Knowledge and appreciation of the processes and challenges of drug discovery is a fundamental element of the core pharmacology undergraduate curriculum, preparing students for careers in research and drug development. As such, our Pharmacology students engage in a vertical stream of lectures and workshops throughout their course which discuss the various stages and considerations of drug discovery and development. This culminates in final year in an Advanced Drug Discovery unit in which mixed cohorts of pharmacology and biochemistry students, the latter of whom have had little prior exposure to drug discovery, are required to identify and evaluate a novel target in a specific therapeutic area. To provide a introduction to the unit and support the students in considering the pitfalls and challenges faced in the drug discovery process we decided to introduce an interactive, peer-learning element to the unit.
Building on our previous work around active learning and drawing on the successes of gamification, both of which have previously been shown to enhance student interest and engagement, we have developed an interactive drug discovery board game. The aim of the game is to involve students in the decisions, challenges, successes and failures associated with drug development. As players proceed through the drug discovery pipeline, they encounter questions, challenges, and setbacks which lead to group discussions and peer - learning - all whilst competing to be the first to market! The game has been developed and piloted with a diverse group of Pharmacology and Bioscience final year students prior to them engaging in a series of case study-based seminars from experts in the pharmaceutical field. The game and feedback from the pilot will be showcased in the innovations session.

The majority of pharmacology graduates are not going onto careers in research. To better prepare graduates, through their final year research or honours project, for the diversity of careers they go onto, educators are increasingly offering capstone enquiry-based projects as alternatives to the traditional laboratory or critical review research project. Within the School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, learners have 19 different formats of capstone projects, organised under 3 themes: traditional research, workplace and social justice, to select from. They chose the format that best develops the workplace experiences and competencies they individually need for their future career.
The traditional 7000-1000 word dissertation doesn't enable learners to fully showcase their experiences and competencies. They are also never likely to write a dissertation again. We have therefore replaced it with more appropriate forms of written output: an academic paper; commercial or technical report; policy document; grant proposal; reflective e-portfolio. Learners get free choice of their written output, we suggest the one that best showcases their experiences and competencies to potential employers, assessors and themselves.
Here we showcase examples of these different formats of capstone outputs. Participants will be able to view these and discuss the pro's and cons' from a learners, educators and employers perspective.

Pharmacology graduates go onto diverse range of careers, many of which will require them to complete reports, forms or briefing notes for Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies. There activities make ideal authentic assessments within Pharmacology degree programmes.
The School of Biomedical Sciences offers a core Level 5 Advanced Concepts in Drug Development, and Level 6 and 7 (Postgraduate) Animal modules in Drug Discovery and Development modules (courses). The assessments are designed to enable learners to integrate and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to develop higher order competencies. Level 5 learners create a report for the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, comparing two drugs for the treatment of a disease. They are required to provide an introduction to the disease, the main body comprising of an evidence-informed SWOT analysis of both drugs (including efficacy, side effects, clinical utilisation), and concluding with recommendations informed by the evidence they have discovered. In compiling this information, they search the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology and databases of Regulatory Bodies including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, MHRA, European Medicines Agency and the Federal Drug Administration giving them experience of key databases/information sources. At Levels 6 and 7, learners undertake experimental studies investigating the potential of invertebrates (C Elegans) as an alternative to rodents in the ICH S7A Safety Pharmacology protocol, the assessment a Briefing Note, including a Standard Operating Procedure, to a Regulatory Body. The end of module assessment, requiring them to integrate and apply knowledge from across the module, is completion of a UK Animal (Sci Proc) Act Project Licence application.
Incorporation of pharmaceutical industry and Statutory/Regulatory Body tasks and activities as assessments within Pharmacology programmes, not only makes these assessments authentic, but they are also ideal for assessing high order understanding and competencies. They are also a vehicle for learners to showcase their work-based learning experiences and competencies to potential employers.
Here we showcase examples of these different learner-created outputs. It will be an opportunity for participants to view these, and discuss the pro's and cons of them from a learners, educators and employers perspective.

Understanding the pharmacokinetic principles of volume of distribution (Vd) and drug clearance (Cl) is essential for students of pharmacology, yet these derived constants—calculated from other parameters rather than measured directly—are a frequent source of misconceptions. To address these challenges, I have integrated analogy-based teaching strategies and visual demonstrations into my instruction. For Vd, I employ a “container” analogy using rifampin to create a vivid object lesson. Initially conducted in the classroom with student participation, this demonstration was adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic into a recorded video, now embedded in preparatory learning materials. For Cl, I use a “fish tank” analogy, supported by an interactive HTML-based slider and JPG images, to model how pump efficiency parallels drug clearance. These strategies have enhanced students’ conceptual grasp of Vd and Cl, enabling them to better apply these pharmacokinetic parameters in drug dosing calculations.

