Background
I left school at 16 years of age with the required 5 GCSEs at Grade C and went straight into a role as a trainee pharmacy technician at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary (now Royal Derby).
I continued in full time work as a pharmacy technician with roles in aseptic services in secondary care, education and training in a Further Education College and private training provider, in health in justice (in a prison setting) and now have a portfolio career with a part time role as the workforce lead for JUCD pharmacy faculty and as a programme development lead for Buttercups Training.
I have completed all programmes and qualifications in my career whilst working full time in my pharmacy technician roles. This case study discusses my experience of completing a Masters of Education (MEd) and Doctorate in Clinical Education (DClinEd).
The need
MEd
I was part of the lesson observation team for the College, to prepare teachers for Ofsted inspections. I kept observing different teachers, teaching the same topics, using different resources. I started to wonder why this was and if there were any barriers to sharing resources. I discussed this topic with the head of the MEd programme to see if it would be suitable to undertake that programme as part of my professional development. This programme was on offer at my workplace and would be fully funded. I submitted a project outline and was accepted onto the programme, which I completed by attending evening lessons after work. I graduated in 2017.
DClinED
In 2019, I was a volunteer for the professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians, the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK). I was intrigued by requests to APTUK to provide a pharmacy technician peer for members use in peer discussions which forms part of professional revalidation. I couldn’t understand why pharmacy technicians were saying they couldn’t access ‘suitable’ peers and what they were considering as ‘suitable’ if a stranger was a good option! I felt this was a good research project and I started to investigate the next step in my career journey, to undertake a doctorate level qualification. As I had completed my MEd recently I looked for programme that would enable me to use my MEd to meet entry requirements and possible recognised prior learning for some aspects of the training programme.
The solution
I searched for a suitable course to support me with my training needs and my project outline.
Initially, I looked for a PhD programme. This was all I knew about for a doctorate. I applied to the University of Derby for their PhD programme. I looked at the list of funded and self-funded projects they had on offer with their PhD programme, but none of these fit with the project I wanted to pursue. I applied for a self-designed research project PhD and was invited for interview. At the interview I discussed my previous research experience and my project proposal. Following the interview I received a rejection letter as the University didn’t feel they had the expertise to support my project. They suggested a pharmacy orientated doctorate.
The only pharmacy orientated doctorate I was aware of was the DPharm. At the time of application this was only available with an MPharm as entry criteria, i.e. I needed to be a pharmacist. This was therefore not accessible to me as a pharmacy technician.
I was about to give up when a previous colleague in Leeds suggested the Doctorate in Clinical Education. They had just completed the Masters in Clinical Education there and felt it was a good course, well supported and with an understanding of pharmacy. I applied and was invited for interview. After the interview I was accepted on the proviso that I provided a transcription of my MEd programme and completed a formal written, and referenced, project proposal. I did this in February 2020 and was accepted onto the programme which was due to start in September 2020 and would require some attendance at the University of Leeds for taught class every month.
Obviously in March 2020 the world changed and my course was delayed to start October 2020 and was now fully remote. I have never attended in person in Leeds since starting the programme!
Costs
My MEd was fully funded by my workplace of the time, Bradford College. This was because I was completing a Bradford College degree, which was accredited by the University of Teesside.
For my Doctorate, I obtained a post-doctoral loan from Student Finance and was fully prepared to pay for this course myself. I didn’t want to have to complete a project that was being dictated to by a funder. I had my project and looked for a suitable degree to support me with that project. I wasn’t prepared to change the project to meet a potential funder requirements!
I paid for my first year (£2390). Following an appraisal with my employer of the time (Buttercups Training) they offered to pay for the remaining years of my course and agreed to the project title and proposal I had submitted. They didn’t want to influence or dictate any of my project, only to support me financially to develop as part of my continuing professional development. They paid for years 2-5 of my programme.
In addition, the professional doctorate at the University of Leeds came with a £2500 bursary (£500/year) that could be used to support attendance at conferences, submission of posters or articles for publication. I used this fund to attend several conferences and have a poster printed.
