CSC Societies Yearbook 2018

TCD SOCIETIES 2017 2018

ear YBook

Table of content

Page 2 Forward by the Chair of the CSC Page 3 to 4 Freshers Week 2017 Page 5 to 36 Society events Page 37 to 42 Society of the Year Award 2018

What is a Society There are currently 126 societies in Trinity College, all of which are organised by and for the students and staff. These societies are responsible for a considerable range of diverse daily activities, which take place both on and off campus, covering everything from knitting to politics, music to debating, photography to entrepreneurship.

Involvement in societies, whether that means getting involved on a society committee or simply attending their events will enormously enrich your time in Trinity College.

Find out more on the CSC website

www.trinitysocieties.ie 1

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF CSC Thank you for picking up a copy of this year’s CSC Societies Yearbook, an annual miscellany showcasing society life at Trinity College Dublin As I complete my second term as Chair of the Central Societies Committee, I continue to be amazed by the magnitude and diversity of events our societies can offer the College community.

From annual festivals, and innovative collaborations right down to small-scale and weekly events, student societies are the beating heart of the College community, providing an incredible platform for students and staff to demonstrate and discover interests and talents old and new.

Naturally, it is impossible to completely encapsulate the tremendous array of events that societies ran across the year. What this Yearbook does provide, however, is an excellent introduction to the variety of activities and events on offer from Trinity’s wonderful societies.

Society activity contributes a unique liveliness to College which simply would not exist without their presence. The opportunities provided to society officers and their members are immense, and I know those involved have developed skills and made memories which will last a lifetime.

Orchestrating events, managing committees, dealing with College and the outside world is no easy task, but such experiences are invaluable to those privileged to encounter them.

This year has been a busy one for the CSC. Provisional recognition has been granted to a host of new societies and I welcome Trinity Space Society, the Agricultural Society and TEDxTrinity College Dublin to campus: I look forward to watching them progress. Our successful campaign to see the introduction of a student levy has led to a comprehensive plan to renovate CSC spaces, beginning with the Atrium, with a view to better utilising our existing space as plans for a new Student Centre continue apace.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CSC Executive – Amina, Conor, Fiona, Gemma, Greta, Laetitia, Logan and Naoise – for their help in gathering contributions. My thanks also go to the CSC’s officers – Ronan, Dahnan, Fiona and Jimmy – and its wonderful staff – Lucy, Emma and Joseph – for their outstanding and unfailing work throughout the year. Special thanks to Emma for producing this beautiful publication.

It has been a privilege for me to represent, assist and promote societies this year. I hope this Yearbook will ignite joyful memories for you all of what has been yet another remarkable year for the CSC’s societies.

Go raibh maith agat, agus bain sult as an Bhliainiris, Benn Ó hÓgáín

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FRESHERS’ WEEK 2017 September

For students arriving back for another exciting year at Trinity and those who were only beginning their adventure in our sacred bubble, the campus lit up on Monday 18 September and saw endless streams of students pass through oozing with Freshers Week excitement. Society and college hacks arrived at the crack of dawn to grab a good spot in Front Square where they then erected the marques, prepared goodie bags, ordered the free pizza, and devised plans as to how to lure the most people into their beloved society.

A total of 126 student-run societies currently exist in Trinity. During the five days of mayhem, students had the opportunity to meet and chat with each society and learn about their aims and plans for the year ahead. With a wide-range of societies hosting free day and night events such as free music gigs, tie-dye workshops, plays as well as tea and coffee meet-ups, all incoming and returning students had the chance to find their unique college experience, while have crazy fun at the same time!

Freshers Week 2018 will take place from 3rd - 7th September.

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FRESHERS’ WEEK 2017 September

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September

AIESEC Trinity hosted the Global Village event in The Global room, halfway through Freshers week, all the way back in September. As the rain pelted outside, hundreds of people stormed into a packed global room to bask in the cultural delights of ten different cultural and language societies, brought together by AIESEC. From the Afro-Caribbean Society playing drums, to the French society handing out free brioches, it was a great opportunity to celebrate the diversity and inclusiveness of the vast range of societies available at TCD. AIESEC Trinity were proud to organise the event and bring these societies together to showcase all that our language and cultural societies have to offer.

DU Players staged a murder mystery, entitled “Murder at the High School Prom!”. The Valentine Boys, a trio of Players members, wrote the tale from scratch – a totally-perfect-in-every-single-way student is poisoned as she is crowned Prom Queen! But who dunnit? Could it have been the stuffy librarian? The barbaric football coach? The hygienically-challenged lunch lady? The Prime Minister of Greenland? Attendees had to don their detective caps, whip out their notepads, and interrogate the 14 suspects who had taken up residence all over the building. Cast from head to toe, and building from ceiling to floor, were decked out in the most rad 90s gear. As the night went on, various clues were uncovered, breadcrumbs laid, and wild geese chased. But the killers couldn’t run forever - justice prevailed and the detectives who uncovered the plot were awarded! Then everyone had a bop to the Spice Girls.

