DiveRCSIty - Spring 2021

#DIVERCSI TY RCSI Student Run Newspaper and Publications

|SPRING | |Publication Year 2021, Vol. 6, Issue No. 2|

DISCOVERY

Read about robots and new technologies

pg 37

Introducing the new Student Union

pg 6

Read about Emergency Society’s Trauma day success

pg 26

DIRECTOR AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MANAGING EDITOR « NIKKI CLIFFE

// Meet the team.

LORI ISRAELIAN »

FEATURE EDITOR

FEATURE EDITOR

CLUBS & SOCIETIES COORDINATOR AND TREASURER

CLUBS & SOCIETIES COORDINATOR AND EDITOR

« ALIYAH MOHAMMED

COURTNEY CHENG »

VIKNESWARAN RAJ NAGARAJAN »

« YOHAN PORUS IRANI

EDUCATION COORDINATOR AND EDITOR

EVENTS COORDINATOR « AUNG KAUNG SETT HEIN

MEGAN KIRK »

ILLUSTRATOR AND EDITOR

SENIOR ADVISOR « ALIYA ESMAIL

FIONA MCGOWAN»

SOCIAL MEDIAL OFFICER SANAT RASHINKAR

STAFF ASSOCIATES CORRIENA BRIEN & JACKIE KNOWLES - CONTENT REVIEW, STAFF CO-ORDINATORS PROF CLIVE LEE - WRITER: ANATOMY Spring 2021

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Editors’ Notes

// At a glance...

Editors’ Notes.

Dear Readers, We can all agree that this year did not pan out as we had hoped. Another academic semester plagued by Covid-19 has left us itching for any sense of progress in our current climate. Despite this disposition, it is important that we acknowledge what this year has uncovered, if not within ourselves then from a global perspective.

For some, it may be the realization that past coping mechanisms were dependent on social interaction. Perhaps the odd night out was, in fact, all that was needed to de-stress. Our time in isolation, however, has allowed us to develop new coping strategies that can sustain us through future hardship. It is a testament to our ability to adjust to changing circumstances. Whether we recognize this now or a year from now, we should all take a moment while this year comes to a close to acknowledge how far we have come.

It is safe to say that we all discovered at least one new communication platform. Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, and Zoom are just naming a few. But thanks to these platforms, we have forged new connections with health professionals overseas, future academic mentors, and those aunts and uncles we like to avoid. We can’t forget to mention that the year of 2020 marked the discovery of the fastest man-made vaccine. Props to science and medicine for bringing us one step closer to normalcy, and a fraction closer to nights out after which we wish we could remember more.

Here’s to wrapping up our academic year as the most resilient version of ourselves. With positivity and hope, we can look forward to our next academic chapter.

Sincerely, Lori Israelian

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Hello Students This last year of restrictions because of COVID have made us all reflect on what is most important to us and what we miss most because of the changes we have had to make to protect our health and that of family, friends, fellow students, co-workers and patients. We have all had to limit our freedoms in many ways - coming to work or college, travel, shopping, being a tourist, etc.

Hardest perhaps has been the need to limit visiting those close to us - or not having them visit us. Even more difficult for those whose loved ones have been unwell, or where there has been death in families. Its also been tough where there was great personal joy to mark - such as celebrating weddings, graduations or the arrival of new babies. Many students will have had significant successes to celebrate - getting into college; big birthdays; or particular successes in academic, social or sporting activities, etc. Not to be able to meet up with family and friends, to be sociable, to hug and cherish each other at these times has taken its toll on us all in our common humanity. All of us have in effect have had our freedom constrained in ways we never imagined.

Two groups have come to mind for me because of our common experience of limitations on our freedom in the last year - prisoners and those who experience violence or coercion in their own homes - in many ways they have a common experience of not being free.

For prisoners, I now have a little more understanding of what it must be like not to be free to visit family, friends or places when we want - even if we have only experienced this in the last year. I found that very hard - and it made me think of the terrible impact it must have for prisoners and their families - and of the many young people who are starting adult lives blighted by crime and is consequences rather than starting young adult life in higher education with the promises it brings. I have also been struck by the statistics of the huge increase in domestic violence because of the constraints of COVID. Without the safety valve of external engagement through work, social outings etc, many challenged family situations have become even more fraught. For both groups, health professionals may be among the few people they can trust with their fears and concerns.

What lessons will you take from your own personal and family experience of COVID into your career as a health professional? What insights will it give you into the challenges experienced by your patients? And even more importantly, what does it teach you about yourself ? COVID will change the future of healthcare delivery - and thus all of your careers. It can be change for good - starting with our own attitudes - so I wish you all well in trying to personally build positively from this last year’s experiences.

Professor Hannah McGee, Dean, RCSI

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//Student Services The Student Life HQ was launched by the Student Services Office in November 2020. The site’s purpose is to collate all of the exciting events, activities and engagement opportunities from the college’s 35 Clubs, 50+ Societies, various Services and new Learning Communities to one central hub that can be easily viewed and accessed on a desktop, as well as a tablet or phone. This was a crucial step as student life quickly adapted to a remote and virtual world to minimise the spread of COVID-19. The homepage of the Student Life HQ is the go-to for finding all student life activity in a single location. Staff and students can view the hundreds of events listed. It is clear from the homepage, that since we launched Student Life HQ, it has been a hive of activity. Scroll down a bit further on the homepage and your attention will be drawn to the rotating news items, such as competition details, event recaps, updates, notices, and chances to win prizes!

Since the launch of the HQ, undergraduate and Physician Associate students have been able to sign-up for their preferred Clubs and Societies. The HQ has simplified the sign-up process for Clubs, Societies and their members. In previous years, students had to sign up for their preferred Clubs and Societies every academic year. With the HQ, sign up membership for Clubs and Societies will now last until the student graduates, or cancels their membership through the HQ – whichever comes first. Student Societies piloted a virtual Re-Freshers Sign-Up Fair on the Student Life HQ from February 1st-5th. Students could visit 53 virtual stands to learn more about each Society and their plans for the remainder of the academic year. Even more impressive was that each Society had a least one Committee Member clock-in to a live chat function to answer queries that came through their stand from 18:00-19:30 on 01 February. Once a student signs up for a Club or Society, they can quickly view the full listings of events, activities and news items specific to their Memberships under the “My Listings” section. Furthermore, students can easily manage all their Memberships and communication preferences (email, text, both or none) with ease in the “My Memberships” section. As of recent, 1,415 members are using the Student Life HQ, including undergraduate students, postgrads, and faculty/staff. Between all clubs and societies, there are over 6,375 signups from students. Collating all Student Life events/activities and signing up to Clubs & Societies is only the tip of the iceberg to the capabilities of the Student Life HQ. Additional functions include: • Synchronising student event & activity listings, as well as bookings with their Outlook, Google, iCal or other preferred calendar(s).

• Clubs and Societies have the option to cap physical (and virtual) event bookings, and/or to assign bookings for specific Learning Communities only, to best manage their numbers in compliance with government guidance and RCSI restrictions.

• Participant clock in/out for physical booked events/activities to help Committees and the College with COVID contact tracing.

• Club and Society nomination and election functions with anonymous voting.

Ongoing developments and other features to be rolled out in due course include, but are not limited to: • We are in the late stages of the development of an online merchandise shop for click-and-collect service. Due to launch at the start of the 2021.22 academic year.

• Online payment options for fundraising efforts and/or ticketed events.

The possibilities of the Student Life HQ are broad and wide. Student Services looks forward to starting a new academic year with the HQ in place.

Regardless of what the 2021.22 academic year has in store, Student Life HQ will be here to inform all its users of “What’s On” concerning student life so you don’t miss a beat!

Jackie Knowles and Sadhbh Smyth Societies and Sports Coordinators

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//The New Student Union: Students’ ReUnion Dear fellow students – thank you so much for giving us the honour of being your new SU. It was a wonderful campaign week and we hope you enjoyed the content! Next school year, we hope to be a group of students that not only creates change, but also maintains the wonderful community environment we have here at RCSI. We aim to have an active presence both online and on campus, which allows us to engage students in every way possible. We want to encourage students to experience the vast pool of opportunity that RCSI offers, and create further opportunities to take advantage of, especially in a COVID world. We hope to continue the works of the outgoing SU to create ways to connect no matter what situation we face. Should campus restrictions ease at any point next year, it will be at the top of our list to rebuild a sense of connection that COVID may have taken from us. We are very keen to get started and can’t wait to meet you all over the next year! We’re here to be a familiar face on campus that any student can feel comfortable talking to, hence some quick introductions:

President – Jyoti Dhawan: Hello everyone! I’m Jyoti, I’m currently surviving 4th Med, and I’m really looking forward to spending the next year with you all. In my 5 years at RCSI, I’ve had the most unexpectedly fantastic experiences that have left me with long-lasting memories and invaluable lessons. I can’t wait to help create these experiences for all of us, especially for our recent freshers who’ve missed out on the full RCSI experience! I want to help foster a community that encourages us all to step out of our comfort zones – to learn, grow, and use our time here to the maximum. We’re very excited and one hundred percent committed to making next year the best year that we can. Good luck to those currently studying for final exams, and a huge congratulations to our graduating class of 2021 for battling a tumultuous year. We will dearly miss you. And to those I haven’t met yet – online or in-person, I can’t wait to meet you all!

Vice President & Events – Ross McGuinness: Hi Everyone!! My name is Ross and I am one of your Events Officers for the upcoming academic year. Alongside Isa, we both will be working extremely hard to make sure we satisfy your demand for in-person events when they roll back around. Not only are we excited for the hopeful return of classic in-person events, but we’re also looking forward to new collaborations between other universities in Ireland. We’re prepared for the beginning of next semester should RCSI still be commencing with a virtual semester. We’re ready to bring creative, fun, interactive online events and make sure that we can not only introduce as many new students to each other as possible, but begin making connections with the older years.

Education – Emmanuel Eguare: Hey, hey, HEY FOLKS! My name is Emmanuel Jnr Eguare (but everybody calls me ‘Eman’) and I’ll be your SU Education Officer for the new academic year! I’m a Kildare-man, an avid Liverpool supporter, and an Irish-Nigerian student here at RCSI. I am currently coming to the end of SC1 (4th Year Medicine), and after four amazing years here, I can now say with confidence that coming to RCSI has been one of the single best decisions I have ever made! I could think of no better way to give back to the college that has given me some of the best years of my life than by serving you, the students, on the upcoming SU. I have been lucky enough to experience RCSI in its truest form and have come to appreciate the multiple facets and vibrantly distinct aspects of this school, from the nerve-wracking card-signings, peer led tutorials, OSCEs and final exams, to the electric Ballad Sessions, lavish Collage Balls and glorious International Nights, to the Freshers’ Carnivals, and the White Coat Ceremonies. I’ve always believed that the key to succeeding in college isn’t necessarily what you study; it’s HOW you study it! As your new Education Officer, I’m hoping to help students maximise their study potential by discovering new ways of studying, as well as linking-up those who are struggling academically with the appropriate services that can help them. Together, we want to push for better training for class reps, offer more student-centric tips at the beginning of new semesters, lobby for more exam feedback and ultimately, do everything we possibly can to help you get the most out of your education here at RCSI. We look forward to seeing more of your sweet faces around campus next year!

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Welfare – Saidhbhe Casey: My name is Saidhbhe Casey. I’m in Year 1 Physiotherapy, and I am the new Welfare Officer for SU 2021/22. You may recognise me from having been one half of the Sports Union this past year. I want to promote a holistic approach to wellbeing. We can all agree this past year has been rough for everyone for lots of different reasons. SU Welfare is here to make your life easier. I aim to make it easy for you to get help for anything when you need it at RCSI. Our wellbeing is both mental AND physical, the two go hand in hand and I want to put an emphasis on both. My aim is to foster a sense of supported community at RCSI as I have done this year through the Sports Union. I would love to see Student Welfare have an upbeat focus, including exercise, good diet and having a fun work/life balance. I want to continue to normalise counselling and looking after our mental health. I want students to realise that it is ok not to be perfect at everything we do. In a college like RCSI there is a lot of us A type personalities, and we often forget that “to be a professional in healthcare you need to be a professional at self-care”.

Cultural – Fatma Taqi: Hi there! My name is Fatma Taqi, from the Sultanate of Oman. I am currently a 3rd year medical student (IC3) and I’m excited to be your next Cultural Officer as part of team Students’ ReUnion! As your Cultural Officer, I would like to provide an opportunity for proper representation of each and every culture present in RCSI. Moreover, I would like to address and raise awareness on important issues such as racism and islamophobia, as well as other issues that may arise within the student body.

I plan on addressing mental health issues related to coping with a different culture. Furthermore, I would like to promote cultural unity and highlight the similarities and differences between different cultures. It is important to know that we’re all one. Most importantly, I will ensure that events go on whether they’re online or in-person i.e. I will do my best to be prepared for every scenario.

Events – Syed Isa Aljunied: Hey everyone, I’m Isa and I am one of the two dedicated Events Officers of next year’s Student’s Union.