Pharmacokinetics is a challenging area of teaching and learning in pharmacology as it incorporates elements of chemistry, physiology and mathematical modelling. This creates cognitive load as students attempt to transfer their prior learning of these subjects to a pharmacokinetics context. Furthermore, relationships between variables in pharmacokinetics are often presented with mathematical symbols which can create additional cognitive load for students, and, for some students, mathematics anxiety can limit their learning. Variation theory is an approach which employs carefully-designed examples to highlight conceptual structures and relationships. In this presentation, I will illustrate how diagrams that represent mathematical relationships introduced using pedagogy informed by variation theory can reduce cognitive load, reduce misconceptions and promote conceptual understanding in pharmacokinetics.

Our experience has shown that students when asked to analyse various data sets have difficulty in identifying the appropriate Descriptive parameters to summarise experimental data and the correct Inferential statistical test(s) to compare different data groups. This lack of understanding of statistical analysis results in poor engagement and limited ability to use statistical analysis correctly.
We have developed an educational program that uses the principles of active learning to promote engagement and enhance retention of taught material by combining the hands-on application of experimental design and statistical analysis via lectures, workshops and examples of data sets.
We have now developed an additional web-based decision tree that step-by-step guides students through various decisions related to three major questions,
I. what type of data do I have (parametric or non-parametric, independent or paired data values)?
II. what inferential test(s) should I use (pairwise comparisons or ANOVA model, Between and/or Within Group factors, which post hoc comparisons)?
III. what does the p value mean in terms of experimental conclusions?
The decision tree is composed of linked web pages which highlight a sequence of questions each with a short video explaining the theoretical background to the problem. Data examples are provided at each stage to demonstrate how each issue may be resolved. At every step students are encouraged to analyse the data using currently available software. Additional information is provided to support the taught material and to provide further reading, data sets etc. Each step includes links to the next appropriate step in data handling and statistical analysis.
Student feedback suggests this web-based decision tree is a valuable tool to enable students to identify appropriate experimental design coupled with rigorous statistical analysis of experimental data. This tool provides a useful addition to enhance student knowledge, retention and support of their decision making process.

Background: Traditional pharmacology education resources often remain inaccessible due to paywalls and geographic barriers, creating educational inequities worldwide. The IUPHAR Pharmacology Education Project (PEP) addresses this challenge through innovative open-access digital platform design.
Innovation: Launched in 2016, PEP represents a novel approach to pharmacology education by combining rigorous peer-review processes with free global accessibility. The platform organizes content into four main sections (Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Drugs, and Therapeutics) with annotated hyperlinks to curated resources including videos, slide sets, simulations, and interactive materials. Unlike traditional resources or unvetted online content, PEP ensures quality through expert editorial review while maintaining zero-cost access. We will showcase PEP's newly refreshed website featuring enhanced design aesthetics, improved user interface, and strengthened accessibility compliance to better serve our diverse global community.
Implementation: PEP has achieved significant global reach, averaging 20,000 monthly visits with peak usage of 50,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform serves users from 195 countries, including 35 of the 45 least-developed nations. User engagement rates of approximately 40% demonstrate meaningful interaction with content. Feedback from 115 users across 31 countries confirms high satisfaction with content quality and navigation ease.
Impact: PEP supports diverse educational methodologies including flipped classrooms, self-directed learning, and active learning strategies. Faculty use PEP resources for teaching preparation while students access materials for independent study. The platform has been integrated into Learning Management Systems and used for curriculum development across multiple institutions globally.
Future Directions: Strategic integration with artificial intelligence tools promises enhanced content creation and personalization while maintaining expert oversight. Plans include closer alignment with pharmacology core concepts and expanded multimedia offerings to further democratize high-quality pharmacology education worldwide.
PEP demonstrates how innovative digital platforms can transform educational accessibility while maintaining academic rigor.

Learning about how the human body interacts with drugs lies at the heart of pharmacology, which is an essential subject in any health sciences curriculum. Owing to the content scope and conceptual complexity of pharmacology, it is not uncommon to find students getting discouraged or overwhelmed in the learning process. To improve student learning experiences of pharmacology contents, coursewares have been developed and implemented across various programmes at the University of Hong Kong. These learning enhancement tools for pharmacology (LETsPharm) comprise standalone coursewares using different modalities to account for diverse learning strategies of our students. Students may use the coursewares at their convenience and obtain formative feedback on their learning progress. In this workshop, I will show examples of LETsPharm including gamified learning modules, pharmacokinetic modelling animations, and a cross-referencing platform currently in use. Participants will be guided through the basic steps in building selected coursewares. Construction of the coursewares may also be customised to allow usage data curation on learning management systems e.g. Moodle. The collected data serve valuable functions that allow course teachers to refine teaching strategies or develop new coursewares. While currently launched as a collection of discrete interventions to bolster student motivation and learning effectiveness, LETsPharm is envisioned to evolve into a comprehensive, integrated hub of learning resources that expand to other core subjects in a degree programme. The "LETs" model of coursewares may also offer a practical framework for developing educational toolkits in other disciplinary areas.

