I decided I wanted to do a doctorate while I was an undergraduate at university. I was inspired by a summer studentship I did at the university during my pharmacy degree - it was funded by the Wellcome Trust. I hadn't done anything like that before, but I gave it a go and found it really interesting.
I asked my university lecturers in my final year if they had PhDs going. One had, but it was a topic I didn't enjoy - that's really important as you're going to spend three years working on that subject. I kept looking when I graduated, but there wasn't anything around I wanted to do, so I worked part-time as a community pharmacist.
When I was looking at PhDs, I was looking for ones that interested me and were funded. You can't say, 'I want to do this specifically'; you need to ask university staff if they have a PhD going. My doctorate is funded by a cancer charity.
If you're happy to fund yourself, you just need to find someone who's happy for you to work under them. I know people who are doing that, and whose research is based on pharmacy practice. However, lab-based research is very expensive because you need to pay for consumables as well as tuition fees.
Doing a PhD is a lot of work: I do five days at university and work as a community pharmacist on Saturdays and Sundays. I take one or two Sundays off a month. The balance is fine; I enjoy doing it. I'm really adventurous and need variety in my life, so I think itÕs a good proportion. If I'm getting too much stress from university or work, I have the other to look forward to.
How you progress varies from doctorate to doctorate. Some you start to write up while doing your lab work, and get specific time to do that. Once you start writing, generally, you're given a date for your viva: a three to four hour oral examination on the topic of your thesis. An external and internal examiner are chosen from your field, who have the knowledge to ask you questions.
The examiners will ask you about what you've done, why you've done it, check you've done blinds to eliminate bias, and make sure it's you and not a lab assistant who has done the work.
They also want to make sure you've thought about the reasons for what you've done. They will also ask what more could be done if you had more time, or if someone wants to take over.
At the viva the examiners will tell you the result. You'll either pass, pass with corrections, where you need to make minor changes, or fail.'
When you have a doctorate you can either go into academia, work in industry, or continue as a pharmacist in the community. Many doctorates won't help with your career if you want to stay in the community; it's a personal interest. However, if you've done a PhD in pharmacy practice then it will definitely help you, as you might look at prescribing patterns, for example.
Alternatively, you could go into academia on its own; take up a combination of academia and research, so while you're teaching you can follow a career in research; or go on to do a postdoctorate, a kind of job where you just do research. It's really dependent on what you want to do as a career, and youÕll always have your work in community or hospital to go back to.
It's really important to keep up your CPD, and to continue practising as a pharmacist. I enjoy working in community. I enjoy doing research too, but if you're working in the community you can keep on top of what's happening.