UCC Societies Yearbook 2022/23

UCC SOCIETIES YEARBOOK 2022/2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS President's Message

04

Societies Officer Messg

05

Societies Executive

06

New Societies

09

Awards STARS: Society Awards

10

Best New Society

12

Best Society

13

Individual Awards

14

Societies Person of the Year

17

BICS Awards

18

Society Submissions Social

20

Political and Activism

24

Cultural and Debating

29

Recap

48

SEFS

34

Strategic Plan

56

Medical and Health

38

Incoming Executive

58

Business and Law

41

Thank you!

59

Charitable and Religious

43

Creative

47

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE MAIR KELLY

Being your Societies President has been an honour. When I first came to UCC, I knew nothing about Societies, other than that it was tradition to sign up for a bunch of them and then never open their emails. But then at Socs Day I found what would become known as Fáilte and quickly learned about the amazing Societies Community we have here at UCC. Despite also joining a clubs committee in first year, I soon saw sense and made Societies my home. I held a few different positions on a number of Societies over my 4 years in college, 2 of those also on the Executive, as Welfare and Accessibility Office, Vice President and PRO and have loved my fifth year in UCC as President. Societies have introduced me to my nearest and dearest, taught me so much about so many things and kept me going during the COVID pandemic.

Societies and the people within them are some of the most compassionate, resilient and motivated people I have ever met. I am constantly impressed with what you all achieve alongside managing college, work and life in general. I have loved getting to know and work with you all, I am so grateful that you have placed your trust in me the last 3 years and I know I am going to miss the chaos of it all when I leave.

I am so proud of my Executive, Katie, Elliott, Adrian, Cian, Chloe Ethan, Jennifer and Mary. I have been so kucky to have had such an incredibly supportive team who have put in countless hours to ensure Societies have what they need to grow and thrive.

It's hard to choose a highlight, I have a few. I am delighted to have seen through the development and approval of our new 2023-2027 Strategic Plan and Policy Booklet. I loved events like Societies Day, STARS Awards, the Pride Breakfast and all our Christmas events, there was such an amazing buzz and sense of community at all these events. I've met and worked with some amazing people, students, staff and more. A special shout must go to the Office team of Michelle, Catherine, Adam, Liam, Sarah, Emily, Fionnuala who are always on hand for any questions, advoice or assitance.

It has been an amazing opportunity to work and serve societies, I know it's something I'll never forget it or the people I met.

Mair x .

SOCIETIES OFFICER MICHELLE WHYTE

A Chara, To look at this yearbook we can see clearly the hard work and dedication that contributes to the daily activity of each and every one of your 100+ student-led societies here in UCC. We can see the colour, vibrancy, creativity, skills and imagination that they provide for our campus community and that is all down to your hard work and commitment. Our Societies have provided a ‘real social network’ for over 12,000 students this past academic year. A place for them to celebrate their interests with like minded individuals and a university experience that fits them as a person.

I have been delighted to spend another year working alongside you on this journey and know that I will have the pleasure to work with at least some of you for the year ahead.

My office is located in the Clubs and Societies Space on the 1st floor of the Hub Building . Be sure to pop in to say hello!

Thank you for your wonderful work throughout the year and for leaving firm foundations in place for your successors. A special thanks to the Societies Guild and Societies Staff who worked hard to facilitate and support the work of your 100+ Societies. For those who are leaving UCC we wish you every success in the future- you can be sure that the transferable skills, friendships and memories will remain with you for years to come- and we hope that you will keep in touch!

Beir Bua agus Beannacht, Michelle

173 years of UCC Societies - for one of which I was honored to be your Vice-President and Trainings Officer.

Katie Halpin-Hill Vice President and Trainings Officer

When I was elected to the Executive last March, I said in my speech that I believed in the work of UCC Societies; this has not changed. The work you guys have done this year in your own societies and as a collective has been monumental for so many students. For some, it will have changed the entire course of their college experience.

Go raibh maith agaibh - thank you for trusting me to represent you and work with you throughout the year to ensure that Societies continue to be a force of positive change on campus. A big shoutout in particular to my repping group, who were an absolute joy to work with throughout the year!

Highlights of this year include: the emotional rollercoaster that was Chairperson Training, SoXmas (still proud of that one!), organizing our first Irish-language event - Soctain na Gaeilge, leading the policy book review, going to BICS, working on the strategic plan, and meeting my repping group!

A massive thank you to this year’s Executive as well - I came into this role expecting to have some great colleagues but left with lifelong friends. As I go into final year, although I am gutted to leave the Societies Executive behind me, I am really excited to see what next year’s committee get up to - I have no doubt that UCC Societies is in safe hands.

Buíochas ó chroí libh.

Elliott Mulhall Finance and Sponsorship Officer

"My past year on the Societies Executive has been nothing but an absolute joy. The community we have built has made my college experience what it is, and I wouldn't still be here without all of you!

Having joined the executive late as finance and sponsorship officer, I hope in the short time I've taught you all that Finance is less scary than it seems, but also in the past year Societies have taught me a lot, especially my SEFS repping group.

The highlight (and most stressful time) of this year definitely has to be STARS Awards, seeing the behind the scenes of everything that goes into making a Society successful that we don't see on a regular basis, and of course bringing some fabulous societies to BICS! My year in this role wouldn't have been the same without the amazing executive, and here along with the chairpeople I've definitely made lifelong friends, so thank you.

Looking forward to working with you all again next year!

Chloe Boland Welfare and Accessibility Officer

"Hi everyone, My name is Chloe (they/them) and I have been you Welfare and Accessibility Officer, and Social Societies Representative on the Societies Executive for the past year!

I have absolutely adored my time on the executive this year. It has definitely been one of the highlights of my college experience. Getting to work so closely with so many incredible societies and see the amount of passion and dedication you have for the work you do has been really inspiring.

I didn’t know what to expect from the year but I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten the chance to work with so many amazing people this year, and to get such an insight into the work you all do.

Societies never fail to amaze me with all that you do. My highlights of the year have been launching the Accessibility Checklist, I’m really looking forward to seeing this continue to be developed as a resource for all societies, and another highlight from the year is, of course, Snatch Game which brought us all the joy of seeing Ethan in drag (you’re welcome and who knows we might see it again).