Ross and I have spent a lot of time over summer hashing out ideas and events for you, and we hope to deliver the best experiences you can possibly get out of RCSI regardless of the situation. We have a slew of engaging and highly anticipated activities - new ones, as well as resuming the classic college events if possible. We’re fully prepared for the much awaited in-person events and we have contingencies that match every level of guidelines put out by the college or country. Rest assured, we are seriously looking forward to the upcoming year and you have a great reason to as well.

Societies & Treasurer – Laura Rice: Like many others, my involvement with societies has been integral to my RCSI experience, and I’m very excited to continue the brilliant work that previous SUs have done to improve societies in the college! To name a couple of my ideas for next year, I plan to work towards lifting the ban that’s been placed on the formation of new societies. Also, as we hopefully move towards having events in-person again, I want to host Re-Integration Tutorials where current society committees can gain knowledge from previous committees on their experience of in-person events. This will help to make the transition from online to in-person as smooth as possible.

I.T. – Rami Rassam: My name is Rami Rassam and I’m in 1st year Medicine at RCSI. I was born in Yemen, raised in Canada but am Iraqi by blood. I hope to bring some great online initiatives through social media and video content, to help engage the students in any way possible. I’m currently a Class Representative and love working for positive change for students at RCSI. I am so excited to do just that with team Students ReUnion.

The approaching academic year is a unique one, filled with hope for a world post-COVID, and we have every intention to make it as memorable and outstanding as you might hope for, no matter the situation we are in. Please feel comfortable approaching at any time, about any issue; we’ll be here for you every step of the way. We all have a lot of catching up to do, and we’re only getting started. Here’s to a fantastic year, can’t wait to meet you all! – Students’ Union 21/22

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//Sports Union COVID has shaped our lives in a greater way than anyone could have anticipated.

We can still remember early in the summer of 2020 when we were hoping, and even planning, to have in-person events for this school year, but as the year approached it became more and more clear we would need to make other plans. Despite the restrictions, we were determined to create exciting, meaningful events!

One of the prime responsibilities of Sports Union is to support our many clubs in their events. In normal times, this would have meant promoting their tournaments; matches; and social gatherings, but this year it would manifest as encouraging their participation and hosting of online events. Our first event in October was one such event!

We were fortunate enough to be able to support Running Club and Cancer Society with their “Virtual Great Pink Run” which was an exciting event that got participants running, walking, and jogging for Breast Cancer Ireland!

For mental health awareness week, we held our first event with Physio Society at the end of October: our Step-A-Thon! The whole idea was simple, get moving, no matter your skill or fitness level! We encouraged people to walk, run, cycle, dance, skip, and hike during the week, and then send us their total steps for the chance to win prizes.

What made our event different is that while we did offer prizes for the top two step counts, we really wanted to encourage everyone to take part regardless of athleticism, so we raffled off two additional prizes worth the exact same as the prizes for first and second. We would keep this theme of encouraging everyone to participate no matter what throughout the rest of the year.

At the beginning of first semester we were asked to be a part of a COVID planning committee. In this meeting, among other things, we were able to suggest, and implement a brand new position within RCSI: Student Life Reps. This, along with the new Student Life HQ, (suggested and created by Student Services) would ensure that students could create events within their own year/Learning Communities. We believed it was crucial that these Student Life Reps be supported in any way we could.

Officially the Events Officers in the Students Union were determined to be the administrative heads of the Student Life Reps, but we also made sure we were a resource of support to the Reps. The first large initiative of the newly created Student Life Reps was a holiday themed fundraiser for Barretstown Children’s Charity which raised over €600 and was voted as the fundraiser of the year by students!

This was a fantastic event that helped students spread Christmas cheer by posting their favourite Christmas Songs and tagging others to do the same! It also helped foster a healthy competition between Learning Communities by way of a prize given to the Learning Community could get the highest percentage of students to donate.

Over the holiday break we were busy planning two large events for our final semester of the 2020 school year, but before these events, we would encourage students to try different forms of workouts every week. We would post different challenges every week that could be done anywhere and without equipment. We wanted to show that you could improve physical and mental health in ways that students often don’t think about. Some of the weeks themes included mindfulness, cycling, yoga, and dancing!

It was then time to implement our first main event of 2021: The Big Sports Quiz! We organized a fun sports quiz that would also promote some of our clubs at RCSI! Running, rowing, basketball, GAA, and surf clubs each hosted a round of the quiz and put their own unique spin on it. We had questions about general sports knowledge, athlete quotes, and more! This was an excellent opportunity to promote the clubs, get people involved, and overall have a very fun evening!

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In February, we had our pièce de résistance, our holy grail, our crowning jewel: The Big February Challenge! We were able to plan and host the most well attended event at RCSI this year! We collaborated with 14 clubs to create 15 health and fitness related challenges for over 40 teams of 3 to complete in two weeks. Over half of the teams completed all 15 challenges and our tiebreaker! Like our Step-A-Thon, we wanted to promote participation and fitness regardless of physical abilities, so along with a first prize, we also raffled off two additional prizes among all the teams that competed so it was possible for anyone to win an excellent prize! It was incredible to see how much participation there was and to hear the overwhelmingly positive feedback from competitors!

March was not empty either! We were able to participate in Cultural Diversity Month by teaming up with Gourmet Society in a cookalong where healthy and delicious vegetarian quesadillas were made. At the same time, we collaborated with AMSA and Basketball who organized a March Madness bracket tournament. These were both excellent events that were a lot of fun to be a part of !

While it was not the in person-events year we were hoping for, or even planning for, we are incredibly proud of what we were able to achieve and want to thank everyone who took part in our events as well as the clubs who collaborated with us to make these events as successful as they were! We have enjoyed every second of our time as Sports Union and we wanted to thank Sadhbh Smyth and the whole Student Services Office for giving us the opportunity and support to serve our clubs and student athletes this year!

Kindest regards, Sports Union

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Clubs & Societies

In Memoriam - Ali Hijazi

Yaser Alhassan

Ali Hijazi, a Saudi Arabian student living in Doha, Qatar, started his jour-

ney in Ireland at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Co. Kerry, as part of the International Medical Commencement Program (IMCP). After completing the program, he moved to Dublin. He attended the Royal College of Surgeons to continue pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. Throughout his time at the RCSI, Ali was an intelligent, highly active person, friendly in and out of the RCSI environment. People around him remember how extraordinarily respectful and polite he was, nevertheless, professional in his interactions. If you know Ali, you cannot unsee how hard working and dedicated he was as a person. Ali always had the biggest smile and never changed; his kindness, friendliness and dedication were inspiring. Ali was always a source of positivity, happiness, and his smile could brighten up an entire room. “If you look around for the brightest smile at anatomy lecture in O’Flanagan Lecture Theatre in the 123, St Stephen Green building at 8 am, you just need to look at Hijazi’s”. During his time in the RCSI, he was a student-athlete, always participating in sport. Ali liked attending Muay Thai training sessions at a local gym in Dublin and went on to have his first amateur fight while representing the club in Co. Cork. He also attended kickboxing classes, dodgeball events, and other sporting activities. Ali was a talented Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu player, representing the RCSI Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club, winning from bronze to gold medals in multiple tournaments, making him the most decorated member of the RCSI Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club. Despite his high level and experience in sport, he always welcomed everybody to the training sessions regardless of their levels. As a final year medical student, Ali was scheduled to graduate from medical school as part of the RCSI class of 2021. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Ali Hijazi passed away on Friday 02/04/2021, just before his last exam in medical school later that month. Ali Hijazi was a member of the RCSI family and community and will always be remembered for his wonderful personality, beautiful soul, loved by all, and a joyful smile that will forever be in our hearts.

Rest in peace Ali Hijazi 1994-2021 RCSI Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Captain Yaser Alhassan

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Clubs & Societies

//Caribbean African Society

« Cherie Obenewaah Sackey

C

AS Cares

We, the Caribbean and African Society (CAS), are known for our passion and goal to showcase both African and Caribbean cultures through our events.

Whether it is African and Caribbean cuisine, dance, music, or historical events – we are your main point of contact!

Our diverse committee comprised of: President – Tayo Toriola Vice President - Jyoti Dhawan Secretary – Cherie Sackey Treasurer - Joella Simon IT Officer – Samah Ahmed Inventory Officer – Jesiah Meade Events Co-ordinators – Ahmed Karim Tamu & Sharnavi Sagramsingh Events Promoter – Arielle Ribeiro General Committee Team – Chelsea Rampersad Robin Wilson Bianca-Marie Thompson Ansara Balgobin Senior Advisers – Moyo Onikan & Kanyinsolami Netufo This semester, we raised funds for our chosen charities, including the Just Because Foundation and the SOS Children’s Village. We also highlighted important cultural events, such as the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. This event is known to be a blaze of colour, culture, and costume art, as individuals dress in various costumes to depict traditional Trinidadian Carnival characters. As they form a huge part of Caribbean history and culture, we will be featuring information about these folklore characters on our Instagram page (@cas_rcsi).

Our other exciting events include Cultural Diversity Month and International Food Night. For more information, make sure to sign up on the Student Life HQ portal and follow us on Instagram!

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Clubs & Societies

//Discovering the Value of Mentorship “A

« Emily Panteli

mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself ” - Oprah Winfrey

RCSI Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) medical student chapter is just one chapter of the global AWS Network, who encourage current and future women surgeons to realise their professional and personal goals, empower them to succeed and excel in those aspirations through mentorship, and act as a networking community that promotes their contributions and achievements of students, surgeons, and leaders.

In order to keep this commitment, in January 2021 RCSI AWS launched our very own mentoring programme for RCSI medical students. As a lot of you may know we have been running our annual Speed Mentoring event each year since we were founded in 2018. While this event is always a great success, students informed us that they would really benefit from having an ongoing relationship with a mentor to provide guidance and support to them throughout their medical school career. This is what inspired us to launch the programme.

We have a range of mentors in the programme who are surgeons and part of surgery-related specialties (for example anaesthesia) for students who seek to explore non-surgical career options. Our surgeon and physician mentors are all at different stages of their training, from 1st year surgical trainees right through to consultants. Mentors can help senior medical students prepare for working as a junior doctor, interviews for training schemes, and how to stand out when applying for job vacancies among other things.

In addition to being mentees, senior medical students have the opportunity to be peer mentors in our programme. We have matched our student mentors with preclinical junior medical students to help them prepare for clinical rotations, study for board exams, and get involved with research as a student. To ensure our senior medical students make competent mentors for our junior students, they completed an online mentorship course put together with the help of the RCSI COMPPAS (Centre for Mastery: Personal, Professional & Academic Success) team.

We are delighted that we were able to match almost 100 mentors and mentees this semester, and we hope to continue this programme into the 2021-22 academic year and beyond! If you would like to be involved in the RCSI AWS Mentoring programme as either a mentor or a mentee, sign-ups for next semester will open in August - keep an eye on our socials and the RCSI Student Life HQ page for updates!

Emily Panteli RCSI Association of Women Surgeons President 2020-21

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Clubs & Societies

//RCSI’s Friends of MSF

David Joyce

W

e’ve been so happy this year to host some amazing events for everyone in RCSI while also raising awareness and money for MSF. We are happy to say that our recent Humanitarian Response to Crisis Conference was a huge success and we want to thank everyone who attended. Hopefully we’ll see you all at next year’s event!

MISSING MAPS EVENT This year we hosted the online “Mapathon” event. This was a great event that helped introduce the committee to old and new members of the RCSI community. Missing Map Events were set up by different charities around the world as a way to help during times of natural disasters. They found that aid can sometimes be delayed to remote areas because the areas are often not covered on maps. For this event we all logged onto the MSF website and began to map different areas that had not been previously covered. It was a great way to relax and chat while also helping MSF in a small way. The website was set up a bit like a video game and was very easy to use. Hopefully once things calm down we can do it in person with some pizzas and music.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENING Every year we host a documentary screening as a great way to relax just before the busy exam season. Normally we’d host it in one of the lecture theatres but this year we held it over Zoom. Even though we were all separated it was just as fun as our previous movie nights. This year we watched “Access to the Danger Zone,” a movie about MSF’s work in wars and conflicts around the world. It was even narrated by three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis! The movie was a great way to see the harrowing work that MSF staff have to sometimes undertake and how they selflessly put others first so that they can deliver much needed medical care. It’s always amazing to see their work and how they manage to overcome various obstacles so that they can ensure people receive medical care and attention.

Here are some of the amazing speakers that were at this year’s Humanitarian Response to Crisis Conference:

Professor Ruairi Brugha Professor Ruairi Brugha is the prior head of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and faculty at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. After receiving this medical degree, he spent six years delivering hospital care to rural populations across Africa. He has led the COST-Africa and SURGE-Africa projects across Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi. These projects work towards strengthening surgical systems through training, participatory research and policy reform.

