video links, one lecturer can see what’s going on in multiple different rooms simultaneously – and it can be streamed over Teams so our clinical team can observe when they are off site. There is also a facility to record to the cloud as well as livestream. These systems are fully compliant with General Data Projection Regulations (GDPR). Under supervision, students may be able to watch back and assess their performance later.”

Dr Simon Jeffs close up outside looking at the camera to the side and smiling

Meet Dr Simon Jeffs

Dr Simon Jeffs is Admissions Tutor for our Pharmacy MPharm and Pharmacy MPharm with preparatory year courses.

My journey to teaching
I came to teaching by a very roundabout route via zoology, parasitology, a PhD on tapeworms and 20 years developing HIV vaccines! This has given me a comprehensive knowledge of all types of pathogens and how to control them.

I started teaching medical and postgraduate virology students at Imperial College London then transferred to Brighton.

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TEF silver 2023 logo

Brighton secures national Silver Award for teaching excellence

The University of Brighton has been recognised for the quality of its teaching and student outcomes in a UK-wide evaluation of higher education institutions.

The university has today secured a Silver award in the national Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The award confirms that the student experience and student outcomes across all of the university’s undergraduate provision including apprenticeships are “typically very high quality”, delivering excellence above the rigorous standards set for the UK’s higher education providers. The rating lasts for four years, until September 2027.

The TEF is a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS). It aims to encourage universities to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies.

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