I am really looking forward to getting to work with you all again next year, and see the amazing things that Societies do! Le grá, Chloe x"

"My name is Cian Pierce and for the past year I’ve been your Events and Awards Officer on the UCC Societies Exec 2022/23. I took the position because Societies have been such an integral part of my college experience and the bonds I’ve formed with people through Societies will never be lost.

As your Events officer I have helped in the organization of some incredible events but none of them would have been possible without incredible committees running the show (shoutout to my Kaizoku-Con 2023 Crew!). On the Awards side of things, it was great to be able to properly recognize some of you for the love and work you’ve done and the looks on your faces made the chaos of STARS Awards corrections all worth it This past year I was also fortunate enough to be the Representative for all of the UCC Creative Societies and to you I say this: you’re all the most genuinely talented individuals I have come across, you’ve left me speechless countless times and I know you’re all going to reach incredible heights.

So, thank you for letting me be a part of this incredible Societies Executive, and best of luck for next year!

Cian Pierce Events and Awards Officer

Ethan Hussey Secretary and Education Officer I have really enjoyed my time on the executive this year, so much so I will be staying around next year! It has been nothing short of wonderful and has been a privilege to work alongside such talented and dedicated individuals.

Being on the Executive has given me the opportunity to see the work that goes into so many societies and the massive impact societies have. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to see society's ideas come to life and make a difference in the lives of others.

My highlight of the year was helping out with all the socs and scones, the STARS awards and the Clubs and Socs ball because of the amount I got to drive the society's van. If anyone saw the van driving around, that was most likely me!

While I do look forward to next year, it goes without saying that I will miss the current Executive and being blamed for everything, "You are the human epitome of a permanent eye roll" - Mair.

To all the societies I've loved before…..

Adrian Wood Development, Engagement and New Societies Officer

What can I say except.... Thank you. Thank each and every one of you. I have, through my role, met so many people I would never have had the pleasure of acquainting with had I not made an impulse decision to run one year ago. When I was struggling, tired and overworked, there was nothing better than the buzz, chat and procrastination of the socs office. To every committee member, keep doing what you're doing,because what everyone has achieved this year has been absolutely savage.

I was once a nervous first year who took a punt and logged on to an EGM during Lockdown… Never did I ever dream I would be in this role and it is an honour and a privilege to have had this experience, as well as to have it with some of the best people I know. It has been a record year for new societies, the 13 new societies established during my tenure will always have a place in my heart. I look forward to seeing ye’re progress. I will be watching, albeit from outside the exec. To the political and activism-repping group, ye were simply fabulous.

The group is home to, in my opinion, some of the best societies on campus…

My only regret is that I could only give one year to this amazing committee.

It’s been a pleasure, Adrian.

I am beyond delighted to have held the position of PRO & Sustainability on this year’s UCC Societies Executive. I have had such a fantastic year working with so many wonderful people. I have learned so much from my time with Societies - each skill and competence I’ve learned would take far too long to list. However, my main take-away from my involvement with Clubs & Socs since First Year in 2017 (I’m a little old… whoops), the majority of my closest friends are people I met through Societies.

Societies are truly the heart and blood of UCC, and I honestly can’t reccomend it enough for you to get involved with UCC Societies in one way or another!

Jennifer Clifford PRO and Sustainability Officer

Some highlights for me of being on the Societies Exec were all the people I've met through socity invovlement, being able to help out with organising all sorts of college events such as Socs & Scones, our fabulous Clubs and Societies Ball, witnessing all of the amazing work our societies at UCC do throughout the year (and seeing you all celebrate your achievements at Stars Awards!), watching each society grow and flourish in their own different ways, and of course, working alongside the rest of this year’s Exec.

I think we can all agree that this year was a hugely successful one for UCC Societies. The hard work of each member of the Exec, Mair, Katie, Chloe, Elliott, Ethan, Adrian and Cian have been unparalleled, not forgetting our amazing SU Officer Mary! We absolutely cannot forget all of the hard work put into the running of UCC Societies,by Catherine, Michelle Whyte and our other wonderful UCC Socs office staff.

The community that we have here at UCC Societies is so incredibly special, and I feel a huge sense of pride in having been a part of this. I’m incredibly excited to see where we can go from here! Thank you all so much for the opportunity to be a part of the Societies Exec this year, and wishing everyone all the best going forward!

Mary O'Connell SU Representative "This year I had the privilege of being the Students Union Representative on the Societies Exec. I was involved in societies all throughout my degree, especially on the committees of Fem Soc and Gov Pol. I always wanted to be on the Socs Exec but never got a chance to run for it so it was so exciting to actually get the opportunity this year.

I absolutely love working with societies and I am so grateful for all their help this year. I would not have been able to have such a fun and successful year without them. Some of my highlights are Queer Week, Snatch Game, Take me Out with I’m Grand Mam and just RAG Week in general.

I want to thank all the wonderful people involved in societies, Socs Exec and SU with me this year who made my term so enjoyable. Up Students, Up Socs!

s e i t e i c o S d e v i v e R / w e N African and Caribbean Bangladeshi Dermatology Erasmus and International Folklore Hispanic Historical Italian Jewish Pop Culture Public Health Social Democrats Socialist Party

Society Awards Best Community Engagement: Medical society, Teddy Bear Hospital Best Accessibility Awareness Sponsored by UCC Access - Neurodiversity Society Best Mental Health Promotion: Fáilte Refugees, The Impact of Racism on Mental Health Best Collaborative Event Fáilte Refugees Society + Many others - Cultural Fair Best Intervarsity: French Society Best Med Health Event Surgical Society, Making the Cut Conference Best Social Society event WARPS : WARPCon Best Cultural and Debating Event @English Literature: Read Dating Best SEFS Event Architecture Society: 24 Hour Charette Best Creative Event Traditional Music Society : TradFest Best Business and Law Event: Economics Society Best Charitable and Religous: Surgeon Noonan Society: Songs for Africa Best Political and Activism: Fáilte Refugees Society Annual Refugee Week: Healing COnference

Best Overall Event: UCC Fáilte Refugees

Best Publication: Fashion Society, Stíl Best Publicity Campaign: Architecture Society Best Poster: Architecture Society Best Green Initiative: Enactus society, Sustianable Community Markets

Best Promo Video: Comedy Society Best Photo: Comedy Society Best Social Media Presence : Feminist Society Best Innovation: Government and Politics, Use of Panopto and Mentimeter

Societies Choice: Philosophical Society Most Improved: Philosophical Society Best Departmental: Chemistry Society Best New Society: Neurodiversity Society Best Social Society: UCC Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy and Anime Society Best Political and Activism Society: UCC Government and Politics Society Best Cultural and Debating Society : UCC An Chuallacht Best SEFS Society: UCC Science Society Best Medical and Health Society: UCC Translational Medicine Society Best Charitable and Religious Society : UCC Surgeon Noonan Society Best Creative Society: UCC Traditional Music Society

Overall Winner: UCC Government and Politics Society

Best New Society Neurodiversity Chairperson: Charlie O' Reardon UCC Neurodiversity Society (ND Soc) was founded in December 2021 and have been active on campus since January 2022. Getting the society started was a long process and we faced many challenges (including being denied on our first try). We kept pushing to justify the need for our presence on campus and the society was formed.

