QMUL Clinical Drug Development MSc

Hi, I currently study the course and, well, its really something. The lectures are 3 days a month (this is very abnormal and I think its because this course only has 3 primary lecturers dedicated to the course) and each lecture feels like info dump because they cramp so much info into the PowerPoint slide to do the 3 day teaching, I personally think the course isn't all that great at the moment due to not actually providing assignment brief and co. Its very independent, too much if you ask me. But time will tell if it gets better or not.

I’m also a biomed grad but didn’t take any pharmacology modules in my final year, focused more on microbiology and genetics. I got the offer to start the course in September 2025 and I heard people say you can balance this course with a full time job and I’ll be working full time in cancer research during this lol
Hopefully it’s doable 😬

Hi 🙂 , so I ended up completing the masters. I'd say you can manage this degree with job but I would advice you to spend as much time possible on your degree, particularly in the last semester when you have to hand in your 20k dissertation. Like someone said earlier, its a 3 day per month course so it does feel intense at times (like the content is packed into those days). But, since many of us have a biomed-related background, most of the info is pretty much what you'd already know (with some new elements perhaps e.g. pharmaco-economics - looking into how pricing of drugs work in the UK).
Let me know if you have any questions. Hope this helps!

Thank you this is so helpful. How did you find balancing the elective project with your dissertation. It would be great if you can please share what topics were given when you started this. I saw both of these projects worth 30 credits and seem to run in parallel throughout the course alongside other modules.

No worries, so the elective project was basically you choosing to answer 1Q out of 6/7 questions and it's like a 'mini-dissertation' (5k words). And its due in Jan (so you're expected to do this coursework over X-mas break).
The actual dissertation however, is to be submitted on the first week of August. There's no overlap between the elective project (handed in Jan) and the dissertation. Discussion regarding actual dissertation starts in Jan and you have roughly 7 months to complete it - with optional check-ins with the course lead at which you can hand-in your drafts (they don't give feedback but they can guide you in terms of whether your chosen dissertation title and content is suitable and relevant to any aspects of the course).
The elective project module was kind of useful, because many of us ended up doing our dissertation linked to the topics studied during the elective project module (my year got to learn about CVD, using AI in R&D etc.)

Hi to anyone who has completed the Clinical Drug Development MSc at QMUL could you tell me whether the course involves any project management elements or group work? And if so what kind of projects do you handle during the course? For the dissertation/thesis, is it purely writing-based or does it involve actually conducting your own research? As I love the flexibility of this MSc at QMUL but I do also really want to develop my project planning and coordination skills.

Anyone have info on how many assignments there are for each module? and what the timetable looks like throughout the year. Just worried about managing the course with full time work

Hi, so there are 10 modules in total (see the course page on QMUL's website for the list). And you have one module per month - so its 3 whole days of lectures (roughly from 10am to 5pm - with breaks ofc) and on the last day of the three you are told what your coursework for that module would be (it can be like one 2k essay or like multiple questions with word count of maybe 500 words each or 5k if its the elective project). Any issues with cw, you can email the lecturer directly or to the course leads who will pass it on to them.
It's defo much flexible than other master's where you might be going into uni each week. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions

Omg, thank you so much! That’s so kind of you 😃 genuinely appreciate all the info you kindly shared. Are you studying or working after completing your masters?
I only recently got into clinical research, and honestly, it was so hard to break into even with a BSc and a pharma internship, I kept getting rejected from both NHS and private research jobs. I’ve always found research super interesting, but it felt impossible to get my foot in the door.
I ended up spending a year in NHS admin to avoid employment gap, which wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be. Even had doctors asking why I was doing basic admin job with a biomedical degree, and I’d have to explain how I was struggling to land a research job or get back into pharma, it was frustrating!
I applied for this masters programme to boost my chances of moving into NHS research or a CRO because honestly I got so drained from endless job applications 😅. Plus, the modules looked really interesting.