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September Student2Student held our S2S Hoodie Collection and Kick-off Event in September at the start of Michaelmas Term. It was organised with the S2S Summer Committee who gave their time and worked tirelessly from July to September. It was an amazing event and a fantastic way to end the summer. At the steps of the Pavilion Bar, newly trained Mentors came along, collected their iconic red S2S hoodies and got to meet their Head Mentors and the S2S Committee. Trinity Juggling and Circus Society and TCD Traditional Irish Music Society kindly provided entertainment and music for the day.

Undoubtedly, it was our biggest event of the year, which saw students from every faculty in college come together and enjoy themselves before the hustle and bustle of the academic year. Each faculty had a small interactive workshop where the Mentors could ask questions and Head Mentors gave their advice and tips and tricks.

DU Meditation started off this year on the right foot with our Rose Garden Meditation in week 2. We wanted to make the most of the clear and pleasant weather while we could so we organised a simple meditation event in our favourite spot on campus – the Rose Garden. Working as a team, we trundled over some blocks from the Atrium. What we weren’t expecting was a crowd of around 40 people waiting for us! Using the gorgeous sounds of nature and Mindfulness techniques, we led the crowd into a peaceful state. After the meditation we split into groups and talked about our experiences, the challenges we faced, and we shared how we were feeling.

The open, honest dialogue was truly refreshing.

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September

The Hist (College Historical Society) has continued its success into this year, with great success in national and international competitive debating competitions. This year, our weekly Wednesday night debates have filled the Debating Chamber in the GMB on several occasions, with people eager to witness and engage with the discourse that we continuously promote. We have also had the most amount of guests of any session of the society, averaging one a week, with names such as Michael Noonan, Ken Clarke, Jung Chang, Catherine Day, and many others entering through the doors of the society The highlight guest this year was US Baptist minister and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton. He received the Gold Medal from the society for Outstanding Contributions to Public Discourse to much fanfare. The Chamber was filled with people in less than 5 minutes and the event received national news coverage. Rev. Sharpton left the event to an longlasting standing ovation.

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October The fourth week of Michaelmas term is dedicated to societies and promoting society events to all members of College - students and staff. All events are free and showcase the kind of events that societies run.

In spite of a shaky start thanks to Storm Ophelia, this year’s freshly-branded Socs Week (also known as 4th Week) did not fail to deliver. With over 57 events, Trinity got a taste of everything societies have to offer and just how integral they are to campus culture. Whether you tried your hand at pole dancing with DU Dance, met Irish chef Rachel Allen with the Phil, coloured Front Square with Trinity Indian Society’s Festival of Diwali or joined the Space Society for a bottle-rocket-fueled Space Race between the Russian Society and Trinity’s American Football Team - there really was something for everyone.

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October

This year, Classical Society hosted Legion Ireland, an organisation that reenacts life in the Roman Army in the first and second century AD. Legion Ireland gave the society a military display and described the day to day activities of Roman legions stationed abroad. The Legion gave a presentation about Roman weapons and allowed those attending to hold the artefacts and replications, as well as take great pictures. The event was a collaboration with Archaeological Society and a fun evening was had by all.

Blasphemy and the Irish Constitution.

In addition to holding free weekly advice clinics, undertaking research projects and organising moot court competitions,​Trinity FLAC ​holds a weekly event on an area of law pertaining to social justice and the furtherance of human rights. This year we have held talks on issues such as Direct Provision, the Decriminalisation of Drugs and the Gig Economy. In Michaelmas term, we held a talk on the subject of ‘Blasphemy and the Irish Constitution’ in Association with the Trinity College Law Review. We were delighted to welcome Michael Nugent (Chair of Atheist Ireland), William Richardson (expert in Canon Law), Ali Selim (Spokesperson of the Islamic Cultural Centre), and Dr Neville Cox (Professor of Law). The speakers debated the prospect of removing or altering article 40.6.1 of the Constitution in front of a packed auditorium, giving a diverse range of perspectives from their fields of expertise. We facilitated a lively Q&A session with a strong engagement from the audience, and followed the event with a reception.

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October

Knitsoc had a ‘Sit and Knit’ collaboration event with Meditation Society this year during one of our weekly Stitch & Bitches. We had lots of fun listening to relaxing music and teaching Meditation members how to knit and crochet. It was a lovely evening that encapsulated everything Knitsoc is about: tea, biscuits, fibre arts, and teaching people about the awesomeness of knitting.