We have since gone from strength to strength amassing a membership of 300+ and hosting 30+ events throughout the 22/23 academic year. This was the first full academic year we were up and running and it has been a roaring success.

Most importantly, we have had the most fun doing what we do and formed friendships to last a lifetime. In addition to this we have enacted change by mandating the Student’s Union and societies to facilitate the presence of quiet zones at all large scale events.

Most recently, we have seen local and national success being awarded ‘Best New Society’ at UCC STARS Awards and the Board of Irish College Societies (BICS) Awards along with being recognised with the Accessibility Awareness Award at STARS and being nominated for Society of the Year at USI’s Student Achievement Awards. Receiving nominations for and winning these awards have meant the absolute world to us, we have worked very hard to ensure that every student has a safe place on campus and to be recognised for our work was an honour.

We are excited to see what the society does going forward and our outgoing committee wishes the 23/24 committee all the best in continuing our work of fighting for every student to be seen and accepted exactly as they are.

Best Society: Government and Politics Chairperson: Reuban Murray It has been an incredible 12 months for the UCC Government and Politics Society.

With thousands of members, across 40 different events, including Roberta Mestola, Bertie Ahern, Ministers and Cllrs, to leading campaigners for repeal or titan political journalists. We've had an actionpacked year that has kept us all very, very stressed.

At the end of all this, we were honoured to have been awarded UCC best society and best society in Ireland at BICs. It was the first time GovPol had won either award and if we are honest…we didn’t expect it at all. To have our work recognised at that level was so special to all of us in the society.

We are so proud of the team that was able to make so many amazing events happen; we would have failed miserably without the pure enthusiasm and dedication of the committee; who worked so tirelessly to give students the opportunity to engage with and better understand the confusing world of politics. Thank you so much to all those that made this year possible, the exec, the office staff, the Hub desk, and the dozens of individuals we had the pleasure to work with across all the societies.

Politics is the tool through which we can empower ourselves and our peers to bring about change in society, it permeates every part of our lives and it has been our pleasure to try and highlight its importance on campus this year.

Warmly, Your UCC Government and Politics Society

Fresher of the Year

Saxon Biernstiel

Runners Up

Anne Stratman

Shobha Mehta

STAR Individual Awards

Ciara Caball

Sam Spillane

Sam Jackson

Sydney Brannen Sophie Quarry

Gráinne Barrett

Caitríona Ní Chonaill

Jason Scully

Em Egan Reeve

Rose Delaney Thomas Galligan

Bene Merenti Winners Exceptional contribution to UCC Societies

Duaa Mahmood

Ghufran Al-Bander

Erica O'Brien Music

Pakistani/Fashion/AMSI/Islamic/MSF

Ciara Barrett

Rose Delaney

Emma Sheehan

Simon/Fáilte Refugees/NIMSA Sub Committee

Feminist/HarryPotter/LGBTQ+

WiSTEM/EWB/Engineering

Science

Individual of the Year Rose Delaney

"I first joined societies back in 2019 when I took up the role of First year rep on Eng Soc. I never could have imagined what an amazing journey I had embarked on.

Throughout my time in UCC I held various roles such as vice schools outreach officer and development officer with EWB and secretary and chairperson on WiSTEM. I had the opportunity to meet and work with so many great people as well as organizing many events for causes I truly believe in.

There really is something for everyone across all UCC Societies! "

S C I B @ C C U

BEST CULTURAL/ACADEMIC/SOCIAL SOCIETY IN A LARGE COLLAGE - UCC GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS SOCIETY BEST NEW SOCIETY IN A LARGE COLLEGE - UCC NEURODIVERSITY SOCIETY BEST CHARITABLE/RELGIOUS SOCIETY IN A LARGE COLLEGE - UCC SURGEON NOONAN SOCIETY BEST GREEN INITIAIVE - UCC ENACTUS SOCIETY, SUSTIANABLE COMMUNITY MARKETS

Society Submissions

Social Societies

Harry Potter Caitríona Ní Chonaill We had a really great year - screened all 8 films (and raised money for charity along the way) and held a Sorting Ceremony, Photobooth and a Christmas party for our members. We held many fun collaborations with other societies throughout the year, from a Multilingual Harry Potter Quiz with questions in 7 different languages, a Choral event with Choral and Scribble Societies, a Fanfiction event with English Literature Society and had a fantastic Potions events with Chemistry and Science Societies. We were very proud to raise hundreds of euro for our charity partners such as TENI and look forward to doing it all again in the future!

NetSoc Chairperson: Thomas Galligan Our year was outstanding, with many new and old members coming back in-person and attending our weekly gaming and tech talk. While it was nice, there has been ups and downs but together as a committee we have overcame the challenges face and developed incredible friendships as a result.

Our greatest achievements this year was the Cork DevCon that was held on the 1st of October 2022. It was the first DevCon held in-person organised by us, Netsoc. We had 3 sponsers and many guest speakers, which was a big deal for us. Another great achievement I'd say was the fact that our committee was able to make it through the year, since we were missing a few people as well as our secretary resigning after a few months. The friendship and bond built through the work shared was one of the best and interesting experiences.

Hopefully in future years, we can strengthen and grow Netsoc to become what it used to be in the golden days :)

Sci-fi, Anime, Fantasy and Horror Chairperson: Jason Scully This year we continued to be one of the most active societies on campus, holding over 50 events this year, ranging from screenings, to cosplay workshops, to guest speaker talks.

This was a year of firsts for us. In the week one back of semester 2 we organised our first ever themed week- Geek Week.