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Clubs & Societies

Isobel Simpson With a professional background in nursing and over 25 years in humanitarian work, Isabel Simpson has recently been appointed MSF Ireland’s Executive Director. Isabel first worked with MSF as medical coordinator in Bosnia in 1996 and since then has held many senior positions including Head of Mission in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Somaliland and Iraq, and as a Project Coordinator in North East India. Isabel has also worked as Executive Director of Programmes with MSF Australia. Isabel has also worked as an independent humanitarian consultant, specialising in exploratory and start-up missions for other international emergency and development organisations working in places such as the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Chechnya, Iraq, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Claire Tetart Claire Tetart is an international development professional specialized in peace-building, organized crime prevention and human rights with a proven track record of managing transnational projects. Claire currently works for UNICEF where she manages the development, community fundraising and donor care. Prior to this, Claire was the main development officer at the foundation French-American Aid for Children, where she concluded significant partnerships and led the growth of the organization. Claire graduated from Sciences Po in Paris with the highest honors in 2016. She also holds a L.LM in International Criminal Law from the University of Luxembourg with a focus on international co-operation in counter-terrorism. Claire resides in Dublin, Ireland.

Very international, she lived in France, Luxembourg, the UK and New York City. She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

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Clubs & Societies

//Middle Eastern Students’ Association

MESA Committee

T

he Middle Eastern Students’ Association (MESA) is a society that aims to represent the Middle East in RCSI. MESA is here to represent one of the largest cohorts in RCSI and also showcase various aspects of the Middle East from clothes, food, music, language, poetry to so much more!

Whether you want to get a little taste of home or explore the Middle East, we have something for you! This is an amazing opportunity to mix with different people and expand your horizons making the most out of RCSI’s diverse student body.

Meet our amazing committee that worked tirelessly this year in MESA: President - Aser Labib Vice President - Fatma Taqi Events Coordinators - Farida Kotait, Rua Al Husaini Secretary - Abdulaziz Al Bunnia Treasurer - Saleh Al Jundi IT Officers - Lubabah Al Ani, Meera Al Balooshi Social Media Officer - Hind Haffar General Committee - Sarah AlZayyat, Noor AlSaeed, Noor Faisal, Ahmed Khawjah, Reema Ahmed, Muhammad (Hamza) Azhar Past Events: • “Get Out” - This was a thrilling escape room event that took place during the 2019-2020 Fresher’s Week that started the year off with a bang!

• Annual Arabian Night (MAIN EVENT) - Last year we collaborated with Drama Society, Dance Society, and Sama3i music band, to pull off a “1001 Nights” themed event, consisting of a drama infused with dancing, music, fashion and delicious middle eastern food. The event was a success!

• CDM: Expo Cultural Booth - Where we display cultural things and engage with the students in a fun way • CDM: International Food Night - RCSI’s yummiest event of the year!

• CDM: International Night - We participate every year in RCSI’s biggest and most exciting event of the year, to show off the many different aspects of our culture in fun ways!

2020-2021 Academic year events: This year was different in that most of our events were held virtually. We had a huge online presence so you wouldn’t miss out on the RCSI experience.

• Past semester 1 events: - MESA’s Virtual Meet & Greet - Meet the committee and students from different years in the most fun way possible - Lost in the Middle East Instagram Series - Take an unforgettable trip through the most amazing places in the Middle East!

- Instagram Live Music Session - A chill music session to set the atmosphere for a productive study session!

- Instagram Live Cooking Show - Learn how to cook a dish from one of the most amazing cuisines in the world!

• Past semester 2 events: - MESA x SEASOC : Journey to The East - A virtual Escape Room style game that will take you on an unforgettable journey to the EAST! - Lost in the Middle East Instagram Series - a continuation of our 1st semester event!

- Instagram Live Poetry Session - To all Arabic poetry lovers out there!

- Virtual International Food Night - Learn how to cook a dish from one of the most amazing cuisines in the world!

Sincerely, RCSI’s Middle Eastern Students Association (MESA)

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//Cancer Society

« Isabel Doyle

T

he goal of Cancer Society is to promote cancer research and advocacy through fundraising activities around college. Over the years, the society has demonstrated this passion for cancer fundraising whilst spreading awareness through education. We achieve this by liaising with and donating our proceeds to multiple charities including the Irish Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Ireland and the Movember Foundation. All these charities aim to improve the lives of those with cancer and invest in cancer research. We host a number of events throughout the year to get students involved and raise funds, and this year has been no different!

In October, we collaborated with Running Club to encourage students to sign up for the Great Pink Run charity event for Breast Cancer Ireland. We hosted our annual month-long fundraising event, Movember, in which students support men’s health by creating teams to grow out their facial hair while raising funds and gathering support through a GoFundMe page. This year we raised over €2,500 for the Movember Foundation. At the beginning of February in collaboration with Paediatric Society, RCSI Welfare and the Gym, we held a yoga fundraiser and raffle event supporting the Childhood Cancer Foundation Ireland. We held an annual Daffodil Day bake sale online in March 2021, where all proceeds went to the Irish Cancer Society.

RCSI Cancer Society is also enthusiastic about cancer education and careers in oncology. We hosted our “Day in the Life of an Oncologist” event in October and heard from five outstanding panellists specialising in different aspects of oncology. We have regular social media posts about various types of cancer to keep students informed. Make sure to check out our monthly cancer awareness posts on our Instagram!

We have loads of events throughout the college year, so be sure to get involved and show your support. Our committee members are excited to continue making the academic year as memorable as possible. If you would like to learn more about Cancer Society, feel free to visit Instagram page @rcsi_cancersoc or contact any of our committee members. We are always looking for students who are passionate about the fight against cancer and would love to hear from you!

The 2020/2021 committee included:

President: Simren Chotai

Vice Presidents: Cristy Liang & Jack Karp

Secretary/treasurer: Isabel Doyle

Head of Education: Monica Ramakrishnan

Education officer: Kate Haley

Head of PR: Helen Huang

PR Officer: Jackie Clifford

Head of Fundraising: Komal Marwaha

Events Officers: Fraser Jang-Milligan & Jessica Lloyd

Freshers Reps: Alyssa Francis & Bhavya Kapoor

Senior advisors: Claire Stenson & Kassandra Gressman

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//Christian Union

« Cherie Obenewaah Sackey

R

CSI Christian Union is here to provide a welcoming and safe space for both Christians and non-Christians across campus.

This academic year, we had a fantastic and capable committee led by our president, Andrew Mati. As a committee, we were ready and willing to serve our RCSI community through the line-up of events we planned. Our committee for the semester comprised of:

President – Andrew Mati Vice President – Nathan Gnanasekaram Secretary – Cherie Obenewaah Sackey Treasurer – Jesiah Meade Events & Music Co-ordinator – Sarah Faltaous Social Media – Jaedan Chablal

In spite of the constantly changing situation, we planned a number of events for the semester. We are truly blessed to have met (albeit online) and interacted with you all, and to have had the opportunity to discuss the Word of God. For our Wednesday Bible studies this semester, we explored the core beliefs of Christianity.

In addition to our weekly studies, we held other events such as our Worship night, St. Patrick’s Day event, Apologetics, and our annual Easter event. We also teamed up with other societies to hold joint events.

With so much to look forward to in the upcoming year, we encourage you to sign up on the Student Life HQ portal and follow us on Instagram (@rcsicu) and Facebook (RCSI Christian Union) to stay up to date on all our events!

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//Cardiovascular Society

« Daniel Sherlock

T

he RCSI Cardiovascular Society is a group of students with a specific interest in cardiovascular medicine. This year, we put out weekly ‘wards and boards’ style content as well as expanded the breadth of our recruited speakers. We hosted Dr. Tapas Mondal, a paediatric cardiologist from Canada, and Mr. Peter Naughton, a vascular surgeon at Beaumont Hospital. We held an additional speaker event on March 18th 2021, with Dr. R. Anthony Perez-Tamayo, a cardiothoracic surgeon from Chicago, USA. Finally, we held our annual Braveheart Competition, and for the first time, was an intercollegiate event!

Students from Trinity College and UCD competed alongside RCSI students for the top spot. Deviating from previous years, the event was an individualized competition and was held completely online. Make sure to sign up on the Student Life HQ if you would like to be a member, and if you haven’t already, follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram @rcsicardiosoc.

Daniel Sherlock, President 2020-2021

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//RCSI Pride Society

Kat Clinch

P

ride Soc is RCSI’s LGBTQIAP+ society for rainbow students and allies alike - we are a fun-loving, colourful bunch whose aim is to create a safe space for students to build community, socialise with folks of all identities, and learn about everything from the best gay bars in Dublin and fun queer culture, to the promotion and inclusivity of LGBT rights in medicine for patients and physicians alike.

Why join Pride Soc? 1. You’re LGBTQ+ and new to Dublin – we can help you learn more about the best queer clubs, bars and hangouts, and keep you abreast of local events.

We can also let you know what safety and queer rights are like in Ireland and be a community for you to be your most authentic self.

2. You’re LGBTQ+ and local – you can get to know people from all over the world, bond with your queer peers who are also future healthcare professionals, and learn more about international queer culture!

3. You’re not LGBTQ+, but you want to make sure you understand what it means to be a good ally, and you are open to learning another culture, understanding your privilege and making sure you know how to support, stand up for and support your queer friends and patients.

4. We stand for culture, community and caring! <3 There has never been a better or more important time to join Pride Soc. The pandemic has had a massively disproportionate effect on LGBTQ+ folks across the world, with restrictions and financial challenges meaning many queer people are now isolated in unsupportive households where they face silencing their true selves, discrimination, and even violence. Many within the community have been suffering months of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, in addition to increased isolation and deteriorating mental health while they are cut off from the community in which they feel most safe.

To our fellow Queer students – we see you and we’re here to be a community you can lean on. To our cisgender and heterosexual classmates – we need more allies like you, for this pandemic and within healthcare. If you think LGBTQ+ issues are none of your concern, think again - while statistics vary due to fear of disclosure for many queer folks, at least 4-10% of your classmates and future patients will identify as LGBTQ+1.

Not sure what all the letters in LGBTQIAP+ stand for? Why not take a gander at @rcsipridesoc to learn a little! :) 2020-2021 Committee:

President: Julie Croll (she/her), SC1 Since lockdown started, I have binge-watched RuPaul’s Drag Race (S1-13, I’m finally onto Allstars), went on hikes, exclusively wore athleisure, studied for board exams, and learned how to “read” (ahem, “Why? Because reading is fundamental.”)! With the help of the entire Pride Society, we put together a bunch of fun and educational events for the whole family - chosen, biological, and whomever else! When it comes to Pride Society, all are welcome!

Vice President: Tori Kornelsen (she/her), SC1 My name is Tori and I’m Vice President of the Pride Soc. I like to make cakes, climb trees, and play dreamy songs on piano. The activity that has been getting me through the latest lockdown is eating ice cream while watching Twin Peaks. A song I’ve been digging lately is Sign Here by Doohickey Cubicle — it’s great for grooving by yourself in your room!

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Secretary: Bahar Salehi (she/her), SC1 Hey all! My name is Bahar and I’m a current SC1! Outside of college, I love to ride horses competitively as well as travel and find new foods to try! Lockdown has been a lot of studying for the USMLE ( ), reading, playing video games and having Zoom hangouts where we talk about a magical future where we can eat inside a restaurant again.

Treasurer: James Connor (he/him), GEM2 Hi my name is James and I’m was treasurer for Pride Soc. Outside of school I love to go out, go to the gym, and travel beyond a 5km radius of my house. I spent this lockdown gaining weight and learned how to hula hoop for some reason. I’m Irish and know loads about the queer scene in Éire and available resources so feel free to hmu if you have any questions.

Publicity: Sean Warner (they/them), GEM2 Outside of medical school I am really interested in photography. During lockdown I have really gotten into baking, especially cookies, as well as well as exploring Phoenix Park when the weather permits on my bike.

General Committee: Kat Clinch (her/him) GEM2 Hey I’m Kat, I’m your friendly neighbourhood queer and I like long walks on the beach, clichés and sarcasm. Before Armageddon, I enjoyed dropping it like twas hot, wearing glitter for all social occasions and hugging. I’m a Dublin native and an LGBTQIAP+ educator so if you wanna know more about rainbow life in Dublin, or you have questions about gender/sexuality/labels that you’ve always been afraid to ask – I’m always happy to chat to anyone who wants to learn!

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General Committee: Donal (he/him), Med2 Hi, I’m Donal! I went to an Educate Together school and aim to bring inclusivity into every part of my life. I like to think that life is a series of stories and my main reason for joining Pride Soc was to shine some light on stories and issues that many people don’t know about. For anyone looking for some wholesome family cartoons that feature queer representation, I absolutely have to recommend “Steven Universe”, but if you’re looking for something more grown-up, the recent hit series “It’s A Sin” is a great start (but maybe don’t watch it with your parents).

General Committee: Kat/Kathryn (she/her), sleepy SC2 (GEM) I’m a psychology graduate and budding psychiatrist with an interest in holistic health, alternative therapies and tackling health inequalities. Since lockdown, I’ve been running menstrual health workshops online with a close friend of mine who is a yoga teacher. I’ve also been playing some music, going on daily walks, and watching RuPaul to stay sane!

General Committee/Education: Jennifer (she/her), GEM2 Hobbies: DnD, cooking, going to the gym (can’t really do that right now) Lockdown activities: a lot of DnD, cooking, and long aimless walks.

