Health Services Research and Pharmacy Practice Conference 2024Sustainable Development in Healthcare

Why we chose 'Sustainable Development in Healthcare' as the conference theme

Sustainability is a key issue for policymakers, health services, pharmacy practice, and patient care – both now and for our collective future. The United Nations has recognised that sustainable development is an important global issue and have outlined 17 Sustainable Development Goals that must be urgently addressed. Moreover, ‘Sustainability in Pharmacy’ is one of the Development Goals set out by the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This conference theme allows for the submission of abstracts on a wide variety of interesting research topics, which may include priority research areas for sustainable development in health services and pharmacy practice, such as (but not exclusive to):

• sustainable and appropriate use of medication to reduce wastage and patient harm.
• enhanced models of care to reduce healthcare utilisation while empowering patients.
• use of digital platforms, minimising waste and patient travel.
• advancement of healthcare professionals’ development, whilst sustaining their well-being and reducing the risk of burnout.
• incorporation of education on sustainability at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Sustainability is one of the core values of University College Cork (UCC), and this has been recognised internationally by UCC winning ‘Sustainability Institution of the Year’ at the International Green Gown Awards 2023. UCC was the first university globally to receive a Green Flag from the Foundation for Environmental Education, and we here at UCC pride ourselves in our ‘Green Campus’ – with its beautiful buildings and surroundings making an enjoyable place for a stroll.

The conference chairs are Dr Suzanne McCarthy and Dr Kieran Dalton from the School of Pharmacy in UCC.

Abstract Submission

Abstract submission for revised abstracts is now open and can be sumbitted here until Thursday, 7th December.

The abstract resubmission guidance can be found here.

About the HSRPP 2024 conference

This is the 30th HSRPP conference – our ‘pearl’ anniversary – and it represents an excellent opportunity to acquire plenty of new ‘pearls’ of wisdom to spark ideas and help inform and improve future developments in health services research.

The HSRPP conference has a long legacy of disseminating novel research pertaining to medication use and pharmaceutical care that guides practice and policy change in health services, ultimately making a difference to the care of patients and delivery of services. The conference places particular emphasis on sharing the work of early career researchers and in creating an encouraging environment to support delegates of all career stages.

The HSRPP 2024 conference will have a range of thought-provoking keynote speakers, engaging workshops, and interesting presentations in both oral and poster formats, and a preliminary program will be available soon.

Conference Fees & Registration

The conference registration portal will open in November 2023.

Registration Fees

*We recognise that it can be challenging for practitioners (e.g. practising pharmacists, physicians, nurses) to get time off to attend conferences, so this 1-day option is available to practitioners who are unable to attend both days of the conference.

Additional discounts are available for the groups outlined below, so please contact hsrpp@ucc.ie to avail of these.

• Patient and public involvement (PPI) representatives.
• Students, people who are unwaged, and researchers from least developed or low to middle income countries. A list of eligible countries is available via this link.  A list of eligible countries is available via this link.

Conference Dinner Registration

The conference dinner will take place on the evening of Thursday 25 April 2024 in the Kingsley Hotel, Cork.

The registration fee for the conference dinner is €50, which will include live music.

Visiting University College Cork

University College Cork (UCC) has a history of independent thinking, stretching back over 170 years. UCC is proud to be ranked in the top 1.1% of universities in the world, and every year it welcomes students from over 100 countries. When you are here, make sure you have a have a stroll around UCC’s beautiful campus.

UCC is only a short stroll from the heart of Cork’s city centre – home to a historic food market, museums, and plenty of cafes, restaurants, and lively pubs. The city is located in Cork county on Ireland’s South coast, the starting point of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. It is one of the friendliest cities in the world – voted third by Condé Nast Traveler’s annual reader survey in 2018. With plenty of things to do for all visitors, Cork is a vibrant city known for providing a warm Irish welcome.

Take a walk through our photo gallery

Barry Melia

Barry is both the Chair of Sustainability for the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and the Co-Chair of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) Working Group on Sustainability.

He is also a Principal Pharmacist at Public Health Scotland, the lead national agency for improving and protecting the health and wellbeing of all of Scotland's people.

Carmel Hughes

Carmel is Professor of Primary Care Pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy at Queen’s University Belfast. She was the first pharmacist to have been appointed to a Harkness Fellowship in Healthcare Policy, the only pharmacist to receive a Primary Care Career Scientist Award and a former Cochrane Fellow. Her research interests centre on prescribing in older people, intervention development and evidence-based healthcare. She is a Senior Editor for the journal Pilot and Feasibility Studies. She is a Trustee of the Dunhill Medical Trust, a charity which funds research focusing on older people and she also chairs the Trust’s Research Grants Committee. She is a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research funding panel. Carmel is currently a member of the International Scientific Council (ISC) of the Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI,) the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences External Advisory Board, the International Advisory Board of the School for Primary Care Research (funded by NIHR) and a non-Executive Director of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. She has been a member of the United Kingdom (UK) Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 Sub-panel 3.

View Carmel's profile for more information.

David Wright

David graduated in 1991 from the University of Bradford and was a practising community pharmacist until July 2016. In 1998, David completed his PhD on the value of providing clinical pharmacy services to care homes and became a full-time lecturer in pharmacy practice. David moved to the University of East Anglia as one of the founding members of staff who set up the first new school of pharmacy in the UK for over 30 years in 2003. In 2021 he moved to head up the School of Healthcare at the University of Leicester.

David’s PhD in 1992 was in the role of the clinical pharmacist in care homes. His research has since mainly focused around the topic of pharmaceutical care provision in older people, developing international expertise in the administration of medicines to people with dysphagia. David has supervised 17 PhD students to completion as primary supervisor, has led a number of large-scale trials in care homes, secured over £8M in research funding as principle investigator and published over 100 peer-reviewed papers.

View David's profile for more information.