We held four events across the week- a screening of the critically acclaimed Last Of Us TV show, a talk by sci-fi and fantasy author Robert A. Geobey, Speed Friending and our multi-soc collaborative Science Of Pokémon panel night where various science socs took a Pokémon and attempted to apply principles to science to it. At Christmas, we held a Potluck with 8 other societies and the SU and filled two floors of the Hub. We also started our own publication (Litfix!) in collaboration with MTU Anime and Manga and UCC Scribble Soc. The booklet contained artworks drawn by the talented members of both universities! We hope for this to become an annual staple of all societies involved. I

It was also a great year for conventions.

For the first time since covid we were able to organise a society trip away to Akumakon in Galway. A brilliant time was had by all and we can’t wait to go back next year. This year we also had the first Kaizokucon in person since the pandemic.

The committee really outdid themselves, going above and beyond to pull off an incredible weekend attended by approximately 2,300 people. The headliner guests were voice actors Jonah Scott and Leah Clark and cosplayer Akakioga. The charity auction smashed the previous record raising over €17,000 euros for charity. This incredible work didn’t go unnoticed at Stars we won Best Social Society and our chairperson Jibs won a Best Individual award. This year wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing work of the committee or the continued support of our brilliant members. Going forwards we want to sci-fi to continue to be a found family and home-away-fromhome for all of UCC’s nerds and geeks, no matter what their interests!

Simpsons Odhran Walsh This year was one of our more ambitious years as we strived to establish ties with a lot of different societies and grow our own society past the expectations that usually would have been put on it. The start to our year was a slow one however, we did pick up the pace coming into Semester 2 and held some really strong events. As a Society this year we had some really great achievements such as, increasing the overall interactions with our social media and promotional material, establishing ties with societies that will hopefully be long lasting, and holding ambitious events such as our pub quiz and Simpsons Movie collab in Boole 4 (where we collaborated with 7 different societies and had spot prizes).

We had a really great committee this year. They were extremely helpful and committed to the society as a whole and as a chairperson, I could not have asked for a better committee. In a few years time I would love to see the Simpsons society hold bigger and more ambitious events and also establish a greater community within UCC and societies themselves. It would be great to see the society as one that is bigger and better than ever, with an even greater community.

Political and Activism Societies

Co-Operative and Community Action Mathew Quill This was our second year as a society on campus, following our founding in 2020, and was the year of our rebrand to the Cooperative & Community Action Society! We decided to change our name to this as the society's activities had expanded beyond just co-operatives as a means of community organising, and this was reflected with events promoting alternative forms of activism, such as cycling activism in Cork City, and most notably, our zine. Co-operatives still stayed a major focus of ours throughout the year however, with events like a talk and screening from members of the IndieCork Film Festival, a local co-op!

Charitable fundraising was another way which we gave back to our community this year, as we ran our second charity quiz for Cork Penny Dinners, which raised over €500, as well as a bake sale held in aid of the Raise and Give Week charities for 2023, which raised over €200!

Our zine RAT.jpeg was our first physical publication as a society. The zine (short for magazine), was essentially a DIY publication which members of our committee designed – and literally stapled together! This zine contained art, written pieces about activism and more. It was even shortlisted for best publication at the STARS awards, something we were very proud of.

Going forward we want to encourage our members to submit their own pieces to future issues of the zine, something we've started with the second issue.

Environmental Aisling Power This year in EnviroSoc, we held a great range of events! To name a few; Litter Picking, Bike Shed, Climate Strike, Adventure Trip to Derrynane, Voter Registration, Campus Bat Trail, Beach Clean up, Workshops in the UCC Community Garden, and many more! Some of our educational and informative talks included: ‘Fossil Foods, Carbon Opportunity Costs and Future Prospects’ with James O’Donovan from Vegan Sustainability magazine, ‘Biodiversity loss and a local and global level’ with Dr. Dara Fitzpatrick, and ‘Wild Tales From the Atlantic’ with Dr. Tom Doyle. It was so brilliant seeing such great attendance at these events, and the eagerness of students to get involved with environmentalism.

A hugely notable success was Green Week, in collaboration with the Student Union and Green Campus. The SU Environmental & Sustainability rep Natasha and ourselves were busy for the week, with a wide range of inclusive events; from foraging and biodiversity walks, to informative talks on sustainability and environmentalism, to the launch of our Environmental Journal! I could spend a day listing the fantastic events which took place, all as important as each other. (But I must of course mention the Big Green Quiz, which was a hit all round)

Furthermore, we began the revamp of Green Campus, which I hope to see continue to grow and develop. Green Campus is an integral part of sustainability in UCC, and it would be fantastic to have this initiative as active as possible. This year, one key contribution was the introduction of terracycle make-up bins into the Boole library.

A big thank you to everyone on the committee! I really couldn’t be more proud of our new committee members who joined this year and hit the ground running. Ye really threw yourselves in and gave it your all, and I will forever be thankful for that. It’s been so wholesome to see the new generation of EnviroSoc blossoming ahead, and I have no doubt ye are going to achieve brilliant things in the years to come. Continuing onto next year and future prospects, it would be great to see the continued development of EnviroSoc in an open, safe space for students and staff to learn about environmentalism, sustainability, and climate justice. A massive thank you to everyone who’s been involved in this society along the way!

Fáilte Refugees Marta Correia Our year: - This year we held 34 events, including collaborations. We collaborated with 29 UCC Societies, 24 organisations (local, national and international), with the Student Union, and departments in UCC (UCC Sanctuary Group, EDI Unit, International Students Office, Mature Student Support, Peer Support, Skills Centre, and others!).

Our proudest achievements: - The ‘All Together Project’ with the Glusksman, where we collaborated with children from Direct Provision and local artists, was a fantastic project which brought to life a beautiful mural which has been placed outside the Hub. We are incredibly proud of this project and for giving these young people the opportunity to learn more about UCC, and to feel welcomed and involved in the community.

- Our Annual Conference was a highlight for us because it was a very unique Conference. It was community-led and based, with various types of speakers and performers. Another event that truly reflected our values was the Cultural Festival, where we had the opportunity to exhibit in the Hub atrium, for 3 hours, the rich diversity of the migrant community in Cork. We had several UCC cultural societies, various migrant-owned businesses, NGOs, volunteering organisations, community groups involved. It was an incredible experience to be part of.

- We promoted volunteering even more this year, through different events and by direct contact with students, which resulted in higher numbers of volunteers working with us this year.

