Doctoral study in Pharmacy
Why study with us?
The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences is New Zealand’s leading provider of tertiary education in the health field and the country’s largest centre for medical and biomedical research.
The School of Pharmacy is one of two pharmacy schools in New Zealand.
Research in the school is organised into clusters and led by staff who are internationally recognised experts and highly regarded researchers. We are experienced at working at the cutting-edge of research, and our postgraduate programmes are innovative and designed to ensure our graduates remain in high demand, both here and overseas.
Our research is often performed in collaboration with industry, local healthcare providers and other academic disciplines within and beyond the University, both nationally and internationally.
Research opportunities
Conduct your PhD research in Pharmacy with us. We undertake research across clusters:
- Pharmacy policy, law, ethics and the pharmacy profession
- Pharmacy health service delivery
- Pharmacoepidemiology and Health Outcomes Research
- Formulation and drug delivery for various applications
- Improving paediatric medicines, drug delivery technologies and medicine use
- Investigating experience and developing treatments for spinal cord injury
- Pharmacy education and curriculum development
- Safety and efficacy of herbal medicines and other natural health products
- Neuropsychopharmacology and substance use
- Technology and digital innovations in health
If you are interested in conducting a research project with us, please contact the department's Postgraduate Adviser Dr Suresh Muthukumaraswamy pharmacy_phd@uoa.auckland.ac.nz
Every doctoral student receives money into a PReSS account each year to help fund their research. Many of our supervisors have funded projects from granting bodies and/or through commercial contracts.
Our supervisors
Pursue your topic with us and benefit from exceptional standards of support and supervision from internationally recognised researchers.
Dr Trudi Aspden
Research interests: Scholarship of teaching and learning in pharmacy, community pharmacy, healthcare disparities.
Professor Jo Barnes
Research interests: regulation, use, safety and efficacy of herbal and other ‘traditional’ medicines and other natural health products (H&TMs/NHPs).
Dr Louise Curley
Research interests: Brain imaging, EEG, fMRI, risky behaviour, effects of drugs on cognition, community pharmacy.
Dr Sara Hanning
Research interests: Development of dosage forms for children, pharmaceutical sciences in clinical practice.
Professor Jeff Harrison
Research interests: Cardiovascular medicine, evidence-based medicine, computerised decision support, medication safety.
Dr Joanne Lin
Research interests: Brain imaging, EEG, MRI, neuroinflammation.
Dr Nataly Martini
Research interests: Medication management, clinical decision making, simulation-based education, future of pharmacy.
Dr Mohammed Mohammed
Research interests: Medicines and health outcomes, medication-related burden, deprescribing, patient-reported outcomes/measures, medication safety, health informatics.
Professor Suresh Muthukumaraswamy
Research interests: Brain imaging, EEG, fMRI, TMS, psychopharmacology, antidepressants, major depressive disorder.
Dr Rhys Ponton
Research interests: Drug policy, drug misuse, treatment of drug dependence, pain treatment in chronic pain.
Dr Shane Scahill
Research interest: Applying management concepts such as organisational culture, entrepreneurship, AI and technology disruption to pharmacy practice research.
Dr Manisha Sharma
Research interests: Novel drug delivery systems, implants, analytical method development, protein extraction, purification and characterisation.
Professor Darren Svirskis
Research interests: Controlling pain after surgery, spinal cord injury, drug delivery systems, microelectrode arrays, brain:machine interface.
Dr Sachin Thakur
Research interests: Stimuli-responsive drug delivery, posterior eye disease, hydrogel formulation, microbubble-based delivery systems.
Professor Jingyuan Wen
Research interests: Formulation and drug delivery, nanotechnology and lipid-based system, drug transport across GI tract and blood brain barrier.
Professor Zimei Wu
Research interests: Preformulation, formulation design, conventional and novel drug delivery systems, liposomal formulation and clinical applications, injectable formulation of poorly water-soluble drugs.
Past research topics
Some examples of recently completed research degrees from the School of Pharmacy include:
- ‘Development of an Intra-peritoneal Implant for the Sustanced Release of Lidocaine Following Abdominal Surgery.’ PhD thesis of Dr Prabhat Bhusal. Supervised by Darren Svriskis
- ‘Peptide-Assisted Intracellular Drug Delivery for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy.’ PhD thesis of Dr Emma Kang. Supervised by Zimei Wu
- ‘Optimising Recording & Stimulation Performance of Neuronal Microelectrode Arrays through Macroporous Conducting Polymer Modification.’ PhD thesis of Dr Zaid Aqrawe.
- ‘Investigation of a fusogenic pH-sensitive liposomal system for tumour-targeted intracellular delivery of dinitrobenzamide mustard prodrugs’. PhD thesis of Mimi Yang. Supervised by Zimei Wu
- ‘Improving adherence and asthma outcomes in individuals with poorly controlled asthma’. PhD thesis of Amy Chan. Supervised by Dr Jeff Harrison
- ‘Sharing Prescription Medicines: An Exploration Of Patients’ and Health Professionals’ Perspectives’. PhD thesis of Kebede Beyene. Supervised by Professor Janie Sheridan
Experience doctoral study
Joanna Hikaka
Doctoral candidate
"After 15 years working primarily as a clinician, I have loved the opportunity to undertake further research within the PhD programme. I have valued the time and space to rethink how we work as pharmacists and to learn new methods and techniques to be more systematic in my approach to research.
"I feel very privileged to have been invited into kaumātua hui and to sit down and discuss in depth the issues whānau have with medicines, and think about how pharmacy services can respond to these needs and help to eliminate health inequities. I am also grateful to my supervisory team, as well as other academic staff, for the generous way they share their knowledge and give their time. After completing my PhD, I would love to continue to be involved in research that supports kaumātua and to also support the development of other researchers.
"I am enrolled part-time in my PhD, which allows me flexibility to continue with some clinical work, as well as being there for my family, including my young children."
Contact us
Do you want to chat further about your studies? Contact us using the details below.
Telephone
Within New Zealand: (09) 923 7071
Overseas: +64 9 923 7071
For general queries, please contact Student Hubs.
For more specific queries please contact Professor Suresh Muthukumaraswamy.