General Committee: Maya Urva (Any/all pronouns), SC2 An avid fan of video games, video game music, and (in my very humble opinion) an excellent stress baker. These days you can find me trying to transcribe said music with an online piano, bulldozing through a game/tv series to reach the part with the famous Subtext™, or hiding from the duolingo owl. So, not that different from pre-lockdown XD

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Past Events: Pride Week 2020: Last year we held a virtual Pride Week from June 22-26 – with daily events and social media posts: Monday: We released the ultimate Pride Playlist and had yoga with RCSI Gym’s lovely Neil!

Tuesday: #RCSIProudTogether art challenge with Art Soc! Wednesday: Queer Research day with RCSI Infectious Disease & Public Health Thursday: Movie double feature: The Death & Life of Marsha P. Johnson Friday: Pride Quiz & Pride Zumba party with Neil!

While we are still hopeful there may be socialising allowed by June this year (let us dream!) – we will be making sure that come ’rona or come shine there are celebrations to be had! Pride month is not only a month of celebration for queer folks to revel in the simple political act of being their most authentic selves in a world that makes that difficult, but also an important awareness month for long marginalised, and still discriminated, identities.

Certified Proud Talk (October 2020) We were happy to welcome Dublin-based organisation Certified Proud to speak to our students about their mission. Certified Proud works with businesses in a broad variety of fields to make help them commit to “taking proactive steps to ensure dignity, safety and respect for LGBTQ+ customers and staff ”.

Their mission is to promote equality for all sexuality, sex & gender minority people in Ireland by showing companies how to not simply be superficially pro-LGBT+, but how to build it into their company ethos so that customers and staff are not just protected, but respected as equals.

In their talk, they gave some background on this mission and their work so far, and shared tips and ideas on how to make medicine a more inclusive practice for those in LGBTQIAP+ community (both staff and patients).

They also discussed the following Certified Proud Principles: RESPECT To make respect a priority, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity; all employees and customers will be treated with dignity.

EQUALITY To create professional environments where treatment of all staff and customers is the same, ensuring everyone is given equal opportunity.

INCLUSIVITY To offer both customers and staff a positive environment which actively embraces difference, emphasises dignity, and rejects stigma.

ADVOCACY To contribute to the complete elimination of societal inequality and proactively promote equal rights for LGBTQ+ individuals.

COMMITMENT To appreciate that being Certified Proud means time, dedication, understanding and responsibility to the LGBTQ+ community, all year round.

SAFETY To encourage accountability and responsibility throughout the workplace to ensure the safety of all LGBTQ+ staff and customers.

VISIBILITY To increase positive representation of LGBTQ+ people in public life, to highlight issues affecting the community and give a voice to the marginalised in businesses across Ireland.

Netflix Watch Party “The Half Of It” (October 2020) In October we gathered online with popcorn in hand to watch the American coming-of-age comedy “The Half of It”. The film follows Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) an introverted student who ends up helping (and befriending) school jock Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) who needs her help to write a love letter.

But of course all is not so simple – as Paul is not the only character falling for Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). The “Half Of It” was written and directed by Alice Wu and came out (see the pun there) in 2020.

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Mental Health Week: Brainbow Storming (November 2020) We took to IG live to lead students in a guided meditation and “Brainbow Storm” a list of things that help us when we’re feeling low. We assigned each colour of the rainbow to a type of activity, and then brainstormed ideas for each category of small things that help you feel less down or anxious.

Red: Meditation/Mindfulness Orange: Physical Activity Yellow: Food & Drink Green: Nature/The Outdoors Blue: Self-Care Purple: Social Pink: Media TENI Trans 101 Training (December 2020) The Transgender Equality Network Ireland, in conjunction with the RCSI Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Offices, (and with support from the SU) presented their annual TENI TRANS 101 Training for RCSI students. Given in virtual format this year, the workshop focuses on terminology, language and lived trans experiences. It explores the language we use to differentiate between sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, as well as examining what life is like for trans people living in Ireland.

This workshop is really valuable for any future healthcare professional who wants to make medical spaces a bit more welcoming for trans folks, and more importantly, it’s useful to any student who cares about equality and wants to be a better ally to trans people.

RCSI Pride Soc x SMJ Journal Club ( January 2021) We had a fantastic journal club collaboration with the Student Medical Journal discussing research on LGBTQ+ Issues. Our evening was divided between a discussion of a paper on the value of LGBT+ Healthcare Education, and some LGBT+ research done by RCSI student Jackie Clifford on integrating this kind of education into RCSI. This was a really interesting evening of contributions from students with lively discussions on the value of this kind of training and the barriers to implementing it more consistently in healthcare education. We hope that further events like this will help open the minds and eyes of our fellow students to the still persistent lack of representation of marginalised communities in healthcare education in Ireland.

Art Soc x Pride Soc Love is Love Virtual Valentine’s Day Card Making (February 2021) This Valentine’s 2021 we gathered together with our pals in Art Soc to create some Love is Love valentines for our partners, paramours and pal-entines of all genders! We had so much fun taking some time for creativity and celebrating love, whether romantic, platonic or just for ourselves!

March 2021: Sexual Health & History Taking event (in collaboration with AMSI and EM Soc) Pride Soc committee worked with AMSI and EM to provide a tutorial on how to expand history taking skillsets to be as inclusive as possible of queer identities, particularly when taking a sexual history. This is truly an essential skill for any future healthcare professionals, and will make a huge difference to a patient population who still faces significant discrimination in the healthcare environment. We discussed some of the challenges Queer people face in a medical setting, some of the major dos and don’ts of how to address queer patients and even conducted role playing scenarios.

April 2021: TENI Trans 101 Training – if you missed the last session , we’re providing a second opportunity to up your awareness, terminology, and skills .

Watch parties: We had a RuPaul’s Drag Race Watch Party! People came and gagged at the stunts, and there were shenanigans, tomfoolery, goonery and the eleganza extravanganzas! It gave us liiiiiiiiife henny (yes gawd mama *tongue pop, death drop*).

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4 simple things you can do to support queer patients in your practice:

Many patients don’t disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to their physicians because of prejudice and judgment in medical environments.

We shared some stories from queer patients on our Instagram @rcsipridesoc – come have a read if you want to make sure your future practice is inclusive and safe for all your patients.

1. Ask preferred pronouns from everyone – regardless of how they may present, this normalises it for everyone, and doesn’t single out patients based on presentation (or your presumption that they look queer). This is really helpful and important as it promotes a safe space for all your LGBTQIAP+ patients, especially those who might be trans or non-binary.

2. Try to use neutral language when talking about life/sexual partners “e.g. do you have a partner at home?”– this gives queer patients the opportunity to disclose the gender of their partners, rather than correcting you when you presume.

3. Don’t make assumptions about queer patients or buy in to stereotypes, especially when taking a sexual history. Not all queer people are alike. In the same way that cis-het folks have their own unique experiences – don’t guess, just ask!

4. Don’t make faces or show confusion if you think someone’s assigned sex doesn’t match their presentation, or if they mention multiple genders when discussing past partners – if you need clarification for the purpose of the investigation at hand, ask professionally and politely, otherwise, it’s not important.

5. Remember that many of us in the queer community put parts of ourselves away when we navigate potentially unsafe/unsupportive spaces, be it in medical scenarios, in the workplace, or in our parent’s homes – be conscious of the power of your words, the environment you create, and confidentiality.

If you want to learn more about how to politely and thoughtfully approach these topics, or increase the comfort of your LGBTQ+ patients, get in touch with Pride Soc by email or Instagram.

References.

1. https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/libraryResearch/2019/2019-06-28_l-rs-infographic-lgbt-community-in-ireland-a-statistical-profile_en.pdf

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//A Biography of the Biological Society

Helen Huang

R

CSI Biological Society is not only the oldest medical society at RCSI, but we have also been recognized by Professor J.D.H Widdess as “the oldest student medical society in the world”. Our society hosts and organizes academic competitions for students across all stages of their education. Participating at our events is a great way for students to apply their knowledge from lectures and rotations, meet students from different years across RCSI, and network with faculty members. Some of our most well-known events include the Harold Browne Anatomy Quiz and the Senior Case Competition, as well as our first-ever Virtual Inaugural Address.

In the current 88th session of the RCSI Biological Society, we were delighted to have Professor Rory McConn Walsh as the Faculty President and Elisa Yoo as the Student President, alongside her team of hard-working committee members. We started the event with an ice-breaker, where freshers were able to learn more about the Biological Society. Moreover, we opened up opportunities for freshers to gain an invaluable experience as part of the committee, as they helped plan several of our events.

Every event we host provides an opportunity for individual students or teams of students to receive medals of distinction, with specialist physicians and surgeons as the judges. This year’s Harold Brown Anatomy Quiz, which was held online for the first time, gave Graduate Entry and First Year Medical students the chance to apply their medical knowledge and actively recall the material they have learned in previous years. We are pleased to announce that the 2020/2021 winners were Cian Milofsky, Ciara Casey, and Natalija Lakic!

As the Biological Society also strives to engage students across the wider RCSI community, we address critical and current matters in healthcare, such as the ways COVID-19 has influenced medical forces, through our Inaugural Address which was presented by esteemed faculty members at RCSI. Additional past events held by the RCSI Biological Society include competitions such as the Mary Leader Pathology Quiz, Senior Case Competition, and Junior Case Competition. They are wonderful opportunities to discover the history of medicine and receive the honour of leaving a mark on RCSI.

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//Emergency Soc Insider

Tim Vaughan-Ogunlusi

F

ebruary of last year, Emergency Medicine Society hosted Trauma Day. One hundred twenty medical students from all over Ireland descended on 26 York to partake in the largest student-organized hands-on clinical skills training day in the country. Shortly after, we sent 3 well-prepped teams to compete in SimWars. Little did we know so much would change by the following year. To think that we’ve endured the COVID-19 pandemic for a year is daunting.

That being said, we have adapted and persisted through these unprecedented times, and continued to rise to the occasion of staying active, engaged, and safe.

When thrown a curveball, humans adapt. The ability to acclimate to one’s environment requires resilience, curiosity, and discovery. Uncovering new hobbies to pass our time and staying connected to our social circles are just a few ways we’ve managed thus far. Creativity and innovation have boomed and despite the need to be physically separate, technology has been an asset in bridging the gap. This past year has truly been one of discovery.

COVID has affected us all in one way or another; ranking among the most impacted are our hospitals’ emergency departments, physicians, nurses, and other ED staff; the frontline workers of the pandemic working tirelessly for the past year. Their response and dedication is inspiring, and the world watched in awe at the selflessness, innovation, and sheer willpower of EM physicians as they worked through tragic and challenging conditions. Additionally, we saw how issues of health inequity, ethical debates about access to care, systemic racism and healthcare hesitancy, and trade-offs in the development of therapeutics and preventative measures were all on display as a result of the pandemic. In acknowledging the toll, the uncovered inequities, and the losses, it’s persistence and hope that continue to drive us forward.

As medical students, the way we live and learn has undoubtedly changed. Like many students and societies, the Emergency Medicine Society made do with the cards we’ve been dealt. Many of us as prospective EM candidates are watching this from an unique perspective of what may come on the other side of graduation. Although we know our point of view is niche, what we hope to do in Emerg Soc is to highlight those stories and perspectives of EM doctors that are still managing in less than ideal circumstances during this unrelenting pandemic. We increased our social media presence, bringing a wide variety of new content that runs the gambit of topics for stories and anecdotes from real docs to podcasts about all things EM. We adapted our training for annual competitions to a virtual format to give RCSI students access to resuscitation training through SimWars and POCUS training through SonoGames. There is rarely a dull moment in our society, and we hope anyone who’s interested will join the ranks and discover all that Emerg Soc has to offer. The world of emergency medicine is full of unknowns; every minute is a mystery and an adventure awaiting.

During our preparation for this year’s Trauma Day, we would have liked nothing more than to bring students from all of Ireland’s medical schools to RCSI to practice ultrasounds skills, intubation, and placing chest drains. We modified our annual in-person training event to provide the same high-quality knowledge in a virtual format. We completely changed the concept for the event, but we couldn’t have been happier after having over 100 attendees at the Trauma Day 2021 webinar. We were joined by a panel of phenomenal emergency medicine physicians from departments all over Ireland who discussed topics covering the impacts of COVID on the ED, decision making in paediatric EM, community EM, alternative pre-hospitals pathways, and sliver trauma. All the speakers provided a unique perspective and valuable lessons that we don’t often touch on in our medical curriculum. Our speaker’s talks were followed by a spirited discussion of resuscitation best practices. Attendees watched a simulation and engaged in a discussion lead by our panel on the important aspects of resuscitation and how best to do your part as a member of a team in a trauma situation.

But the event wasn’t just all talk. Keeping true to Trauma Day tradition, we also had interactive suturing sessions for attendees to gain valuable practice with clinical skills and chances to win prizes as our audience showed off their knowledge on common emergency medicine facts and figures! All in all, we can say our first large virtual webinar was a success. We could not have been happier with the turnout! That being said, we in Emerg Soc definitely still thrive off doing hands-on activities, so hopefully you can catch us next year, in person, at Trauma Day 2022! In the meantime, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay up to date on all things emerg and check out some of the other great events and activities we do on a weekly basis. COVID has without a doubt effected all of us in different ways, particularly as healthcare trainees, but as we’ve seen in the past year, it is so important to be resilient and adaptable.