- We won 4 awards this year - best event and best political event for our Annual Refugee Week Conference ‘ Cultural Healing’; Best mental health event for our event ‘Impact of Racism on Mental Health’; Best collaboration for our event ‘Cultural Festival’, which got together several societies, local migrant businesses and organisations. We were also nominated for other initiatives which is a huge accomplishment as well.

What we loved: - This year we participated again in the Christmas Parties for Children and Families in Cork’s Direct Provision centres, which was delightful as it was the first year we did it in person since the Pandemic. It was a very joyful project! - We loved doing the 2nd edition of our Anti Racism workshop.

What we loved: For the Future: - We would love to see Fáilte Refugees Society even more involved in volunteering and with the local community. We believe we can do even more and better! To do more anti-racism work. - We want to see more people getting involved with our society and promoting the work we do.

Vegan Sean Amisano Our society are so happy to have brought our love of animals, nature, food & the planet back to campus in full force this year! We maintained our popular trademark events such as potlucks, screenings & debates while outreaching to more societies, students and general public than ever before.

We collaborated with SimpsonsSoc, IntDevSoc, EnviroSoc, Film&PhotoSoc, MacraSoc, AfroCaribbeanSoc, FrenchSoc & KoreanSoc throughout the year! We also had events with UCCSU (SHAG Week & Queer Week), FairTrade Ireland, StoneValley Coffee Roasters, Ballymaloe Foods, Cork Environmental Forum, My Goodness and CoffeeScape Café. We tried out new events that were definitely our most successful: the Cork City Food Tour and the Intervarsity Activism Weekend.

We are super proud to have hosted over 30 student vegan & climate activists from all over Ireland in UCC for the first time to establish a network of passionate change makers! We hope this will be a yearly meet-up for students who want to be activists so that we can find strength in numbers, share our passions & ideas and upskill to fulfill our potential to create a better world. We hosted Rosa & Orla from Animal Rising UK for the Activism Workshop, and hosted student groups from TCD, UCD, UG & UCC.

We have started our journey to promoting a Plant Based Uni in UCC and we successfully helped pass a motion to ban Race Days in UCC through a student seeing our petition and bringing a motion to UCC Student Council. We pushed ourselves by creating different forms of outreach like radio interviews, podcasts, petitions & reels.

We gained lots of new members and great additions to our committee which created a strong, dedicated and empathetic society! We also just got funding for our first ever international trip to go to VeganCampout in the UK so there’s lots more to come from UCCVEGSOC!!

Cultural and Debating Societies

Ancient Civilisation and Mythology Kevin O'Connor We had a great year. We had a Cicero event with Dr Vittorio Buffaci. We had a screening of the secret of Kells we had a collab with IR Socwhich was an ancient model UN and a collab with WARPS with DND and Magic based on their ancient world Theros. All in all a brilliant year

English Literature Em Egan Reeve Whew, what a year! We at English Lit did the very best we good to stuff as much crazy fun as we could this year and looking back on it, it's probably safe to say we succeeded to some degree! We had an amazing experience both as a committee and as a society and we were so delighted to share it with all our wonderful fellow students and staff.

From quizzes to book clubs to workshops to (of course!) Twilight, we had a bit of everything this year. One of our biggest and bests had to be our RAG quiz. We had such an amazing turnout and raised a ton for our various charities. Special mention too has to be given to our awardwinning best cultural and debating event "ReadDating" which was an instant hit among society members and allowed people to chat, share their love of books and make some new friends.

But no recap would be complete without mentioning our Twilight screenings! Over the course of the year, we tracked the terribly brilliant/brilliantly terrible journey of Bella, Edward, Jacob and Charlie from start to end. We even got a bit festive with our Twlight-themed costumes for the last one!

As a committee we changed quite a bit over the course of the year. Some left and new faces joined but every single member, past and present did everything they could to make this year special for everyone. And with a new year on the horizon, it is my hope that, whatever changes will come, English Lit will remain a society of creativity, openness and fun for any new members in the future.

French Anouck Rodrigues This year was once again a fantastic year! First, we would like to thank our great members but also the whole French Society committee who did such a great job organising amazing events.

We are proud to say that in February 2023, we organised the first-ever French Intervarsity with other colleges, which took place in Dublin. This intervarsity enabled us to win the award of the Best Intervarsity during the STARS awards. We also got to represent UCC in BICS, which was a great opportunity for our society! On top of that, we were able to organise multiple events such as language exchanges, movie screenings, quizzes, talks and different collaborations with other UCC societies. It is obvious that we all struggled as societies to get back on our feet after the pandemic.

This year, we were able to meet each other and enjoy French culture once again! We are looking forward to next year, with new great events but also to meeting next year’s members.

German Kacper Pilarek This year was still very much a year where we were setting up for the years to come post-Covid as such I'd guess that my proudest achievement would be the Administration of the Society this year and setting it up for the years to come. I could not have achieved that without my great committee which I am extremely grateful for.

Throughout the year I most loved our Collabs and even the ideas for events that we all came up with, be it if those event ideas came into being or not, and my most favourite event this year was the Holocaust Remembrance Lecture.

I'd love to see incoming committees build on from the 2022/2023 Committee and I am sure they will build up from us and I have faith that the incoming Committee will be a lot more active then the 2022/2023 Committee in terms of events and it was a great Privilege to serve as the Chairperson in the year that I did. All the Best to the Committees that follow my one and I hope the Society will grow from here onwards.

Much Love <3, -Kacper Pilarek, Chairperson 2022/2023

Hispanic Xiadani Ortega Ramírez This year we have restarted the Hispanic Society after a few years of inactivity, in the interest of creating a space for native and non native speakers or people interested in the culture. We have organised many activities but the main ones have been language exchanges and culture events. We have also had some collaborations with societies like the Musical Theatre Society or the MedSoc, and we have even organised a potluck with the SPLAS department. For the coming year we’re hoping to expand the society and create more interest on campus!

Historical Richard Keyes McDonnell We were so happy that the Historical Society could be revived during 2022/2023 academic year; this could not have happened without the enthusiastic support of both the staff School of History (with a special thank you to Dr. Damian Bracken & Helene O’Keeffe) and the Societies Executive (with a special thank you to Adrian Wood).