During Fourth Week, the Environmental Society hosted Green Day. They were awarded Best Fourth week event at the Sociey of the Year Awards.

Green Day was a thorough representation of the aims of the Environmental Society, succeeding in raising awareness around a number of environmental issues. The day involved three events, starting with a Food Waste Picnic.

This was followed by a Burke Panel Discussion, in collaboration with the College Historical Society. The title of which was ‘Solutions to Climate Change in a sinking world’ Joining esteemed guest speakers including Eamon Ryan, leader of the Green Party, Sylvia Thompson, environmental writer for the Irish Times and Gary Tyrell of An Taisce, was our very own Chairperson, Jessie Dolliver and a Green Town Hall meeting, which gave members an opportunity to engage with and ask questions of the sustainability initiatives on campus, and to find out how to get connected into the sustainability network.

The Sustainability Advisor to the Provost was in attendance, alongside the Student’s Union Environmental Officer.

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October

Computer Science Society (DUCSS) organised its Inaugural Event with speakers from the Tech Industry. Our guests this year were Paddy Cosgrave, founder and CEO of Web Summit, Mike Sexton, CTO of Web Summit, and James Mahon, CTO of Reflective Measurement Systems. Paddy and Mike discussed how Web Summit went from its humble beginnings in Trinity to its current size and explained how their app and algorithms ensure all of the over 60,000 attendees get the most out of the conference. James gave an exciting talk on the evolution and future of computer vision, its applications in the industry so far, and its prospects in self-driving cars and other technology. After the talks, we had a reception with platters and drinks where our members got together to continue the discussion with our guests.

Dulux Doggo visits ZooSoc

In the past ZooSoc have welcomed a range of high profile celebrities to Trinity. From the legendary Jane Goodall to National Geographic Emerging Explorer Zoltan Takacs. However this year was a particularly big milestone for the society when they welcomed their very first four-legged celebrity. The Dulux Doggo! On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in October, Guapo graced the Physics Garden with his presence. While he basked in the sun, fur smelling of coconut conditioner the good boy attracted crowds and adoring fans for three hours. He sat patiently in the grounds while he received many a pat, posed for photos and graciously allowed his snoot to be booped. Real life quotes overheard at this event include “this is the best day of my life” and “I can die happy now”.

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October

‘Far From Heaven’s Light’, a Dante’s Inferno inspired GMB takeover. Trinity’s Juggling and Circus Society provided a fiery start to the night. Inside Trinitones gave an eerie performance. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”; Trinity Orchestra’s string players punctuated the screams of sinners under galaxy projections before DU Player’s Dante, Virgil, the devil, and his cronies entertained the crowds. Emerging into a dark wood, branches lined the staircase and images of hell adorned the walls. The witches Macbethian lair, ‘Wrath’, had cobwebs, cauldrons, candles and cackling. DU Food & Drink’s Romanesque ‘Gluttony’ room held a feast for a king (Caesar could tell you himself, stalked by Cassius and Brutus through the room). DU Biosoc’s ‘Pride’ held Frankenstein and his monster along with the opportunity to resurrect a corpse yourself. Meanwhile Trinity Literary Society extracted confessions from even the most tight-lipped sinner. Jazz Society and DU Dance Society’s ‘Lust’ room provided sensuous performances. At the top of the GMB, after climbing the ‘Vanity’ staircase lined with talking mirrors, DUDJ’s ‘Greed’ Wall Street inspired room set a hedonistic tone to the night. Finally the devil dragged everyone back and the final scene was met with a reception to end the spectacular night.

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October/November REVOLUTION & RHYTHM What better way to celebrate than with some good ol’ fashioned revolution?

On a rainy October’s night, Q Soc stormed the Graduate Student Union’s common room to flood the space with banging tunes and unrivalled attitude.

With a dress code of QUEER REVOLUTION, Trinity’s finest young gay icons came dressed in bomber jackets and armed with rainbow flags, painted with more glitter than a shattered Penny’s eyeshadow palette.

After getting grunged up, we danced the night away.

A playlist of gay club classics, from Cher to Britney, was mixed with modern queer artists such as Hayley Kiyoko and Against Me! It was a musical history lesson in the best kind of way. With the music of our heroes in our ears, we headed on out to hit the town and enjoy our night as a collective of wildly proud LGBT people, a sentiment that Q Soc has brought to Trinity for decades A central part of Trinity Juggling and Circus Society is and always will be performance. Though we hold weekly training sessions, workshops and even conventions, the entire college looks forward to the shows we hold. Among our many performances this year, we put on a fire show in the Front Square as part of Trinity Arts Festival’s Samhain. Our fire shows are always highly visible and exciting events, and this one was no different. Above you can see one of our 6 performers using the fire poi. After the final act, a torch lit procession led the audience from Front Square to the Pav for more Samhain festivities to finish the night. This was our most widely attended show of the year, taking place directly after the Samhain concert. All our performers are society volunteers who train with us – these amazing feats are more achievable than they look

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November

Ar oíche an 1d lá Samhain tháinig An Cumann Gaelach le chéile le TradSoc agus an-chuid Cumainn eile le ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar an seanfhéile Ceilteach ‘Samhain’.