Health professions education increasingly embraces integrated curricula, often delivered through case-based learning (CBL) formats. This pedagogical shift offers numerous benefits, including enhanced relevance, contextual learning, and improved clinical reasoning. However, when pharmacology is fragmented across disciplines and presented primarily through clinical lens, its foundational principles—such as mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics, and drug interactions— typically become underemphasized. As a result, students often struggle to grasp pharmacology and develop solid therapeutic reasoning skills.
Pharm Focus is an innovative targeted instructional strategy we designed to ensure pharmacology remains visible and easily accessible within the integrated curriculum. This approach introduces a concise, visually engaging slide during each CBL session that reinforces key pharmacology concepts relevant to the case. In addition, the Pharm Focus slide connects drug mechanisms to clinical decision-making, and builds a cumulative resource for exam, including Board Exams, preparation.
This session will introduce the Pharm Focus framework, showcase the template design, examples of slides and integration strategies, and explore how these microlearning moments can be compiled into a longitudinal pharmacology review guide. I will also give specific examples of tools that can be used to design and develop a scientifically accurate, engaging and memorable infographic Pharm Focus slide.
Early feedback from students and faculty suggests that Pharm Focus improves clarity, visibility and retention of pharmacology content. While this tool has been developed to address a specific educational need in integrated curricula, it may also be adopted to reinforce key pharmacology concepts in any curriculum and any teaching format.

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) technology is an emerging biomedical approach that combines traditional cell culture with microfluidics to create physiologically relevant models of human tissues. These systems have significant potential in pharmacology for studying drug responses, disease mechanisms, and toxicity in a controlled environment, offering advantages over conventional static cell culture and animal models. However, adoption of OoC technologies in teaching and research remains limited. Device fabrication often requires specialised engineering expertise, access to costly facilities, and advanced manufacturing equipment, creating barriers for many pharmacology laboratories and educators.
To address these limitations and support the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animal use), we developed a low-cost teaching laboratory that effectively replaces a traditional animal organ bath practical with a microphysiological systems approach. Using an inexpensive, commercially available 3D printer, we fabricated prototype OoC devices and integrated them into the undergraduate pharmacology curriculum, enabling students to explore microphysiological models as tools for studying pharmacological responses and drug action while gaining hands-on experience with emerging experimental technologies.
A key impact of this project was the successful design and delivery of a laboratory practical that has now been integrated into the third-year undergraduate pharmacology laboratory series (120-150 student cohort) in place of the traditional organ bath experiment. This provides a sustainable and ethical alternative to animal tissue use while exposing students to modern experimental approaches increasingly used in biomedical research and drug discovery. Importantly, the low-cost, 3D-printed design reduces barriers to entry by demonstrating accessible approaches to device design and fabrication that could be adopted more widely in pharmacology teaching laboratories.
This work was led by a fourth-year undergraduate student (2024–2025) as part of a final-year research project and was supported by funding from a British Pharmacological Society Educator Grant (awarded 2025).

The concepts of pharmacology are underpinned by the experimental findings that have shaped their development. An exposure to such experimental preparations is an important facet of the learning of pharmacology. The traditional method for providing students with an opportunity to study such preparations has been the laboratory practical class. However, these classes are very challenging to conduct due to a number of logistical constraints, such as space, technical support and growing classes. At the University of Galway, we have developed a series of online resources (using the Rise360 Articulate software) for our undergraduate medical class that provide students with an appreciation of a range of experiments that are key to the drug development process. The activities have been divided into 4 areas to accompany the lecture-based content in an Introductory module in Pharmacology. The first unit (Pharmacodynamics) has activities revolving around receptor occupancy, concentration response relationships and therapeutic index. The second unit (pharmacokinetics) takes the students through the key experimental features of generating pharmacokinetic parameters such as half-life, elimination rate, volume of distribution and area under the curve. The third unit (drugs and the peripheral nervous system) introduces the students to a range of tissue bath preparations used for evaluating drug effects on certain receptor subtypes. The fourth unit (drugs and the central nervous system) provides experimental material on the in vitro profile of centrally acting drugs, and on animal models used in the preclinical development of drugs for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. This session provides an opportunity to demonstrate the development of these learning resources and how they have been successfully incorporated into an introductory pharmacology module.

Building on the recently published core concepts in pharmacology, we have developed a digital learning portal designed to support students in revisiting and integrating these concepts through multiple complementary learning pathways.
The portal combines structured texts, assessment training, podcast-based learning, gamified activities and two AI-companions for personalized guidance and formative assessment. Rather than presenting these as isolated resources, the portal allows students to engage with the same underlying ideas in different formats, according to their learning preferences and stage of understanding.
A key component of the portal is the use of two AI-companions with complementary roles. One AI-companion supports students through personalized guidance, tailored explanations and dialogue-based exploration of difficult concepts. The other AI-companion is designed to support formative assessment by guiding each student through targeted testing of their understanding, identifying areas of uncertainty or misconception, and providing personalized feedback on how to continue working with the material. Together, the two companions allow students to receive immediate, low-stakes support and to focus their further learning on the concepts they find most challenging.
This functionality may be particularly valuable in large-group, remote and multicampus teaching settings, where timely individualized feedback can be difficult to provide. The AI-companions may also lower the threshold for participation by giving students a private and supportive environment in which to articulate uncertainty, test their understanding and revisit difficult concepts.