We spent the first semester bringing the Society’s documentation up-to-speed; during the second semester, we were able to finally able to host some events! Dr. Olesia Zhytkova presented a talk on similar pages of Irish and Ukrainian history, which was attended by both students, School of History staff, and members of the Ukrainian community in Cork, and was joined by Olesia’s family in Ukraine via livestream. Orla Egan presented a talk and film screening on her work on the Cork LGBT Archive, based in the Cork Public Museum, and the various projects which have emerged from it, including her most recent collaboration with Megan Luddy O’Leary on the graphic memoir Diary of An Activist; the event was supported by LGBTQ Society, and was joined by students of Dr. Diarmuid Scully’s seminars.

We collaborated with the French Society with a talk presented by Dr. Donal Crowley and Dr. Dónal Hassett, marking the 61st anniversary of the end of the Algerian War. In the spirit of Queer Week and Seachtain na Gaeilge, our last event was presented by PhD student Emmet Taylor of the Department of Early and Medieval Irish, charting the queer historiography of Celtic Studies, and explored medieval Irish texts through a queer lens. We were able to host a couple of social (biscuit) events, and we connected with other student Historical societies about the possibility of an all-Island History student publication, which will be an exciting project for the incoming committee!

Our aim was to develop a steady foundation for the Society for the future; we encouraged a diverse range of events as part of attempting to encourage a creative and interdisciplinary approach to the past, in order to further encourage a social and academic space that was accessible, welcoming; above all, we hoped to make the Society friendly and approachable, especially for first-year students

Jewish Ianna Rosa This was our first year having a Jewish Society at UCC. What started as four Jews in a room had turned into a thriving community of people sharing kindness, tradition, and love with the world. We have had lovely big holiday parties for Sukkot, Chanukah, and Purim. We put on a Purim Spiel that raised over €200 for Cork Penny Dinners. We were honoured to receive the Best New Jsoc award from the Union of Jewish Students, and we have been working to create interfaith dialogue and collaboration. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we have cultivated a community that really and truly cares for each other. What a fantastic year. ‫!ברוך השם‬

Science Engineering, Food Science Societies

Architecture Cathal Mcloughlin This year the Architecture Society wanted to realign itself towards our shared interests in architecture and design and encourage younger students to become engaged in architectural discourse.

This year, the Society has continued our guest lecture series, where we invite architects, designers and activists to the college. These lectures have sparked debate, discussion and activism within the Society and provide a social setting where students gather together on Tuesday evenings. Lectures of note this year were architectural activists Frank O’Connor and Jude Sherry of Anois and Orla Egan of the Cork LGBT Archive. The Society endeavoured to sustain this kind of student engagement and interest by organising two larger scale events that would become part of our Anti-Dereliction campaign.

The first of these events is the ‘24hr Charette’ dereliction protest, where students spent the night in our satellite campus brainstorming solutions to Cork City’s dereliction crisis. The second was the ‘2023 Symposium: The Future of Cork City’, where students engaged in both a day of discussion and debate and active workshops held by architects and city actors.

We have also provided several social events, including two table quizzes, socials, Bake Sale, and our leading Social Event - The Architecture Ball, which this year was in collaboration with UCC’s Planning Society.

The Society engaged in various forms of protest and debate this year and offered students a platform to share and discuss their thoughts on architectural-related matters. The success of the Society is seen through our Dereliction Campaign, for which we got nominated for a BICS award. We also achieved great success with the UCC Society awards, winning Best Poster, Best SEFFS event, and Best Campaign, as well as being nominated for Best Photo and Best Social Media.

The Society hopes that next year’s committee will continue its work in architecture and design and will continue to highlight the dereliction crises and other architectural related crises through the form of active protest. Furth, it would be great to see the UCCs Architecture Society connect with other architecture societies throughout Ireland, join forces, and highlight such topics collectively through various forms.

BEES Adam O'Reilly This year was our first full year as BEES Society since being renamed from Geological Society.

With the new name we aimed to host events related to all streams of BEES. We screened a huge variety of films including educational documentaries such as “Frozen Planet 2” and “Bag It” to nostalgic animated hits “Ratatouille” and “The Lorax”. We also took part in multiple collabs with other societies from tree planting and beach-cleaning with EnviroSoc to a Geoguessr tournament with NetSoc among others. The committee took part raising money for Movember (our small society raised over €600, beating some universities!) and a few of us attended an “Ecology and Evolution” conference in TCD, representing UCC and the Society at the national level. Dr Ed Jarvis gave a brilliant talk on the life of palaeontologist Mary Anning. In December we had great fun at the Alpine Skate Trail in Fota.

Our biggest achievement this year by far was successfully running the second ever BEES Ball.

Set in Metropole Hotel on 21st March, its theme was “Blue Planet”. We held a Valentines Day bake sale and multiple quizzes to fundraise for this fantastic event. We found support and a relationship with over 20 local businesses around Cork to power this amazing event!

The success of the society this year was all because of the work and dedication of the incredible committee. Hoping for an even better next year!

Chemical Doireann O Leary Brenann 2022/23 was a busy year for Chemsoc! We kicked off the year with our successful "Chemical Bonding" social, followed by the Bio&Chem ball.

This year we took part in several charity fundraisers including Science Soc's Sunrise Seaswim and the School of Chemistry's annual Marymount fundraiser with our own Bakesale!

Semester 2 brought many fun opportunities our way. We headed back to Middleton Distillery for our much anticipated annual trip. We held the John Tobin Quiz, hosted by the amazing Dr Dave Otway, and we collaborated with Science Soc and Harry Potter Soc to create a magical potions event with liquid nitrogen ice cream thanks again to Dr Otway! We were so honored to be awarded UCC's Best Departmental Society at this years STARS awards to have the opportunity to attend BICS in Co. Wexford. Thanks from all of here at Chemsoc, and we look forward to next year when we will continue to spread the love of chemistry throughout UCC!

We were so honored to be awarded UCC's Best Departmental Society at this years STARS awards to have the opportunity to attend BICS in Co. Wexford. Thanks from all of here at Chemsoc, and we look forward to next year when we will continue to spread the love of chemistry throughout UCC!

WiSTEM Rose Delaney WiSTEM is a society founded in August 2018, our aim is to support women and minorities in UCC in achieving their full potential in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. We are part of a growing movement that is making STEM a more diverse and accepting field to work in. Our goal is to inspire and aid women in furthering their careers in STEM, help them build the skills they need to succeed and find role models and connections in their particular industry. We will be hosting a variety of exciting events throughout the e next academic year. These include talks from inspiring women in STEM, workshops to help you develop the workplace skills you need to do well in any field as well as tours of industries to help you gain insight into your potential career. If you would like to find out more feel free to drop us a message or email us at wistem@uccsocieties.ie.