Sa tseipéal ar Champas a tharla an imeacht agus rinneadh é a mháisiú le soilse agus duilleoga a sheas don athrú séasúir a bhí ag tarlúint. Léadh dántaí, séinnfeadh ceoil traidisiúnta agus os chomhair thart ar 120 duine bhí an Ghaeilge le chloisteáil agus cultúr na hÉireann á thaispeáint. I ndiaidh an imeacht bhí taispeántas tíne taobh amuigh ar an bPríomhchearnóg. Ansin leanadar ar aghaidh chuig an bPav agus bhí neart cheoil ansin chomh maith.

Críochnaíodh an oíche sa Wiley Fox ar Ché Eden le ceoil ón mbanna cheoil ‘Cooks but we’re Chefs.’ Ceann de na himeachtaí ba mhó a rith an Cumann ar feadh blianta a bhí in Samhain agus thaispeáin sé nach bhfuil dearmad déanta ar ár sinsir agus nach mbeadh go brách.

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November AfroJam was a night where African culture flourished in a top tier college. This year, there was music, but dance and fashion were also incorporated. It didn’t come as any surprise that the fashion show was the highlight of the event as there was a significant message behind each model and walk.

The first walk was traditional and it transitioned from Black Royalty, to slavery, and then into lives of black people today. A model with a calabash made an appearance at the end of all walks to represent our society logo (a woman carrying a calabash). This signified community and togetherness which is the ethos of our society, so her appearance in every walk was vital.

The second walk opened with the same model who appeared as a slave in the first walk, this time walking out on his own, in a three-piece suit. The crowd cheered for him as they got the message instantly: Black Excellence. Once he walked out and returned back stage, five couples walked out with the male models in fitted three-piece suits (some supplied by suit store Dorian Black), and female models in stunning evening gowns.

There were also amazing musical performances from Debola Shomoye, a singer who is also a Trinity student, and soul and RnB artist Ma-Ka. Rapper King David proceeded to close the show with a bang.

The dance performances added to the ambiance and mood of the night, with the DU DANCE Jazz team dancers wearing African style face paint, while 3K, an AfroBeats dance crew, danced in formal wear. They performed right after the second walk to tie in well with the models who had just walked in with formal wear.

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November

Trinity Entrepreneurial Society hosted the first ever Inter-Varsity Startup Weekend in 2017. In November 120 students from Trinity, UCD and DCU came together at Google HQ for an electric 54 hours. The attendants were overflowing with confidence as they got warmed up by the team of organisers from Techstars, an American multinational seed accelerator that partners with Startup Weekend Ireland for these events. By the end of the first day the budding entrepreneurs had formed 13 teams of varying size and ability. They were to work together on a project for the rest of the weekend which culminated on Sunday night with pitches from each team. Students were given a workshop on The Perfect Pitch and a talk from behavioural psychologists with a focus on how businesses should use the latest developments in this field. To prepare for their presentations teams practised with entrepreneurs from all over the world that came over for the event, and received feedback that would help guide them towards making the best pitch. By the end of the weekend, the teams had finalised their projects and presented to an audience of 200 people at Google HQ. The winner of the event was the team behind the online platform Clusy, which connects freelancers with corporate companies. They received a place at the TES Incubator, a year long accelerator funded and run by TES for student run startups and seed funding from TES.

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November Problems, Paradoxes and Potential of Natural Resources in Africa All throughout the academic year, the Global Development society aims to create discussion about world issues and give a voice to the marginalised and underrepresented. In this spirit, we teamed up with TCD Environmental Society to invite professor of geography, Padraig Carmody to speak about his research on the topic of African development. The question was posed to our members: why does Africa, a continent with a wealth of natural resources, have such dwindling rates of economic growth?

Professor Carmody shared his insights on the “resource curse” many nations such as Nigeria face, in which their bountiful natural deposits have led to a pattern of exploitation and environmental degradation in which the native people receive minimal economic returns to the extraction of their resources. Furthermore, our members learnt about the institutional and structural changes which urgently have to occur from organisations such as the World Bank and European Union. Carmody highlighted the importance of progress in the areas of tied aid, unfair terms of trade, changes to processing and regulation in order to turn the tables in favour of African nations rather than the pockets of multinational corporations. Professor Carmody was happy to answer the questions of our members, who were eager to know if there was anything that they, as consumers could do to improve the situation!

