Next month, The British Pharmacological Society (BPS) and BPS Assessment will be attending the 20th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (WCP2026) in Melbourne, Australia. The congress takes place from 12-17 July at the Melbourne Convention Centre.

About WCP2026

Hosted by the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT) in partnership with the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR), the congress brings together the global pharmacology and therapeutics community. The event welcomes students, early career researchers, clinical pharmacology leaders and those working in drug discovery and development.

The scientific programme features plenary and keynote speakers, symposia, workshops and debates covering advances in pharmacology and therapeutics. 

The congress includes a social programme alongside the scientific sessions. There’s a welcome reception on Monday 13 July, a student and early career researcher function on Tuesday 14 July at The Boatbuilders Yard on the Yarra River, and a congress dinner on Thursday 16 July at the Plaza Ballroom with a Great Gatsby theme.

Registration for WCP2026 is open with standard registration closing on 1 July 2026. For more information, visit the WCP2026 website.

Our talks

The making of a safe and effective prescriber: Rethinking prescribing education for a changing world

On Wednesday 15 July at 4.45pm, Professor Simon Maxwell will deliver the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) Lecture as one of the keynote presentations.

Simon is Professor of Student Learning/Clinical Pharmacology and Prescribing at the University of Edinburgh, where he has led the development of e-learning strategies to support education in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. He is also Director of the University’s Masters in Internal Medicine programme, with NHS clinical responsibilities including supervision of acute medical admissions and management of outpatients at increased cardiovascular risk.

He is Medical Director of the Prescribing Safety Assessment, a joint initiative by the BPS and Medical Schools Council delivering a national assessment of prescribing for all UK medical students. This process has now been adopted in several other countries. Simon is also co-lead for the Pharmacology Education Project (PEP), an IUPHAR initiative providing freely accessible learning materials for students of the pharmacological sciences in resource-poor countries.

Simon was recently appointed as the new President-Elect of the British Pharmacological Society. He will serve a two-year term as President-Elect from 1 January 2026.

BPS Assessment Innovation Session

On Thursday 16 July from 2:30–4:30pm, Peter Wright, Head of Commercial Operations at BPS Assessment, will lead an Innovation Theatre session in Exhibition Bay 14–16.

The session is an open forum for all congress registrants and will explore the design and implementation of large-scale prescribing competency assessments for students and early practitioners. Peter will be joined by Professor Simon Maxwell and international colleagues from Japan and Australia, Professor Shinichiro Ueda from the University of the Ryukyus and Professor Sarah Hilmer from Royal North Shore Hospital and the University of Sydney.

Together, they will showcase how the Prescribing Safety Assessment has been implemented across medical schools and postgraduate early years programmes in the UK and beyond. The session will also highlight new features of the assessment platform and how these could be applied in different prescribing education contexts around the world.

Meet BPS Assessment at WCP2026

As well as our talks, the BPS Assessment team will be at the main BPS stand throughout the congress, where you can find out more about our assessment and learning services and how we’re working to improve prescribing standards globally. 

Along with BPS we will also be hosting a number of additional events during the week, including a social for BPS members, an international PSA meeting, and an Australia and New Zealand PSA user group session to offer the opportunity to connect with the team and colleagues from around the world. 

Feel free to get in touch with us if you’d like to book a one to one meeting with our team whilst we are there https://www.bpsassessment.com/contact/ 

We hope to see you in Melbourne!