We look forward to meeting you all!

Medical and Health Societies

Dental Luke Harrington What a year!!!

This year, it was our goal to get all dentistry, dental hygiene and dental nursing involved in the society in as many ways as possible, and to make DentSoc more welcoming and inclusive than ever before.

From start to finish it really was an amazing year; we started off with the annual back to school mixers, and we marked Mouth Cancer Awareness day with a series of excellent speakers. Then it was on to DentCup, with the 1st year girls laying down a marker for the years to come, and the 4th year boys finally getting past the bridesmaid stage bringing home the wins.

Next was our special night in Vegas... DentBall, baby! Arguably the best ball to date, it was amazing to see everyone leave the scrubs at home for the ballgowns and suits for one night in Sin City.

Medical Alexandra Murphy 2022/2023 has been a very busy year for all of our committee! With two of our biggest events of the year, Medcup and Medball, so early in the year, we had to hit the ground running. Medball was a personal highlight of mine, as it is for most medicine students as it is always such a great night out, but being involved behind the scenes and seeing all our hard work pay off in the enjoyment of all the attendees made it so much better.

Semester two was just as chaotic. The largest event of semester two is our Teddy Bear Hospital.

It's no easy task, organising a three day event for 800 children and 800 sick teddies, but thanks to our wonderful education officer and a pile of work from the whole committee and our fantastic volunteers, it was a breeze! Not really... but it was so worth it. This year has been so rewarding for all of us, and I cannot wait to see what Medsoc get up to next year!!

We got straight back to business in 2023 with another social night for all, and an array of webinars with some of the industries top educators In 2023 we welcomed back the return of our Career's Day conference in person after a 3 year hiatus following the big C-19, and 2023 also saw the birth of the CUH SuperCup soccer match between DentSoc and MedSoc, with the dent girls taking home the inaugural trophy.

All in all it's been an amazing year, and things are only going to get better for the society with the biggest smile!!! All the best, DentSoc x

Pharmacy Gráinne Barrett PharmSoc had a fantastic year this year, full of events, achievements and much more! This year, was without a doubt, one of the most successful years of the society to date.

The first semester was highlighted with the return of the highly anticipated Winter Social, a smaller scale ball, held every Christmas before exams.

Along with this, the society held a number of educational events such as the Surviving the Semester Talks, the Placement Talk and the Careers Talk. Initiatives supporting students such as the Perrigo Scholarship Awards saw a huge number of submissions this year with over 30 entries of posters highlighting the importance of antimicrobial stewardship. This competition gave pharmacy students the opportunity to win 500 euro in each year group. These posters were displayed around UCC and even extended beyond into CUH, MUH and more.

PharmSoc were also involved in a number of charitable events this year including Movember and Run in the Dark. The second semester saw a greater number of intersociety collaborations with PharmSoc, and the semester was kicked off with CUH C.an Y.ou H.elp. The Pharmacy Ball took place in the middle of February, and the theme was the 60s! The theme went down a treat with John Lennon sunglasses, Elvis and peace signs making an appearance. The society collaborated with UCC Sámh to hold a conference on the topic of mental health and self-care, something which resonated with students, UCC staff and the general public.

The year ended with a Pharmacy Exhibition, within which representatives from different companies in community pharmacy educated students on products they may one day be dispensing.

PharmSoc were extremely proud of their achievements at STARS this year, being awarded with the best financial management and coming runner up or in third place for a number of others.

Chairperson Gráinne was also awarded with an individual STARS award in recognition of her contribution to the society this year. Along with this, the society was delighted and grateful to be sponsored with 6000 euro worth of sponsorship this year, which came from Perrigo Pharmaceuticals, Clarity Locums and Irish Locums.

In the next few years, we would love to see the society expand on the hard work and efforts that was achieved by the committee this year. We hope future committees can continue sponsorship relationships already established and continue to hold new and exciting events every year!

Business and Law Societies

Commerce Chairperson: Rose Goggin This year saw many record achieving events for UCC Commerce Society. We stuck to our mission of connecting students and business, holding the largest Commerce Conference to date with over 150 attendees in the Kinglsey Hotel. Our annual Commball was a huge success, another sell out event and this years theme was “Comma Mia”.

We held the first ever on campus event with Cork Airport giving away free flights to students. We also held a Charlotte Tilbury Masterclass in aid of Pieta House. And SO much more. Overall a jam packed year!

In between our two flagship events we ensured to keep up our CSR and held fundraising events for lots of charities close to committee memebers hearts. These charities included Irish Cancer Society, Down Syndrome Ireland and SHARE. The share fundraiser was the first ever BComm CoCurricular event organised by ourselves alongside Dr Rose Mary Murphy. Of course in between all of those we had plenty of education events and lots of social events such as a Abbaesque, Bingo Loco and a Pool Night!

Enactus

Recently, the Society was awarded the Best Green Initiative for its amazing work at UCC STARS Chairperson: Timothy McGrath Awards 2023 and BICS Ireland Awards 2023.

UCC Enactus Society works to transform the lives Another recent achievement was one of the of people and society through the power of societies social projects, UnderCover, won first business. We do this by setting up social place in the Citi Bank Pathways to Progress enterprises that provide employment and their Programme. The project is working to promote by-product does both social and environmental and create safe nights out for students, helping to good. The society has had a roller coaster of a year prevent against drink spiking. As well as hosting in 2022/2023. As part of Enactus Ireland, each year social events to raise awareness in pubs and the society competes against other universities nightclubs, the project is working to provide their from around the country at the Enactus Ireland drink covers to prevent drink spiking.