During our Time Travel Week we at The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Society had a showing of ‘Primer’ and a-post film discussion.

‘Primer’ is an interesting and very convoluted take on the time travel genre. The film features many branching paths, so when the film wrapped up we had one of our talented committee members whip out her whiteboards. We had a full run-down of the timelines of the movie and we discussed how the acts the characters performed caused these branching paths. We mapped out all of the characters paths and finally came to a unified theory on what had happened. It was a satisfying end to the film, many snacks were consumed, and a good time was had by all. We hope to bring our members many more fun and engaging events like this in the years to come.

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November

The Trinity College Singers Society began their Christmas season a lot earlier than usual this year, when we were invited by RTE to take part in their annual ‘Christmas Carols’ special, which is broadcast on Christmas Eve on RTE one. 45 members of Singers, Boydell, Trinitones and Belles donned their finest Christmas jumpers and reindeer antlers (together with a lot of tinsel), and made their way to Dublin Castle where the filming was to take place. St.Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle looked like it had come straight out of a Christmas film, and combined with the cameras and lights made for a truly magical atmosphere. They were joined by the Dun Laoghaire choral society to sing with the RTE symphony orchestra under the direction of renowned conductor, David Brophy. The usual Christmas songs were sung; Oh Holy Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, with a lovely Irish twist from composer Shaun Davey, with two pieces by him included in the set-list. It was a wonderful event, and we are very excited to watch the show on Christmas Eve.

Peter Neufeld visited the Law Society to receive the Trinity Praeses Elit Award. Neufeld is internationally recognised as a civil-rights lawyer, and has spent over thirty-five years trying cases on behalf of victims of police misconduct and wrongful convictions. In addition to his civil-rights practice at NSB, Peter, along with NSB partner Barry Scheck, cofounded and co-directs The Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Two years after starting the Innocence Project in 1992, Scheck and Neufeld became part of the ‘dream team’ when they were called upon To deploy their expertise in DNA evidence and its collection by the Simpson defence team.

Neufeld was warmly welcomed by the auditor of the Law Society to a large audience where he talked about his work and practice.

Neufeld discussed a vast amount of topics including how the use of misleading police interrogation tactics can lead to a miscarriage of justice and discussed the development of his career and how his parents who were human rights activists inspired his career choice influenced his decision to found the Innocence Project. In the subsequent Q & A session, Neufeld responded to queries about moral challenges that could arise when practising as a lawyer.

He stated that he would not defend a client if he was aware of their guilt and only takes on pro bono cases where he truly believes there has been a miscarriage of justice. He concluded his address by emphasising the importance of pursuing your own dreams of becoming a lawyer rather than just falling into the corporate companies.

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November

Trinity Politics Society (Pol Soc) had a great year with guest speakers ranging from Eamonn Ryan of the Green party to Martin Vander Weyer of the Spectator magazine, a trip to the Kilkenny Economics Festival, the annual Dail tour, and of course our weekly caffeinated conversations where students chat about politics over a cup of free tea. All political beliefs and students from various courses are all welcome to join in these events.

Perhaps the highlight of the year was the Brexit panel discussion that the Politics Society hosted with TCLR. We invited three guests to discuss Brexit, followed by a questions and answers session, and finished with a wine reception. Fianna Fail TD Stephen Donnelly discussed the impact of Brexit on Ireland, Gina Miller, of the Miller court case in the UK, discussed the legal side of Brexit and David Kurten, of the UK Independence Party, discussed the reasons why people voted for Brexit. It was interesting to get different perspectives on this issue from people who are directly involved in politics. Throughout the year we invite speakers with various political views and on opposite sides of debates in order to spark discussion. The highlight of the night was the audience asking the speakers questions and discussing the speeches at the reception.

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December

DU Dance, in collaboration with Trinity Musical Theatre Society, presented our Winter Showcase in the Powerscourt Theatre to an audience of 90 friends, family members, and fellow students. The Powerscourt theatre is a beautiful, intimate venue on the top floor of the Powerscourt Townhouse. Upon arrival, audience members were greeted with a glass of wine, before being shown to their seats. The candlelit room was filled with chairs and tables, creating a cosy, casual atmosphere. The showcase consisted of performances from DU Dance’s four intervarsity teams; contemporary, jazz, hip hop, and Irish dancing, alongside performances from members of Trinity Musical Theatre’s talented cast, the Trinity Belles, and singers and musicians from DU Music. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all involved and in attendance, as was clear by the The deafening clapping and cheering from the audience as the evening came to a close.

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Hilary Term

January Dr Mary Henry being awarded with an Honorary Membership Medal by Chairperson, Anna McCollum.

Dr Mary Henry, first female President of Biosoc, speaking to the society.