Challenges
The challenges have been mostly focused on time and keeping motivated.
For my MEd project I lost motivation and took a break in learning of 12 months at one point. I fell out of love with the research topic and struggled to commit to the time and workload required. To re-engage I wrote a list of all the benefits of completing a programme, as I was over half way through. I decided it would be better for my career progression to have a masters level degree and so I re-started my programme with renewed enthusiasm.
For my DClinED, I made sure I had a project I was more interested in and have been driven to continue by the desire to know the answers to my research questions.
Throughout my DClinED I dedicated 10 hours a week to my study as the little and often model suited me. On Tuesday and Thursday I stayed back after work finished to continue working for at least another 2 hours each day and I used 1-day (but not both) of my weekend for my study.
Imposter Syndrome
For the DClinEd imposter syndrome came very early on. I was more than double the average age of many students on the programme. I was the only pharmacy technician who had ever been on the programme. I was the only person who hadn’t been to University full time and I was the only person who hadn’t followed a ‘traditional’ route of A-Levels, First degree, Masters… In one of the early lessons on paradigm shift, I didn’t understand anything that was going on! I left the lesson thinking I couldn’t do the course and would need to leave. I shared my concerns with my fellow students on our WhatsApp group only to discover they felt the same! My age worked in my favour that I was ‘brave’ enough and had enough life experience to tell everyone my limitations on the WhatsApp group. The others in the group then felt confident enough to speak up because I did. I started to think I was in a different role to them here. I had a job, I had experience and a lot of life knowledge and I’d worked in the sector I was researching for a long time. This renewed my confidence and I felt less an imposter more a different type of student.
Isolation
I was the only pharmacy technician on the programme. In addition, my programme was totally remote. This did lead to me being an isolated researcher. I tried to link up with other pharmacy professionals (pharmacists) who have been on this journey and also have some friends who work in science and have PhDs. I’m also in a WhatsApp group with five other pharmacy technician researchers all of whom are currently undertaking either a PhD or professional doctorate. We are the only pharmacy technicians, that we know of, undertaking this level of degree.
This prevented me from feeling totally isolated.
Impact
Having a research masters degree enables me to apply for jobs where the education requirements are at masters or above. This is becoming more frequent in higher banded pharmacy/education roles.
Being a pharmacy technician with an interest in research has afforded me a lot if opportunities nationally. For example, I was asked to present at the 2024 Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) conference, in 2023 I won the Katherine Miles poster award with APTUK on my research project. I received a request from the Pharmacy Research Action Group (PRAG) a national project to get pharmacy professionals research ready, chaired by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England. I am one of only 4 pharmacy technicians on this group.
In addition, I have a lot of transferable skills gained from my research degrees such as the ability to review literature and write academically.
Lessons
For anyone considering undertaking a research project or qualification, make sure you are truly interested in the project! If it cannot hold your interest you will quickly be bored with it and lose motivation.
Little and often to manage my time works best for me. Consider how you will find enough time in your week to commit to a project or qualification.
Next steps, sustainability and scaling
I submitted my thesis on the 30th September 2025, 5-years from starting which was the minimum timeframe the qualification was allowed. It was hard work at the end and I spent around 40 hours a week on it in the final 4-weeks. I also changed my job 8-weeks before I submitted to take on an Associate Professor role as the Experiential Learning Lead for the MPharm programme at De Montfort University, which I now combine with my JUCD Workforce role in my portfolio career.
I completed my viva on the 2nd December 2025 and was awarded my Doctorate in Clinical Education with minor corrections. I had until the 2nd March 2026 to complete these but I completed them and submitted for final examination in January 2026. My thesis will then be signed off by the examiner and I will publish it on the White Rose e-thesis platform. Two weeks after that I will be awarded the title of Doctor at the graduation board.
In the future I plan to publish my work in a peer reviewed journal, get more involved in pharmacy research and generally publish my work more.
