Conclusions

High quality pharmacy practice research is critical for generating evidence to underpin aspects of practice, including effective interventions, new service commissioning and adequate workforce planning/development.

Community pharmacists and their teams can contribute in several ways to practice research projects, ranging from data collection, being research participants, recruiting patients or members of the public to studies, and designing their own studies.

Pharmacy schools in particular are a key resource, and community pharmacists can engage with researchers in a shared field of interest and obtain research supervision to work towards MSc and PhD projects.

Useful resources

Research training
• National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR): https://www.nihr.ac.uk
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Learn: https://www.rpharms.com/learn
• Watson Research & Training: https://www.watsonresearchandtraining.co.uk/schedule

Peer reviewed journals
• International Journal of Pharmacy Practice: https://academic.oup.com/ijpp
• Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/research-in-social-and-administrative-pharmacy

Research funders
• Pharmacy Research UK: https://pharmacyresearchuk.org
• NIHR: https://www.nihr.ac.uk

Pharmacy research networks
• South West Pharmacy Research Network: https://www.bath.ac.uk/projects/south-west-pharmacy-research-network
• Pharmacy professionals research incubator: https://pharmacyresearchprofessionals.org.uk