Biosoc’s 143rd Inaugural ball celebrated Women in Medicine; a theme chosen upon realisation that this year fell as 30 years since the inauguration of Biosoc’s first female President, Dr Mary Henry M.D., and since the 113th Inaugural lecture was themed ‘Women in Medicine’.

Our President, Professor Eleanor Molloy, invited Dr Rhona Mahony, current and first ever female Master of Holles Street National Maternity Hospital, as her guest for the evening, who delivered our ‘Inaugural Lecture’, entitled ‘Women in Medicine’.

We then presented Dr Mary Henry, an inspirational medical doctor, politician and previous TCD Distinguished Alumni, with an Honorary Membership Medal to mark her role as first female President, and in appreciation of her lifelong commitment to the field of medicine and absolute dedication to the equal rights of women.

On a year that marks the centenary of women’s suffrage, as well as the first female elected President for the Royal College of Physicians Ireland, we were honoured to be able to celebrate the success of the amazing women in medicine.

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January

On the 16th of January, Woolly Ward Farm paid a visit to Trinity College, hosted by DU Agriculture Society. At 11.00 am, they set up camp on the chemistry lawn, transforming it into a miniature petting farm. This created great excitement on campus, with students running to catch a glimpse of the farm animals, some having never seen such animals before.

We were lucky to meet, feed and even pet chickens, ducks, pigs, goats, llamas and rabbits.

Students and staff taking pigs for walks and chasing chickens around campus was a sight to behold! Everyone present delighted at the chance to awe over the stunning pets while being taught how each animal is cared for.

Despite our deepest wishes, DU Ag Soc can’t supply a permanent petting farm on campus.

However, there may be another chance to see such cute animals on campus in the near future.

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January

‘Who Cares?’ – A Bigger Picture: Events Week From January 29 th to February 2nd , the Christian Union ran its annual Events Week.

Daily lunchtime discussions and desert evenings centred around the overarching question of ‘Who Cares?’. Who cares about truth, God, or the bible? What about purpose, justice, or suffering? These are some of the topics we looked at, issues that we believe to be worth exploring and caring about.

On the evening of January 30 th for instance, the week took us to the Phil Conversation Room. Before speakers were invited up, students chatted whilst enjoying various chocolatey treats, tea and coffee. Then, former Trinity student Gavin Rothwell shared a personal testimony on his search for truth in a time that preaches relativity. Following this was a short talk by Joanne Smith on justice, and how it links to God’s nature. Events were open to everyone with an interest in looking at these ideas.

This year we took part in an exchange with the University of Heidelberg. In January the group travelled to Germany where they stayed for 4 nights with their partners. Many activities were organised to allow them to enjoy all that the breathtakingly beautiful town had to offer. Heidelberg is a historical town, dominated by the students, so there was plenty to do and see. Highlights of the trip included a tour of Heidelberg castle, a day trip to Mannheim and, of course, the nights out! One month later, the German students came to visit us in Dublin. To show them the wealth of Irish culture, a program of events was put together. The German students submerged themselves into life at Trinity, with many of them attending lectures and taking home the University Times as mementos. The exchange allowed students in Trinity who are thinking of going on Erasmus to have a taste or Germanic culture, while also providing them a fantastic opportunity to practice their German

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January

Jane Austen Ball You’re strolling through a darkly lit gated archway towards a medieval hall. This is Tailors’ Hall, an artefact of Georgian times with its tall round headed windows, red brick walls, and Palladian symmetry. Through a front door bright as a blue bottle fly, you enter a candlelit ballroom where the charming Victoria Carson, a member of the Jane Austen Society of Ireland, leads Litsoc’s guests through the complicated art of ballroom dancing. We at Litsoc love to celebrate our favourite books by breathing life into the literature. Members are encouraged to share their passion for poetry and prose, be it chatting about your guilty pleasure reads in the cosy atmosphere of the Attic or transforming the GMB into Hogwarts for an evening of mystery and magic.

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February

Our aim is to promote Chinese culture and to provide a bridge between Chinese and Irish cultures.

Our most anticipated event of the year was Chinese New Year, where we live-broadcasted the Chinese Central Television Spring Festival Gala in the Global Room with lots of Chinese Food, snacks, drinks and games. We handed out red packets with fortune cookies and counted down to Chinese New Year with our members to celebrate! As a part of the tradition, we also wrote Spring Couplets where our members tried out calligraphy for the first time! We also provided costumes from different dynasties for members to try out.

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February

After the success of the inaugural production of West Side Story, Trinity Musical Theatre Society were proud to present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s EVITA as their second annual production. Running from February 14th-17th in The O’Reilly Theatre, TMT brought the vibrancy of Buenos Aires to the heart of Dublin. Brought together by a team of almost 100 Trinity students, EVITA was a monumental undertaking, with over 10 months of planning and 82-hours of incredibly enjoyable rehearsals. The result exceeded all expectations.