Without a doubt, we are very proud to be representing emergency medicine and those working the frontlines of the pandemic.

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//Choral Society

« Eve Moore

W

e hope you’re all staying safe and well out there.

Despite the challenging times we’re living through, we at RCSI Choral Soc have done our best to make sure that singing has stayed part of our lives!

We had rehearsals every Monday evening on MS teams. Admittedly, it does feel a little strange to sing by yourself in front of a screen…but at least you can see others doing the same, so you’re not completely alone!

We had a great collection of new music this term, including songs from the musicals “Grease” and “Wicked”. We also worked on (one of the many) classic Queen hits, “Somebody to Love”. Believe me, you can’t but be in a good mood when you hear that song!

There was also a very exciting project in the works this semester… (drum roll please)….

We took part in the inaugural Choral Intervarsity Competition! The event was held online from March 19th-21st. Unfortunately, we couldn’t attend in person this year, but if it becomes an annual competition we might get to travel for it in the future.

In preparation for the competition, we worked hard to perfect our song, which we all recorded individually and then editted together into one video for submission. To get an idea of what you can expect from us, find our performance of “Gaudete” on our Instagram and Student Life HQ pages. The talent in this college would just blow you away! Make sure to check out our page as we have released new videos, including our submission for the Intervarsity!

Choral soc xoxo Enjoy a little music-themed crossword we assembled for your enjoyment!

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//Surgical Society

Kat Clinch

T

he RCSI Surgical Society is a place for anyone with an interest in surgery. Whether it’s a dream career, a skill for the CV, or simply a curiosity about the operating theatre – Surgical Soc is the place for you! During the 2019-2020 year, we had 1,417 student sign-ups and 342 sign-ins to sessions! In 20192020, we hosted 37 skills sessions for a combined 113 hours of teaching by our committee. Thankfully, covid-19 hasn’t changed our dedication to providing fun, practical training!

We’re best known for our surgical skills sessions (and the skills competition) and we’ve won Best Educational Society for the last four years! We regularly showcase different specialties on our Instagram and we’ve been expanding our video resources, including Day In The Life videos of some of this year’s featured surgical speakers! This year, we added a fantastic monthly newsletter that includes updates on our events, links to social media, facts about surgical specialties, and fun surgical facts and quotes! We collaborated with the Irish Surgical Training Group to create a video resource. We interviewed 10 surgical specialties and asked them students’ top 10 FAQs about surgical training! It features interviews with surgeons in higher training for Cardiothoracic, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Plastic and Reconstructive, Vascular, Orthopaedic, Urology, Paediatric, Neuro and General Surgery. This resource will soon be available online for all RCSI students.

Past Events:

Presidential Inauguration (October 9th 2020)

Our presidential inauguration was a special event that honoured our newly elected faculty president, Prof. Camilla Carroll. The event was not only a celebration of the honouree, but an educational event featuring international speakers at the top of their fields. Students from our sister campus in Bahrain joined us, and many of our previous faculty presidents, including outgoing president Prof. McConn Walsh, were also present. We welcomed guest speakers Dr. Thomas Kohl and Dr. T Sloane Guy. All of our speakers, including Prof. Carroll herself, provided moving and fascinating talks on their respective fields.

The evening culminated in the virtual handover of the presidential medal.

This year’s elected faculty president Professor Camilla MA Carroll is a Consultant Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Dublin, Clinical Associate Professor at TCD School of Medicine, and RCSI Council Member, just to name a few of the roles and titles she currently holds. An RCSI grad herself, she completed fellowships in General Surgical Specialist Otolaryngology Training in Ireland and Great Britain with CCST, Specialist Registration and Fellowship ORLHNS. She went on to become highly active in surgical education and is currently a postgraduate surgical educator, trainer, and assessor with RCSI and the National Clinical Programme in Surgery. On her involvement in surgical education and societies she has said that “(they) have afforded me the opportunity to engage in a meaningful way with our students and to begin the conversation of the joy and privilege of a surgical career”. While this brief synopsis does not do justice to her many achievements, you can read more about her on our Instagram!

One of our guest speakers, Dr. T. Sloane Guy, is a robotic heart surgeon and currently a Professor of Surgery at Sidney Kimmel Medical College and Director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Cardiac Surgery. Dr. Sloane Guy began his medical career through the army where he completed 3 tours and retired as a decorate lieutenant colonel, with multiple awards. He went on to get an MBA in healthcare administration before becoming a national leader in his field, known particularly for his skill in robotic mitral valve repair.

Our second speaker, Prof. Thomas Kohl, is a pioneer of minimally invasive foetal surgery, and founded the “Kohl’s method” of surgery, a technique which is named after him. He is currently Chief of the German Centre for Foetal Surgery & Minimally-Invasive Therapy (DZFT) at University Hospital Giessen-Marburg. He began developing his minimally invasive foetal surgical techniques in 1993. In the 16 years in which he has been treating unborn babies, he has performed over 1200 interventions - many of which had never been attempted before. He gave a fascinating presentation on foetoscopic surgery, and described several of his surgical achievements including his pioneering of minimally-invasive surgery for foetal spina bifida, his co-development of foetoscopic tracheal balloon occlusion for foetal diaphragmatic hernia, his work on the first three cases of percutaneous foetoscopic patch coverage of foetal myelomeningoceles, and most notably, his establishment of chronic intermittent maternofoetal hyperoxygenation for foetuses with hypoplastic cardiovascular structures (also known as Kohl Procedure).The event was a huge success with many students contacting us with further questions pertaining to the many specialties featured and the techniques discussed!

Fresher Election (October 15th 2020)

The Fresher election is where one student in their first year at RCSI (from any programme) is elected to join us our committee. Many RCSI societies have fresher positions, as this not only provides the committee with new ideas and fresh perspectives, but also provides the elected student the opportunity to gain insight into how societies are run at RCSI, and bond with students from different programmes and years. It also allows for advancement within society.

For example, last year’s Fresher’s Rep went on to become our Education Lead! This year we had an unprecedented turnout consisting of highly competitive applicants. This year our fresher rep position went to Wadeed Irfan – you can find our more about Wadeed from the committee biographies.

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Life Of A Surgeon (November 13th 2020)

This year’s annual Life Of A Surgeon event saw more than 70 RCSI students tune in to listen to 4 inspirational surgeons. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to not only hear about unique and interesting cases, specialties they may not have had a chance to observe yet, and the daily life of some of the top surgeons in their fields. Most notably, it was also a chance to learn about the people behind the surgeons masks. Speakers discussed their inspirations, their professional journeys, and their families and passions. We heard from consultant Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon Ms Shirley Potter. Ms Potter, an NUIG graduate with an intercalated BSc in Anatomy, currently works at the Mater Hospital in Dublin and is an Associate Clinical Professor at UCD. She is extremely committed in her dedication to training future physicians, as she completed a Masters in Medical Education and has a reputation as a surgical educator with a special interest in microsurgery simulation. She is on the faculty of trainers for core and higher surgical training schemes at RCSI, and was voted trainer of the year by her specialty trainees last year. She is also involved with student surgical societies in both UCD and RCSI. She spoke of her fellowships in reconstructive microsurgery and brachial plexus at St Vincent’s Hospital and The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, in cancer reconstruction at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne and in reconstructive microsurgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan.

She also spoke about her hobbies – she’s an ultra-marathon runner, and loves open-water swimming and off-piste skiing – and her newborn son, giving students a glimpse of her work-life balance!

We also heard from Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon Professor Deborah McNamara, a consultant General/Colorectal Surgeon at Beaumont Hospital and Bons Secours Hospital Dublin. Prof. McNamara is known for being the first female colorectal surgeon in Ireland and is a member of the RCSI Council, as well as a Clinical Professor of Surgery at RCSI, Co-Lead on the National Clinical Program in Surgery, and the chair of RCSI’s working group on gender diversity. She received the 2018 Olga Jonasson Distinguished Member Award from the Association of Women Surgeons which recognises a female surgeon who, through outstanding mentorship, enables and encourages women surgeons to reach their personal and professional goals. She is a Trinity College Graduate who completed fellowship higher specialist training through the Irish higher surgical training program and a colorectal fellowship at hospital Sant. Antoine in Paris, France. Areas of clinical practice include general and microscopic surgery, colorectal surgery, proctology, and endoscopy. Her areas of special interest include: colon cancer, rectal cancer, laparoscopic surgery, perianal Surgery, health services research and healthcare quality improvement.

Among our 2020-2021 speakers was ENT Head and Neck surgeon Mr Paul Lennon. Mr. Lennon graduated from UCD in 2005 and went on to complete his surgical training and a fellowship in advanced Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York in 2016. Mr. Lennon was appointed to both St. James’s Hospital and to the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. His surgical interests include: head and neck cancer, throat/mouth cancer, thyroid cancer and benign thyroid disease, salivary gland surgery and skin cancers of the face and neck. Our final featured speaker was Ms Ailín Rogers, a recently appointed consultant colorectal surgeon. Ms. Rogers graduated from UCD in 2007 and pursued surgical training through RCSI, where she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 2019. In the course of her training she also completed a PhD in colonic physiology. She was the recipient of Ireland’s first PROGRESS Women in Surgery Fellowship. At the time of the event, Ms Rogers was completing a fellowship in robotic colorectal surgery and multivesicular resection for advanced pelvic malignancy at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. As a surgeon with children, she says that taking “this initiative will encourage women to successfully compete for international surgical fellowships”.

Internal & Intercollegiate Case Competitions

This year, our internal case competition took place via MS Teams and featured the top 5 submitted surgical cases. This anticipated event places students on the centre stage. At the same time, it is a fascinating educational event for those not presenting. This year included cases from cardiopulmonary vascular surgery, pulmonary surgery, orthopaedic surgery, vascular surgery and neurosurgery presented by students in SC1, SC2 and GEM/IC. The competition was judged

by Prof. James Paul O’Neill, Ms Ailín Rogers and Dr. Gozie Offiah. While the calibre of presentations was extremely high this year, it was Siobhán Ryan who won the Prof. James Paul O’Neill Medal with her case on endoscopic thermal vapour ablation, entitled: “Shall I Pop the Kettle on”. She went on to represent RCSI at the 15th Annual Intercollegiate Case Competition!

The 15th Annual Intercollegiate Case Competition was hosted by RCSI and included TCD, UCD, UL, UCC and Queen’s Belfast. The prize was the prestigious Prof. David Bouchier-Hayes medal. This was a riveting evening with many of the presented cases describing first in Ireland procedures of their kind.

After some deliberation, the esteemed judges, Prof. Rory McConn Walsh, Prof. Aoife Lowery, Prof. Rustom Manecksha, Ms. Bridget Egan and Prof. David Bouchier-Hayes Jr. reached a verdict and awarded a rare tie! The win was shared between RCSI’s Siobhán Ryan and UCD’s Ellen Geary. All intercollegiate participants were given the opportunity to publish their abstracts in the Irish Medical Journal.

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Skills Session Our biggest challenge during the pandemic was figuring out how we could still teach surgical skills without being able access or distribute equipment to our fellow students. Thankfully, more than 45 students joined us online to practice sutures on bananas, oranges and pigs feet (among other things!). We ran three different sessions: Basic skills - students learned one-handed hand-tying and simple interrupted sutures.

Advanced skills - Students learned running subcuticular and deep dermal sutures, and horizontal and vertical mattress sutures.

Hand-tying only - for students eager to learn, but not ready to invest in their own suture kit – we ran hand-tying only sessions where all you need is some plain sewing thread and something to anchor it. We’ve seen many creative alternatives including shoelaces, earphone cables and ribbons!

If you’ve missed any of the 2020/2021 academic year events – don’t despair! Most of these events are held annually and will include different speakers and specialties!

If you have any ideas for Surgical Society, email us surgicalsoc@rcsi,ie, Facebook message us RCSI Surgical Society or our Instagram DMs @rcsisurgicalsociety

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OUR OUTGOING 2020-2021 COMMITTEE

President: Reem Alshimali Year & Nationality: IC2 from Kuwait Loves: everything food and eating!

Favourite Surgical Skill: horizontal mattress

Vice President: Alyssa Clark Year & Nationality: 2nd Med, French-American from Oregon, USA Loves: roadtrips, travelling and hiking the beautiful Central Oregon wilderness!

Favourite Surgical Skill: Aberdeen knot

Education Lead: Conor Sheahan Year & Nationality: 2nd Med, Texas born but moved to Ireland at age 10.

Loves: swimming, reading, cooking (and eating) and anything in the outdoors!

Favourite Surgical Skill: Loves them all but a subcutaneous suture with an aberdeen knot is the favourite!

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Surgical Skills Lead: Rachel Ní Fhearaigh Year & Nationality: Med2 from Drogheda, Ireland Loves: In her spare time you can find Rachel playing music and (trying) to learn new languages!

Favourite Surgical Skill: shoelace laps!

Education Officer: Sarah Ghobrial Year & Nationality: Med2 from Orange County California, USA Loves: Reading, cooking and all things music!

