4 August 2025

The University of Nicosia Medical School has secured a €119,756 grant from the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation for a project investigating virtual patients in pre-clinical pharmacology education. The ‘PharmaViP‘ project will run from May 2025 to April 2027.

Dr Soulla Nicolaou, project coordinator, will lead the research team comprising Prof Peter McCrorie, Prof Costas Constantinou, Dr Stella Nicolaou, Dr Nicoletta Nicolaou, and Ms Katherine Annabel Alexander from the University of Nicosia, alongside Prof Katarina Persson and Prof Elisabeth Hultgren Hörnquist from Örebro University, Sweden.

The project aims to improve pharmacology education, potentially contributing to reduction of medication errors and enhancing patient safety in the long term. Using a quasi-experimental design, the project will compare the effect of virtual patients integrated within different educational contexts across different medical programmes.

 

Dr Soulla Nicoalou stated: ‘This research represents a step forward in medical education. By systematically investigating how virtual patients can enhance pharmacology learning across different curricula and learner populations, we aim to identify evidence-based approaches that may ultimately improve patient safety. The integration of virtual patients in pre-clinical pharmacology education has the potential to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and clinical application, better preparing our future healthcare professionals to make informed medication decisions. We are particularly excited to collaborate with our colleagues at Örebro University, whose expertise and contribution will strengthen the international perspective of this research’.

The project is funded under the Excellence Hubs programme within the ‘RESTART 2016-2020’ framework from the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation.

For more information about the project, please contact the Project Coordinator, Dr Soulla Nicolaou @ [email protected] and follow the project website for updates: www.unrf.ac.cy/projects-item/pharmavip/