Running for four sell-out performances, EVITA showcased Trinity as a new hub of musical theatre in Dublin. From the extravagant set pieces, to the reinterpretation of the story, TMT pushed the envelope once again. Brought together by a dedicated cast, talented orchestra, and a spectacular production team, all entirely comprised of Trinity students, EVITA allowed those involved to develop new theatre skills, forging lifelong friendships while doing so.

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February

This year, the Trinity Space Society brought 40 of its members to Birr, Co. Offaly to launch two of our 6ft rockets, The ‘Danu’, and ‘Maggie Doesn’t Remember the Name’. Following the launch, we also went on a tour of I-LOFAR and the Leviathan. The construction and assembly of the motors, electronics, launch pad, and the overall rocket gave society members from all fields hands on experience in problem solving, and for STEM students an application of previously learned theory. It opens a door to a new type of event that combines skills and students from a varying degree of backgrounds to a unifying problem, and going forward we hope to put together even more of the rocket from scratch rather than buying parts. Join the TSS to build an awesome rocket, and watch it explode (hopefully where it’s meant to explode, but hey) at the end of the year!

DUDJs collaborated with Trinity Arts Festival In ‘All Women on Decks - Women in DJing’, which consisted of a DJing Workshop and the panel discussion. The event aimed to encourage female DJs and provide them with a platform to speak about their experiences as women in the electronic music industry

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February

If the official aim of SOFIA is “to allow students to meet experts and significant contributors of the field of diplomacy”, no event accomplishes this goal more than our annual Ambassadors’ Ball. Held on 19 February, this year’s edition welcomed over 20 Ambassadors to Trinity’s Dining Hall for a reception and a three-course meal. Students had the opportunity to dine with the ambassador of their choice - from the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Spain or Morocco, to those of the USA, India or Germany – and to engage directly with them on a personal level.

The meal was followed by an afters in the Liquor Rooms, where guests chatted and danced the night away.

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February

This year, no other event represented Trinity VDP more so than our pantomime, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. Each year, we organise a Panto starring our volunteers and the children and adults they work with every week. This years production featured 35 Trinity students, over 100 kids from inner-city Dublin and 20 adults with additional support needs.

Panto combines the joy and fun of our weekly activities into one flagship event that epitomises the ethos of our Society. For 10 months, every facet of the Society works to bring to the show to fruition. While Panto is an undeniable privilege for all Trinity students involved, it also affords an important opportunity to the children and adults we work with. For two nights, they become the stars of the show and inspire laughter and joy for all those witness to the event. The friendships forged and memories made remain with all those involved, long after the curtains close.

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February Trinity Arts Festival, a week of creative madness and wacky fun events, was organsied across campus from 5-9th February. A total of 22 societies collaborated in the festival.

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March To finish International Women’s Week 2018, the busiest week of DUGES’ year, a production of Eve Ensler’s ‘The Vagina Monologues’ was held in Tailors’ Hall on March 9th. Directed, produced, and performed by members of DUGES and the wider college community, it attracted a sizable crowd of 100 which filled the intimate venue. The closeness between the audience and those performing emphasised the personal nature of the topic at hand – vaginas; furthered by the powerful acting, as each member of the cast brought their own personality to their monologues. The Vagina Monologues originated from a series of interviews carried out by Eve Ensler with a wide variety of people, dissecting issues such as sex, hair, gender and FGM, accumulating in this diverse collection of accounts – experiences each member of the audience could recognise at least one of.

The wine reception in the atmospheric stone-walled basement of Tailors’ Hall provided guests with an opportunity to discuss the resonating performances that invoked equal parts sorrow and joy, as well as to donate to Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, raising €550euro in total.

The Joly Geological Society had a busy year. The highlights were our Tara Mines and Brussels Fieldtrips. At Tara Mines we got an introductory talk from the Chief Geologist, a guided tour of the Mill with the processing engineers, a core store visit and talk with the Senior Exploration Geologist, and a visit to the tailings pond with the Senior Environmental Engineer.

In Brussels we got a backstage tour of the Museum of Natural Science collection, viewing minerals, meteorites, fossils and more. The Bernissart Iguanodons were spectacular! We visited Vrije University where we got a lecture from Dr. Koen Stein on Dinosaur Bone Histology and his work with Iguanodons, as well as a tour of all their geoscience equipment.

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March At our second annual conference, TEDx hosted diverse speakers in the Science Gallery united by the theme “Portals of Discovery” from James Joyce’s Ulysses. To illustrate the range of topics presented, the event featured individuals who spoke on topics such as holocaust survival, blockchain technology, an explanation of life through biology and an introduction to sex positivity. Also featured at the event were the winners of our student speaker competition, allowing us to give a unique platform for our members to contribute to the TED ethos. Each talk will be uploaded to official TEDx accounts reaching millions of international followers, giving both the speakers and the university a chance at wider recognition of these ideas worth spreading. The conference invited attendees to think about these ranging issues from a new perspective and sparked conversations among students, staff and alumni.