Favourite Surgical Skill: laparoscopy

Education Officer: Israa Hussein Year & Nationality: GEM3 originally from Egypt but has lived around the world!

Loves: knitting & crochet, cooking (but not baking!), going hiking, taking pictures, and watching international animes, shows and movies (if it has English or Arabic subtitles she’ll watch it!).

Favourite Surgical Skill: There is nothing more intriguing than suturing a blood vessel together!

PR Officer: Natalija Lakic Year and Nationality: Med2 from Chicago, USA Loves: Reading, lifting weights and learning languages. She learned how to make bread from scratch during quarantine and makes a mean sourdough!

Favourite Surgical Skill: simple interrupted sutures

PR Officer: Kat Clinch Year & Nationality: GEM2 from Dublin, Ireland Loves: all things exercise related, petting all the dogs (or animals of any kind), writing (she runs a theatre collective), languages and vegetarian food.

Favourite Surgical Skill: pegboard laps, horizontal mattress and meditative hand-tying while watching TV.

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Surgical Skills Officer: Fianait Bligh Year & Nationality: Med2 from Dublin, Ireland.

Loves: athletics, sleeping and the friends she’s made through Surgical Soc. Favourite Surgical Skill: Hand-tying and sugar-cube stacking!

Surgical Skills Officer: Nadiya Bayeva Year & Nationality: GEM2 from Ukraine Loves: music, playing table tennis & reading.

Favourite Surgical Skill: hand-tying (she’s fast and furious on this!)

General Committee Member: Olivia Lodise Year & Nationality: GEM2, French girl from Atlanta, USA. Loves: writing novels, martial arts, archery. She spent her quarantine doing research and sewing masks & surgical caps for friends in healthcare.

Favourite Surgical Skill: The attention to detail of suturing, especially the deep dermal & subcut because they work across so many different planes

Fresher Rep: Wadeed Irfan Year & Nationality: GEM1 from Oakville, Ontario, Canada Loves: Football (Chelsea FC), reading, spending as much time as possible outdoors and unhealthily obsessing over LOTR. Favourite Surgical Skill: One handed hand tying - a fun party trick!

Committee Alumna: Sophie Jang SC2 from Sunny SoCal (the better half of California!), USA Loves: Scuba diving, music (she learned the uke during lockdown!), and nerding out with engineering!

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Non-RCSI Societies

//Medicine in Motion at RCSI

Kate Haley

M

edicine in Motion (MiM) is a non-profit organization which aims to combat burnout in medical students and health care providers through exercise and philanthropy. The organization was started three years ago by medical students in the US at Harvard University, and has since expanded to over twenty chapters at medical schools across the globe. The RCSI chapter was founded by several RCSI graduate entry medical students in 2020, and is the first MiM chapter in Europe!

Towards the end of 2020, 12,000 physicians in over 29 specialities participated in a Medscape survey where they reported critical levels of exhaustion, depression and suicidal thoughts. 79% of physicians reported that their experience of burnout began before the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting burnout in the field of medicine as a significant public health issue. Importantly, 48% of physicians reported finding some relief from burnout through exercise and wellness practices. This highlights the importance of not just avoiding bad habits but also building good habits to maintain mental and physical wellbeing.

Since establishing the RCSI Medicine in Motion chapter, we have participated in the Medicine in Motion Olympiad—a week long global fitness competition involving a 5k run, a 13.1 mile cycle and HIIT time trial. Participants also fundraised to support several organizations fighting racial injustice in medicine. We are proud to report that one of our founding members of the RCSI MiM chapter, Kat Clinch (GEM2), earned first place in the HIIT time trial! With several other RCSI MiM members ranking highly in the competition.

The RCSI Medicine in Motion chapter hopes to promote mental and physical wellbeing by encouraging medical students to move around as often as they can. We recognize that exercise does not necessarily need to take the form of a long cycle or long run! We have been encouraging students to think about moving as often as possible, as this is key to staying happy, healthy and motivated. To encourage students to keep moving, we have invited students to send in ‘Motion Grams’ to our insta account @rcsi_mim to showcase the many different ways that RCSI students are keeping active!

Our GEM2 class has sent in a series of delightfully creative short videos of themselves ‘in motion’ including everything from boxing, cycling, running, dancing, yoga, lifting, serving (volleyball), headstands, and even playing the piano! We hope to continue to build the RCSI chapter of Medicine in Motion as a community which advocates for the importance of exercise in maintaining mental health, and celebrates all of the creative ways that the RCSI student body continues to move on a daily basis.

Kate Haley, Kat Clinch, Aoife Schanche, Eoin Butler, Greg Lee

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Clubs & Societies

//OBGYN Soc

Renee Woo

O

bstetrics and gynaecology is a discipline dedicated to the broad, integrated medical and surgical care of women’s health throughout their lifespan. The combined discipline of obstetrics and gynaecology requires extensive study and understanding of reproductive physiology including the physiologic, social, cultural, environmental, and genetic factors that influence disease in women. This gives obstetricians and gynaecologists a unique perspective in addressing gender-specific health care issues.

Who are we?

A committee composed of students from all years interested in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology that work hard throughout the year to bring a variety of events and education about women’s health to the student body.

Our Goal: To promote awareness and advocate for women’s health issues while creating opportunities for students to learn more about ObGyn. What we do: - Coordinate tutorials to help SC1 students succeed with one of the most challenging rotations - Publish a yearly newsletter written entirely by student that has been praised by students and faculty alike - Hold fundraising events and donation stations for local charities - Run an essay competition in cooperation with the RCSI ObGyn faculty - Hold events to showcase what a career in ObGyn encompasses - Educate students on many topics regarding women’s health How to get in touch with us: Feel free to email us at careerssoc-obgyn@rcsi.ie with any enquiries. Check out our Instagram @RCSIObGynSoc for information and to learn about different topics in women’s health!

Renee Woo

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Personal Stories

//Tiny Robots Fixing Big Problems

« Brian Li

I

n 2010, we watched in amusement as criminal mastermind Gru executed an entertaining heist by unleashing a team of Cookie Robots to break into and steal from an enemy villain’s fortress. These autonomous, bite-sized droids had the ability to scale walls, hack into security systems, and use lasers powerful enough to instantly melt through metal and concrete, allowing Gru and his faithful Minions to sneak by undetected. A decade later, we are seeing real-life developments and applications of cutting-edge engineering that are similarly small in size, but large in impact.

In a recent BBC article, Paul Rincon discusses the development of Smart Material and microrobotics.1 Imagine a world of self-repairing bridges or injectable robots that heal our bodies, he says, emanating excitement for the upcoming advancements in the current century. But we don’t need to imagine or even look very far anymore; those concepts have already crossed over into the here and now.

Ureolytic bacteria, such as Bacillus pasteurii and Bacillus subtilis, have been used to repair cracks in concrete.2 These microbes are first packed into small capsules and embedded into the cement. When naturally occurring micro-cracks break the capsules, the contained bacteria are released, triggering chemical reactions leading to the precipitation of concrete-reinforcing calcite (CaCO3). Similar concepts are also being applied in the aerospace industry, where scientists have studied the use of UV-ray activated microcapsules to repair micro-cracks in spacecrafts.3 One day, glass-containing products such as automobiles, eye-glasses, or smartphones with self-healing properties may not only be scratch-resistant, but scratch-immune.4 Injectable robots in the healthcare industry have also entered the realm of reality. In a study by Andhari et al., self-propelling magnetic nanorobots were found to be capable of targeted drug delivery in ex vivo tumours.5 Magnetically modified carbon nanotubes coated with the antineoplastic drug doxorubicin hydrochloride were able to quickly maneuver through complex body fluids and release the doxorubicin into intracellular lysosomal compartments of human colorectal carcinoma cells. In the era of precision medicine, robotics are perhaps the key to reaching the next level of personalized healthcare, enabling improvements in almost every step of the therapeutic process. In a comprehensive review on the applications of nanorobotics in precision medicine, Soto et al. outlines how diagnostics, imaging, surgical procedures, and drug delivery are all poised to see major enhancements through the use of nanorobotics.6 Technological innovations will be the driving force behind most of the major changes the world will see. The rise in wearable technology and the pervasiveness of smartphones is really just the beginning. Collaborations between materials science and robotics may soon transform the way we think about infrastructure, engineering, and healthcare, as scientists develop new ways to integrate technology. Thankfully, our goals will continue to be tailored towards positive changes in society, rather than undercover operations to rob modern-day supervillains.

Brian Li References 1.Paul Rincon. (2021). Smart materials: From tiny robots to colour-swapping clothes. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56096888 2.Vijay, K., Murmu, M., & Deo, S. V. (2017). Bacteria based self healing concrete–A review. Construction and Building Materials, 152, 1008-1014.

3.Li, P., Guo, W., Lu, Z., Tian, J., Li, X., & Wang, H. (2021). UV-responsive single-microcapsule self-healing material with enhanced UV-shielding SiO2/ ZnO hybrid shell for potential application in space coatings. Progress in Organic Coatings, 151, 106046.

4.Liang, B., Zhong, Z., Jia, E., Zhang, G., & Su, Z. (2019). Transparent and scratch-resistant antifogging coatings with rapid self-healing capability. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 11(33), 30300-30307.

5.Andhari, S. S., Wavhale, R. D., Dhobale, K. D., Tawade, B. V., Chate, G. P., Patil, Y. N., ... & Banerjee, S. S. (2020). Self-propelling targeted magneto-nanobots for deep tumor penetration and pH-responsive intracellular drug delivery. Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-16.

6.Soto, F., Wang, J., Ahmed, R., & Demirci, U. (2020). Medical micro/nanorobots in precision medicine. Advanced Science, 7(21), 2002203.

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Personal Stories

//Documenting My Journey Through Medical School

« Noor Alsaeed

I

grew up moving around different countries, so I have become accustomed to documenting aspects of my life in various ways. I hold great value to anything that would allow me to reflect and grow from my experiences. Before each academic year, I take a video of myself expressing my expectations. At the end of the year, I like to look back at it and write a reflective piece on how the year actually went. Doing this yearly has shown me how much growth you can achieve in a few years. It also made me realize how your priorities can shift based on what life throws at you.

At the start of my clinical years, I noticed that I was finally getting to experience what being a doctor entails. There were many firsts: first surgery I attended, first real patient I took a history from and so on. I felt like these were moments that needed to be preserved. So I made a small booklet where I document remarkable moments from my rotations by adding photos, quotes and my impressions on each specialty. This booklet allows me to appreciate the little things in a big busy hospital setting, and prompts me to keep looking forward to things and trust the journey no matter how challenging it may become.

When I started RCSI, I made a promise to myself to make the most out of my college experience by doing things that enhance my creativity and growth. One thing I did was become a Student Ambassador, where one of your roles is to portray an accurate depiction of what it is like to be an RCSI student. It gave me a platform to share my experiences where I make videos, write articles, and provide content for the RCSI Student Life Instagram account. It was another form of documenting my journey that also keeps me engaged in the RCSI community despite COVID-19 restrictions.

I hope that when I qualify as a doctor in a few years time, I’ll be able to look back at everything I’ve noted and created, and be appreciative of my decision to enter medical school.

Noor Alsaeed Senior Cycle 1

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//A Letter To My Younger Self

« Cherie Obenewaah Sackey

D

ear Mini Me,

Stop to smell the roses, And feel the rain trickle down your face.

Allow yourself to take it all in: The beauty, the scenery, and the scars in all its essence.

All will be well, Because life is a constant journey of discovery.

Hush, dear one, And embrace the emotions of the present.

Because time did truly tell That you are brave and strong, That you are allowed to be human, That you may not have it all figured out, And that is totally fine.

Because all is well, And life is a constant journey of discovery.

We are on a journey to discover and be discovered.

Walk along the stepping stones called “lessons”, Make your way across the bridge of opportunities, Step into those big girl shoes with finesse and confidence, And make a toast to that trophy called “success”.

But remember not to be perturbed by the winds of adversity, Because all is and will be well.

Spring 2021

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//It’s True, “Work Doesn’t Work Without Play”

« Charlsea Maynard

W

hat I discovered in quarantine as a Medical Student

At the start of the pandemic last year, I always heard about the struggles people were facing in adapting to the new normal. Many of my friends and family grappled with the idea of lockdowns, stay-at-home orders and life through a webcam.

As a self-proclaimed introvert and second year medical student, I was an expert at staying locked away in the library for 8 hours at a time, spending weekends at my desk with a stunning view of my laptop screen, coffee mug, and the occasional sunshine. We were a year in, and I honestly felt no different.

Even with a Facetime Christmas with my family, takeout holiday dinner provided by RCSI, and NYE celebrations in my living room...I still felt lucky to be handling the pandemic like a champ. Or so I thought.

The start of the spring semester traditionally meant the commencement of clinical placement. While I was happy to be learning from a mixed online/ in-person teaching style, I was ready to learn at the bedside and practice all of the teaching I’d received in the last 5 months. A local surge of Covid cases led to cancelling of our much anticipated hospital time after only 4 days on the ward, and we were back in a full level 5 lockdown forced to stay at home to be safe.