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March

Another year has flown by for Food & Drink and with many new friends welcomed to our events throughout the year, what better way to celebrate new friendship than with another instalment of the growing tradition that is FEAST? in March we wined and dined 150 foodies in the incredible Royal Hibernian Academy. Surrounded by exquisite pieces of art and an abundance of wine, it was yet another night to remember for FEAST fans, this being the fifth instalment of the event.

With the theme of Culinary Art, guests were welcomed by a prosecco reception with glorious artwork at every turn. They wined and dined on Nduja croquettes with sheep’s yoghurt and beet dressing followed by braised pork shoulder in cider served with kimchi, barley in brown butter, garlic and scallions. Veggies were not discriminated against feasting on hazelnut & mushroom croquettes, followed by salt baked celeriac. To ensure the Feast was truly indulgent, feasters devoured cheese boards kindly sponsored by Sheridan’s Cheesemongers and gluttonous doughnuts provided by Deliveroo. With bouquets, decorated wine bottles, fairy lights and mountains of food served to the backdrop of our amazing jazz band, it is a miracle that the mesmerised and replete party all managed to make their way to Lillies Bordello afterwards at all!

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March TFM continued the tradition of highlighting the importance of representation on Irish radio in International Women’s Week from 5th 9th March. In 2017, reports showed that less than 28% of talk shows on National radio were hosted by women. For Women’s Week on TFM all 70 hours of broadcasting were hosted by self-identifying women and all music played was by female artists. On International Women’s Day TFM hosted Girls’ Night in the Eliz Rooms to celebrate women in radio.

Shadow War Armageddon Ongoing throughout the year DU Gamers ran our first War Gaming campaign in a number of years. Set on the planet of Thantilles V, the game saw groups of players command their small squadrons in attempts to secure Chaos artefacts for their respective factions: Order, who seek to find and destroy the artefacts lest they be used to wreak havoc, Chaos, who would have the artefacts to be used to their fullest destructive potential and Glory, who would possess the artefacts and use to further their own regard. This campaign melded together the collaborative storytelling of a role-playing game with the mechanics of moving models in physical space. Players would be introduced to the state of affairs on the planet for a given game and from that information they could choose what they wanted to do. Their actions and choices affected the ongoing narrative of Thantilles V. We ran the campaign once a fortnight for much of Hilary term and it was a great success. New players were introduced to War Gaming in a novel manner and great fun was had by all.

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March

On the evening of March 7th, societies both new and old gathered in Clontarf Castle to celebrate the Society of the Year Awards. After committees had laid claim to their respective tables, CSC Executive, staff, and the judging panel took to the stage to announce this year’s champions. Silence fell upon the room as each privileged individual sashayed to the stage to announce the winner. Thunderous applause met each victorious Society as they giddily ran to the stage, perhaps most notably for the title of Best Collaborative Event wherein half the room seemed to rush to collect the award for ‘Samhain’. As the night drew on, and the awards grew steadily more prestigious, a palpable atmosphere of anticipation fell upon the room. Before the announcement of Best Overall, Strategic Development Officer Joseph O’Gorman crowned Space Soc, just hot off the heels of winning Best Small Society, as the ‘Society’s Choice’ voted by the Societies in attendance.

To the rapturous delight of the room, Vincent de Paul Society was awarded the overall title, storming to the stage to pose with the trophy and reclaim their title as most decorated Best Overall Society. The evening drew to a close with dancing and celebration by all Societies in attendance.

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Society of the Year Awards Winners

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Society of the Year Awards Winners

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Society of the Year Awards Winners

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Society of the Year Awards Winners

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Society of the Year Awards Winners

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Society of the Year Awards

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the csc executive 2017/18 A huge thank you to the outgoing CSC executive, who dedicated so much of their energy, time and attention to societies this year.

Chair - Benn Ó hÓgáín Treasurer - Dahnan Spurling Secretary - Fiona May Amenities Officer - Jimmy Kavanagh Honorary Treasurer - Ronan Hodson Executive Members - Greta Warren, Fiona Cunningham, Conor Rossi, Gemma Mortell, Laetitia Close, Logan Arnold, Naoise Whearity, Amina Moustafa

Many thanks to Lisa Murray for the pictures of the Society of the Year Awards, and to the various students who supplied images from society events this publication. All rights reserved.

Produced by Central Societies Committee, First Floor, House 6, Trinity College, Dublin 2.

Tel: 01 896 1827 info@csc.tcd.ie