While it was disappointing, I quickly got back into my at-home study routine: 16 hour days starting with a morning shower, coffee, studying, exercise, sleep - and repeat. A week had passed, and all of the factors were the same as before, but I soon began struggling to sit at my desk for more than ten minutes without feeling completely overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. But like any medical student would, I powered through it. However, it wasn’t long before I realized that something was very wrong. Concerned by how I felt, I essentially hit the pause button on my busy life and decided to do something completely uncharacteristic of me...I rested. There was nothing special about it. I simply turned off my alarms, rewatched Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the 30th time and had hour long calls with my family enjoying some much needed laughs.

In between the movies and the phone calls, there was what I would describe as a mental silence - where the buzzing in my brain about drug side effects, disease pathogenesis and the “sepsis 6” just stopped. I was forced to sit with my suppressed thoughts and feelings that had been put on the back burner for years. This was a concept I was undoubtedly not used to. If I could coin a saying that embodies who I am as a person...it would be “I don’t have time to, I have to study”. I thrived on self-deprivation, long to-do lists, no sleep and increasing ounces of coffee per serving...as if it was some kind of indication that I was succeeding as a student. Yet, I simply found myself overworked, burnt out, and with utter disdain for anything that resembled medicine.

My sins had caught up to me.

I am happy to say that I discovered a very critical thing about myself...something I once equated to weakness but now know is crucial to my overall success: the saying is true - “work does not work without play.”

I now understand that my productivity directly correlates to my ability to decompress my mind. Just as I need sleep, food, water (and coffee), I also need to laugh....and explore new cafes…and try new things. I need to stretch my creativity and stay connected to the people I love. I need to move my body as a way to say thank you to it for allowing me to sit and study for copious amounts of time, all while I simultaneously prioritize my Pinterest interior design board.

Understanding that these things are non-negotiable, and required for me to operate at my best, “machine-like” self, came with a lot of humility. I didn’t want to accept that I was...well...human. I thought that maximising the hours of each day to study made me a good student, and that staying healthy just meant masking up and eating brussels sprouts for dinner. I had to redefine the word “well” for myself, admitting that I was going about life in a way that was simply not sustainable. I’m not perfect at enforcing this new rule, but I try every day to do so. My work thanks me for it. My productivity is at an all-time high - and I finally feel like my razor sharp focus and drive has returned, with the promise of rest as needed so that I can refuel my pumps and maintain the balance I now know is essential to my journey of becoming a physician.

Spring 2021

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Personal Stories

//Light

Hsiao Chi Huang

S

ophia has been going through a rough time. Being a medical student during COVID-19 hasn’t been easy. With minimal clinical exposure, there have been fewer opportunities to solidify her textbook knowledge with medical images and scenarios in her mind.

Certainly, there are now fewer parties to attend. NO PARTIES to be exact. Great! This meant more time for her textbooks. But, Sophia thought, this is not a balanced lifestyle. She participated in webinars, joined online volunteering, and engaged in all sorts of activities in the attempt to find her balance.

Despite her efforts, things have not felt right for her. It is now one week before finals. As she lies in bed, she notices the moon is brightly shining into her room. There is no strong wind, however; the twigs by the window are shyly waving. It is so quiet that Sophia can almost hear the whispering of the ladybugs that also cannot fall asleep.

“Am I anxious about exams?” She thought to herself. “Meh, not really”. She recounts the countless times she has been unsatisfied by her performance. “Am I ready for them?” she asks herself. As she attempts to answer she suddenly feels a funny sensation creep into her stomach. “I guess not, then”. Remembering years ago, when Sophia was a young, naïve student studying to get into medical school, that she had been fearless, tireless, and used her exam anxiety to fuel her to greatness. Why go through this turmoil for medicine? Why had she worked so hard for a medical school acceptance, only to work even harder? *** In one of Sophia’s high school literature classes, Sophia and her friends were sitting in the back secretly sharing snacks when her teacher, Mr Murphy, turned his back to write on the board. The three of them began to discuss their medical school aspirations, and even went so far as to make a three-way pinkie promise, solidifying their intent. “I want to become a cardiologist” said Amelia, “because I would squeeze your heart”. She said this as she jokingly made a teasing look and squeezed an air heart with her hands. Next, Ivy said “I’d like to become a brain surgeon, because - ”. Ivy was abruptly cut off by Mr Murphy, who called her out and asked her to read out loud the paragraph written on the board. As punishment for their chatter, the three girls had to write a 1000 word report on why they were talking and not paying attention. Sophia was so proud of the pledge they had made, that she happily offered to write the report on behalf of her friends for Mr. Murphy. She wrote to Mr Murphy to convince him that they would not disappoint him in the future as doctors.

None of them, however, were admitted into medical school after high school. Amelia changed her path and went on to study mathematics, and Ivy got into a bioengineering program. Sophia took another year to apply and successfully went on to study medicine the following year. *** Now, in the dark, with eyes wide open, Sophia can feel her motivation faltering. She can’t seem to convince herself that she’ll do well on her exams, let alone become a good doctor. *** A few weeks after her finals, Sophia has finally made it home since quarantining at a hotel. She hasn’t been home for a year now. She’s learned from her mother that the family is considering selling the house and downsizing, since all of her siblings will only be coming home two to three times a year. Her first task at hand is to clean her room and throw things away.

Rummaging through her belongings, Sophia spots an old metal box in the corner of her room, covered by the piles of books that she never threw away from high school. The box was from a luxurious snack brand. It was a dark blue box with sunflowers on it, and the rest of the box was dark red. The box seemed very familiar, but Sophia couldn’t remember what she had kept inside. She put down the clothes in her hand and climbed over the bed to fish it out.

It’s light.

There are no sounds from shaking the box.

Spring 2021

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Personal Stories

Upon opening it, she finds a piece of paper. It is the report she wrote so passionately to Mr. Murphy about her doctor dream! At the end of the report, she notices a comment written by Mr Murphy: “if you believe in yourself, how could anyone have doubts?”. *** After reading her 1000 word lengthy commitment, she sighs at her young self for her naivety, but praises herself for the courage. Before she puts the report back into the box, she sees another item in the box.

A photo. It was taken during a family camping trip. In the image, young Sophia had bruises and cuts all over herself from running through the woods and trees. Her parents had taken the picture. She was covered in bandages, surrounded by doctors and nurses from a volunteer clinic that ran twice a year.

The young Sophia had a bright smile on her face, even with the almost drying tears.

“So”, Sophia murmured to herself, “that’s why.”

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Personal Stories

//Hakuna Matata - It Means No Worries

« Nadiha Noor Chelsea

I

n such unprecedented times, I re-discovered my love for painting to not only pass time in isolation, but also to cope with the mental and emotional challenges that this pandemic has uncovered. Since March 2020, when RCSI suddenly shut down and everyone had to quarantine, I started to paint with a little more intention to channel my thoughts and feelings. It has been a very helpful medium to express myself, deal with anxiety and stress, and simply feel free and relaxed. With every passing day, I am trying to adjust to our new normal and painting has become an integral part of my routine to stay happy and healthy!

Nadiha Noor Chelsea

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Personal stories

//dear brother

Vrinda Munjal

d

ear brother, i wish i called you again on new years day when you didn’t pick up, to wish you a happy and healthy year ahead, i wish i stayed longer at the party that you threw two summers ago, to celebrate the happiest moments of your life, i wish i told you that you are the smartest person that i know, to tell you how much i look up to you. oh dear brother, i wish you were not alone in an empty ICU, fighting for your life, and ours too, i wish i was there with you, instead of this cold and empty room, i wish you would just get better, so i could get better too. oh dearest brother, i wish life did not deal you this hand, it is a big feat to have to cheat death again, i wish this new life gives me another chance, just so that i can see your face again.

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Personal Stories

//The Pandemic; A Fuel For Discovery

« Shalini Jagdeo

T

he year 2020 is now almost synonymous with the Covid-19 pandemic. From self-discovery to new technology and information, uncovering the unknown holds great potential for progress and change. This unexpected Covid-19 pandemic has proven itself to be a perfect catalyst for many such discoveries.

Suddenly being thrown into uncharted waters, while simultaneously being instructed to restrict human interaction and unnecessary movement, fostered a more than ample environment for somewhat forced self-introspection and self-discovery. We quickly realised how easily our seemingly foolproof systems that served as the glue holding society together would crumble under the pressure of the new and unknown. From governments to grocery stores and grade schools, the unprecedented circumstances brought chaos to all corners of society. We were forced into our individual bubbles and made to listen to that little voice inside our heads a bit more than we would like to.

We learned how to cope with stress differently as many of our usual coping mechanisms were not accessible. Many persons turned to entertainment for comfort and a distraction in order to tune out the noise of the news and the outside world at times when it was all too much, while others felt it more comforting to ardently look at the news and new research being published to keep up to date with all the advancements in real time . Some persons immersed themselves in an active role, volunteering so as to provide assistance where they could, as this lent productivity and purpose to their days. Others advocated from their homes and held or attended virtual fundraising events. Many were struck with unexpected medical and financial hardships and grief, causing them to focus on the core of what is important. Some took the time to focus on self-improvement by engaging in home workouts, yoga and meditative self-retrospection, while some became impromptu school teachers and entertainers for their children. While we all turned to different coping mechanisms during this time and spent our days differently, there was a common feeling of unity in isolation that kept us all going.

It is uplifting to hope that the discoveries we have made during this pandemic can continue to make positive impacts for years to come. During the pandemic, we have seen countless examples of innovation in order to keep our society functioning as normally as circumstances would allow. It has been a time where thinking outside the box became a necessary skill, almost a part of daily life, as opposed to a special sought after skill on a CV. Much was being attempted for the first time, such as new online learning platforms, remote medical care via teleconferencing, and the conversion of small businesses to virtual platforms.

We were forced to discover new ways of doing things and in some instances, I could argue uncovered better more impactful methods.

Upcoming generations, still in the their formative years, have had this pandemic shape and guide their minds and outlook on life. It has allowed them to feel free from the societal pressures of following the norm set by past generations. Instead, they’ll have the inspiration, know-how and boldness to think outside of the box in every aspect of their lives to discover bright, innovative ideas that will improve society at large. They will be a generation that is not afraid to do things differently to those who have come before them.

These students and children making their way into adulthood and into the workplace and offices of importance have also enjoyed the privilege of being exposed to a moment in time where it was emphasised that personal responsibility and discretion was necessary and not optional to protect our neighbours and communities. This has inspired an attitude, where no one person feels like they are too small or that their voice or action cannot be heard. The youth are empowered in themselves and their own ability to cause change and make their own discoveries.

Examples of this can already be seen in events that took place during the last year where many of the movements and initiatives making headlines were populated by the youth of the world. We saw younger people stepping up into big roles and performing with bravery and determination, discovering by force their full capabilities. We saw young newly graduated doctors and nurses having to discover the depths of their newly acquired abilities faster than they would have expected - but still able to live up to everything expected of them. Many youths put their talents to use sewing masks when we needed and engineering plans to rewire ventilators to sustain more patients. We had young persons advocating from home on every platform imaginable throughout the world relinquishing opportunities and graduations for the collective benefit of others, seeing beyond their personal lives and to the betterment of the society as a collective.

Lastly, we have discovered how efficient we can be in terms of research in the scientific field. Previously, the fastest vaccine development time would have been the mumps vaccine which took four years to be developed and under normal circumstances. It is an extraordinary accomplishment that through a huge effort of massive funding, resources, and Covid-19 research combined with mRNA technology and worldwide collaboration, we were able to discover multiple versions of a vaccine in approximately one year’s time, ready for distribution to the community.

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Personal stories

There have also been hundreds of studies done throughout the world with regard to treatment and management of Covid-19 which changed the course of the pandemic and has saved countless lives. This included studies led by RCSI professors such as Gerry McElvaney and Ger Curley who described changes in the body’s normal inflammatory response in patients infected with Covid-19, in particular among those who require admission to intensive care and Professor Zena Moore, Professor and Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery and her team at the Skin Wounds and Trauma (SWaT) Research Centre who carried out a study titled ‘Preventing healthcare staff facial pressure ulcers in a Covid-19 ICU’ to name a few.

It serves as a reminder of the importance and the usefulness of the field of research. With the worldwide emphasis placed on companies and researchers during this time, it can only be hoped that this will continue as the wider community has seen the importance of research first hand and there will be continued support and resources directed in these areas to encourage even greater discoveries.

The pandemic tested our abilities to adapt and cope with the unknown. We were forced to step up in whatever way we could to cope with our unique situations, and in doing so, discovered new aspects of ourselves. The upcoming generation’s confidence in themselves coupled with personal responsibility and an attitude to think beyond the norm, will lead to future discoveries and innovations. While we anticipate future innovations, we can also reflect on the current discoveries we have made in the past year and be proud of all that we have accomplished on an individual and global stage.

Shalini Jagdeo

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// Anatomy WITH Clive Lee

Education

« PROF. CLIVE LEE HEAD OF ANATOMY RCSI

BENJAMIN ALCOCK, APOTHECARIES’ HALL & QUEEN’S COLLEGE, CORK

Benjamin Alcock was born in Kilkenny in May, 1801. He attended both Trinity and RCSI, receiving his LRCSI in 1825, MB in 1827 and MD and MRCSI in 1844. He served his surgical apprenticeship under fellow Kilkenny man and RCSI graduate, Abraham Colles.

In 1836, Alcock described the pudendal nerve and internal pudendal vessels running forwards in a canal in the obturator fascia on the lateral wall of the ischiorectal fossa – Alcock’s canal.

From 1837-1849, Alcock was Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology at the Apothecaries’ Hall in Cecilia Street, Dublin. The Apothecaries had separated from the Barber-Surgeons guild in 1747 and in 1791 the Company of Apothecaries’ Hall was established to examine candidates and qualify them to trade as an apothecary.

A Licence from Apothecaries’ Hall (LAH) became a registrable qualification when the General Medical Council was established in 1858, enabling holders of the qualification to practice medicine, and The Company continued to licence doctors until 1971. In 1854, the Cecilia Street buildings and contents were purchased by the Catholic University Medical School which opened in 1855.

In 1849, Benjamin Alcock was appointed the first Professor of Anatomy in Queen’s College, now University College, Cork.

However, there was a scarcity of bodies to dissect in Cork and the medical school suggested that Alcock should ‘obtain subjects from the poorhouse by claiming bodies in the capacity of a friend of the deceased’. For his stance against taking part in such dishonesty, Alcock was asked for his resignation, which he gave in 1854. The following year he appealed against this, and he was formally dismissed in 1855.

In 1859, Benjamin Alcock departed for America, never to be heard of again.

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Education

QUESTION OF THE ISSUE

During the delivery of a baby, an episiotomy may be performed to enlarge the birth canal and prevent a perineal tear.

Local anaesthesia infiltrated around the pudendal nerve as it enters Alcock’s canal provides pain relief to this region – a ‘saddle block’.

To perform this pudendal nerve block, the needle is passed through the: A. B. C. D. E.

Anterior fornix of the vagina External os of the cervix Internal os of the cervix Lateral fornix of the vagina Posterior fornix of the vagina

BE IN WITH A CHANCE TO WIN A PRIZE! Winner will be announced and contacted in the Fall 2021 issue.

Enter by emailing A, B, C, D or E with the subject Anatomy Quiz! to divercsity@rcsi.ie

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RCSI STUDENT SERVICES ACCOMMODATION ON CAMPUS  Mercer Court & Millin House  Mill Street Accommodation

PERIPHERAL  300+ students accommodated weekly  Accommodation/ Travel support for students when out on rotations throughout Ireland

OFF CAMPUS  RCSEYE and Moodle Accommodation Message Boards  Various Off Campus and private accommodation options

50+ SOCIETIES

 2 x Spiritual / Religious  3 x Lifestyle & Wellbeing  5 x Charitable & Humanitarian  5 x Visual & Performing Arts  6 x Recreational &

INDUCTION & ORIENTATION

Special Interest

 7 x Cultural  24 x Academic / Professional

STUDENT FACILITIES

 Sports Hall  Squash Court  Fully equipped Gym

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

 HEA Student Assistance Fund for EU students  RCSI Alumni Fund for non-EU students

35 CLUBS

 Including Archery, Badminton, Basketball,

Climbing, Cycling, Equestrian, Kickboxing, Rowing, Running, Sailing, Ultimate Frisbee, and more!  Responsible for allocating the prestigious Prof. Moira O’Brien Sports Scholarship

MERCHANDISE

Large variety of RCSI branded merchandise

GYM

 Located at 26 York St. & Croke Park  Variety of online classes and publications  1-1 Sessions  Fitness Programmes  Diet Advice & Body Analysis

SPORTS & STUDENT LIFE BURSARIES

SU SUPPORT

Secretariat and support to the 8 Student Union members and their events

STUDENT EVENTS

Weekly, monthly, and annual events catering to all student tastes

PUBLICATIONS

 Handbooks/Guides  Student Life Newsletter  Variety of online information guides

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

Providing supports and services to students on scholarship programmes including:  Aim High  Kiran Pathak  Consilio Manuque  TCAP

MEET & GREET SERVICES

IRISH RESIDENCY PERMIT AND VISA SUPPORT

FROM ORIENTATION TO GRADUATION… WE’RE WITH YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

Supporting students in obtaining their IRP card and Visa Information

RCSI STUDENT SERVICES studentservices@rcsi.com rcsi.com

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Education

//#RCSItogether – Welcome Buddy Programme

« Catriona Campbell

W

e know that starting university in a new city is challenging for young people and their families at any time but this year even more so due to the COVID19 pandemic. As a community, we wanted to provide as much support as possible for our new international students joining us in Dublin for the first time, particularly in their first two weeks when they were required to restrict their movement so we put out a call to the wider RCSI staff body to ask for volunteers to serve as ‘Welcome Buddies’ for our new students joining us from overseas. The idea of the Buddies was to connect any interested students with a local staff member who would be available to them during their first couple of weeks in RCSI to help them get settled and answer any questions they might have about life in Dublin. We were thrilled with the response which saw over 40 staff members volunteering to work as buddies and 150 new students signing up for the programme. For many of our staff, working in professional support functions rather than student facing roles, this was a very welcome opportunity to engage directly with our students and help in a small way to make the transition to life in RCSI a little easier. Conversations ranged from where to buy a bike, getting sorted with an Irish mobile phone, online shopping recommendations and perhaps most importantly where to get a good coffee! Staff who have completed their ‘buddying’ work to date have thoroughly enjoyed it. I personally loved working with Arya, Anushka, Shaudee and Siobhan from the GEM 1 class and look forward to hearing more about how they got on during second semester.

Catriona Campbell Head of Staff Learning & Development

//Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit R

CSI is committed to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across everything we do, so that we can all work and learn in an environment defined by dignity and respect.

We want to ensure everyone in RCSI is treated fairly regardless of age, disability, family status, gender, marital status, membership of Travelling community, race, religion, sexual orientation or socio-economic status.

What we do?

Throughout the year the EDI Unit works to engage, educate and raise awareness of EDI across the RCSI community.

•

We capture and report EDI data across all 10 equality grounds and address underrepresentation as required.

•

We conduct an annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Survey with all students. We encourage you to have your say and share your experience.

• We run a number of trainings and events, partnering with organisations such as Advance HE, Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD), Age Action, AsIAm, Family Carers Ireland, Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), Men’s Sheds Ireland Association, Women’s Higher Education Network, the 30% Club and more.

•

We also ensure EDI is reflected across our governance, policy development and implementation, and decision making.

Our aim is to enrich the staff and student experience and eliminate all forms of discrimination.

Get in touch You can email the EDI Unit at equality@rcsi.ie or find us on Twitter @RCSI_Equality.

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Education

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Don’t let money worries cost you your education

HOW DO I APPLY? If you are in financial difficulty, you should contact the access or student services office in your college for more information on how to apply for the Student Assistance Fund. It is important to apply as soon as you can. Some colleges have a closing date for applications and you should check when this is.

WHAT DOCUMENTATION DO I NEED TO APPLY?

The Student Assistance Fund provides financial support to full- or part-time students who are experiencing financial difficulties while attending college.

Your college will advise you on the documentation needed to support your application to the Student Assistance Fund.

This may include proof of your own or your parents’ income, as appropriate, and receipts for costs such as rent, bills or childcare.

WHAT CAN I USE IT FOR?

IS IT CONFIDENTIAL?

The Student Assistance Fund is available to help with costs such as: Books & class materials

Rent and other utility bills

Food

Essential travel

Childcare costs

The Student Assistance Fund is administered on a strictly confidential basis by your college. Any information you provide as part of your application is protected under the data protection regulations of your college.

Medical costs

HOW WILL MY APPLICATION BE ASSESSED? Your individual circumstances and financial means will be taken into consideration by your college when assessing your application to the Student Assistance Fund. Final decisions on awards may be taken by a small committee, including the access officer and student welfare officer.

WHAT COSTS ARE NOT COVERED? Tuition fees, registration fees, student loan repayments or any costs borne by your college are not covered by the Student Assistance Fund.

WHO CAN APPLY?

WHAT ARE THE FUNDING AMOUNTS?

Students on full- or part-time courses leading to a higher education award (National Framework of Qualifications level 6-10) in Irish universities, institutes of technology and other approved colleges can apply.

Funding amounts vary and will be determined by your college following an assessment process.

See www.studentfinance.ie for more information

Part-time students who are lone parents are encouraged to apply as additional funding has been made available to support this group.

Support from the Student Assistance Fund may also be available to students studying for a Professional Master of Education, for example to cover the cost of school placements.

The Student Assistance Fund is managed by the Higher Education Authority on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

EUROPEAN UNION EUROPEAN UNION Investing in yourInvesting future in your future Social Fund European SocialEuropean Fund

Ná lig do strus airgid d’oideachas a chur i mbaol

CONAS IS FÉIDIR LIOM IARRATAS A DHÉANAMH? Má tá tú i gcruachás airgeadais, ba cheart duit teagmháil a dhéanamh leis an oifig seirbhísí rochtana nó le hoifig seirbhísí na mac léinn chun tuilleadh eolais a fháil faoin gCiste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn.

Tá sé tábhachtach go gcuirfeá isteach d’iarratas a luaithe agus is féidir.

Tá dáta deiridh i bhfeidhm ag roinnt coláistí agus ba chóir duit a fháil amach cén t-am a bhfuil sé.

CÉN DOICIMÉID A BHEIDH AG TEASTÁIL UAIM CHUN IARRATAS A DHÉANAMH?

Cuireann an Ciste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn tacaíocht airgid ar fáil do mhic léinn lán-aimseartha nó páirt-aimseartha a bhfuil deacrachtaí airgeadais acu agus iad ag freastail ar an gcoláiste.

Cuirfidh do choláiste comhairle ort faoi na doiciméid a bheidh ag teastáil uait chun tacú le d’iarratas ar an gCiste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn. D’fhéadfadh fianaise maidir le d’ioncam féin nó do thuismitheoirí agus admhálacha do chostais amhail an cíos, billí nó cúram leanaí a bheith i gceist, nuair is cuí sin.

CÉN ÚSÁID AR FÉIDIR LIOM A BHAINT AS? Cuirtear an Ciste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn ar fáil chun cabhair a thabhairt le costais amhail: Leabhair & ábhair ranga

Cíos agus billí fóntais eile

Bia

Taisteal atá riachtanach

Costais cúraim leanaí

AN NDÉANTAR AN TIARRATAS A MHEAS FAOI RÚN? Déanann do choláiste d’iarratas ar an gCiste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn riar go huile agus go hiomlán faoi rún. Tá aon fhaisnéis a

Costais leighis a chlúdach

thugann tú mar chuid de d’iarratas faoi chosaint ag rialacháin chosanta sonraí do choláiste.

CONAS A DHÉANFAR M’IARRATAS A MHEASÚNÚ?

CAD IAD NA COSTAIS NACH GCLÚDAÍTEAR?

Breathnóidh do choláiste ar do dhálaí agus acmhainní pearsanta nuair atá siad ag déanamh measúnaithe ar d’iarratas ar an gCiste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn. D’fhéadfadh coiste beag, ar a mbeadh an t-oifigeach rochtana agus an t-oifigeach leasa mic léinn, an cinneadh deiridh a ghlacadh maidir le d’iarratas.

Níl táillí teagaisc, táillí cláraithe, aisíocaíochtaí iasachtaí mac léinn nó aon chostas a iompraíonn do choláiste clúdaithe faoin gCiste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn.

CÉ HIAD AR FÉIDIR LEO IARRATAS A DHÉANAMH AIR? Is féidir le mic léinn atá ag déanamh cúrsa lán-aimseartha nó páirt-aimseartha a bhfuil dámhachtain ardoideachais mar chuspóir aige (Creat Náisiúnta Cáilíochta leibhéil 6-10) in ollscoileanna, institiúidí teicneolaíochta agus coláistí faofa eile in Éirinn iarratas a dhéanamh ar an gciste seo.

CÉ MHÉID AIRGID ATÁ I GCEIST LEIS AN GCISTIÚ?

Braitheann an méid airgid ar thorthaí an phróisis mheasúnaithe a leanann do choláiste.

Spreagtar mic léinn pháirtaimseartha atá ina dtuismitheoirí aonair iarratas a dhéanamh mar go bhfuil cistiú breise curtha ar fáil chun tacaíocht a thabhairt don ghrúpa sin. D’fhéadfadh tacaíocht ón gCiste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn a bheith ar fáil freisin do mhic léinn atá ag déanamh Máistreacht Ghairmúil san Oideachas, chun costais amhail socrúcháin scoile a chlúdach.

Féach www.studentfinance.ie chun tuilleadh eolais a fháil

Tá an Ciste Cúnaimh do Mhic Léinn á bhainistiú ag an Údarás um Ard-Oideachas thar ceann na Roinne Breisoideachais agus Ardoideachais, Taighde, Nuálaíochta agus Eolaíochta.

EUROPEAN UNION EUROPEAN UNION Investing in yourInvesting future in your future Social Fund European SocialEuropean Fund

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Societies

@KeithDugganIT

CHIEF SPORTS WRITER

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SEPTEMBER 2015

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