National Competition in June. The UCC Enactus team won the competition and were crowned the The society also ran other social events during the 2022 National Champions. This is the first time year, such as a Women in Sustainability Panel Talk ever UCC or a University in Cork has won the and a Quiz Night. We have continued to attract award. Enactus UCC went on to represented UCC new members from across disciplines and now and Ireland at the Enactus World Cup 2022 held in have a total of five active social enterprises in the Puerto Rico in November. Team Ireland was society (Reframe, UnderCover, Roots for Life, FASH awarded as one of the Top 16 countries in the Forward & BeFriend). The National Competition is world, advancing further than countries including coming around again as this Academic Year ends the USA, Australia and China. and we look forward to representing the high An initiative we organized this year with the help of UCC Green Campus and then later with UCC Student Union was the Sustainable Community Markets. The markets took place the first Tuesday of every month allowing students to expect and anticipate this great opportunity to buy products made by students for students that are environmentally friendly.

standard of social entrepreneurship Innovation UCC has to offer.

and

Charitable and Religious Societies

Alzheimers Sarah Al Ghanim We are very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve this year, including events we did on our own such as our bake sale and booths, as well as our collaborative events with GP soc

Christian Union Rachel Carton & Amanda Goma What a year it’s been!

Across the terms, we got to enjoy movie nights, pizza parties, games nights (featuring kahoot - if you know, you know..!), and of course, our weekly meetings with the coolest variety of guest speakers. Between that and our weekly small groups, outreach events, and prayer meetings, it has been jam packed in the best possible way.

A huge part of this year was our annual ‘Mission’s Week’ event, held in the ‘Shtepps’ and in the Green Frog Café in late February, where we welcomed some lovely friends from the CUI (Christian Union Ireland) team to deliver some intriguing talks (such as ‘Why would I follow Jesus if the Church has caused so much hurt?’)!

To top it off, we teamed up with Sci-Fi (amongst many other societies) to hold a Potluck night in the hub, which was so much fun. We also continued our yearly tradition of joining with other Munster CU’s to hold a Worship Night in Limerick, and of course, all piled up to Dublin for the great CU Ball 2023!

All in all it has been an incredible year, and we’re hoping next year will be even better. If you’ve never been before, we are just a group of Christians who love the Gospel and love hanging out together. We all come from different backgrounds and beliefs, but we are a family in which everyone is welcome, we really mean that, and have been thrilled to expand further this year and meet so many new friends. Here's to 2023/24

Engineers Without Borders Ian O'Keefe EWB had another successful year this year thanks to the support of all our members. We continued with some of our annual events this year such as the Engineers VS Entrepreneurs collab with Enactus, our Mapathon, and our Schools Outreach.

The committee is going from strength to strength each year and it was great to push on with another strong year post Covid, following up on last year's brilliant work. I'm so excited to see what the future holds for the society going forward and what new events I'll be seeing next year in particular!

I was delighted to add the EWB Movember Quiz and the Qualcomm Thinktank Challenge to our annual events list as well after very successful showings.

Free Legal Aid Megan Lawton The FLAC society this year aimed to get involved with campus life, helping students in every capacity to know their legal rights via social media, campus campaigns and running our free legal advice clinics. We ran a total of 13 clinics for students in need of legal advice in many different areas of law.

We have published numerous infographics on our social media concerning Women's Rights in Modern Ireland, Student Rights on a Night Out and so on. Our aim is to make legal information easily accessible to all students. We also ran a collaborative workshop with UCC Co-Op Society and Scribble Society on Student Tenant Rights which was a great success.

We are proud to be publishing our first ever student legal advice booklet which will be available all over campus for the foreseeable future. This is a comprehensive guide to student's rights and obligations in Ireland, along with a list of the supports available to them. We have also ran two coffee mornings on campus to speak to students about the society, what we do and how we can be of assistance.

Our constant presence on campus has allowed the society to really grow this year, (they have even heard about us in Brookfield)! We are also proud to have raised over €700 in collaboration with law society for Movember and GAOL, two very important charities.

We ran fun on-campus events such as a waxing bidding war and a soccer tournament.

In FLAC, we try to bring the fun into the legal world but we also ran many educational events such as Your Rights as an Employee in Ireland, where we had the late Richard Grogan as a speaker, The Future of Environmental Law in Ireland and our Alternative Careers in Law event. These were all accompanied by our annual conference which was centered on Children's Protection in the Age of Digital Media. Our conference had over 100 attendees both online and in person and was a huge success.

What's a society without running a few competitions? We were lucky to team up with two of Ireland's top law firms to run both an essay competition and a client consultation competition. Both were a huge success and allowed for students to gain practical insight into a career as a lawyer whilst also improving on their legal research and writing skills. We hope to see UCC FLAC continue to go from strength to strength in the next few years and continue acting as a valuable asset to student life.

UCC Suicide Awareness and Mental Health (SÁMH) Irfan Khan SÁMH had a fab year - probably one of our best yet! Our proudest achievements include our Stress Management Workshop for International Students collaborating with the UCC International Society Office, sea swims collaborations with UCC Surf Club, participating with UCC Scribble Society and the UCC Student Recruitment Office for open day, collaborating with Breaking the Silence on organizing a safeTALK seminar for suicide awareness and prevention, and hosting an epic charity talent concert with UCC Simon Society and UCC Musical Theatre Society.

We were most proud that we were able to donate over €1000 across several mental health organizations in Ireland such as Jigsaw and Helplink. Although we didn't win "Best Mental Health Promoting Event" or "Best Social Media Presence," we were runner up for both, which has never happened in SÁMH - we feel to us, that is a win :) What I loved most about being in SÁMH was the fact that we were successfully spreading mental health awareness through fun and engaging activities that kept participants happy while at the same time, getting participants to think more about how they can not only improve the mental health of others, but also their own mental wellbeing. With mental illness on the rise in the world, especially due to the aftermath of COVID-19 and the global economic situation, we were proud as a society to at least help make folks feel a little better through our events promoting positive mental health well-being, which thankfully were in person this year!

I'd like to see the society grow and contribute to positive campus well-being, as well as continued collaboration and donations towards mental health communities, like Jigsaw or Helplink. We would also like to collaborate more with other societies which we did not get a chance to.

Overall, we are proud to have contributed to positive mental health and well-being around campus through our events! I look forward to seeing how the 2023/2024 year goes for SÁMH. :D

Creative Societies

Comedy Kate O'Gorman This was a year like no other for UCC Comedy Society, not necessarily the best, but not like anything that has come before.

We hosted many marvelous events like always, including panel shows, pub quizzes, a potluck) and of course the inception of our weekly open mic nights at the Kino.

It goes without saying, however, that the highlight of this year for me, and for not only the comedy society, but for society at large, was the birth of the comedy baby, our darling 'Mair Kelly'. She is the light of all of our lives, and I hope that she shall continue to bring joy and laughter to the Comedy Society long after I'm gone.

After all, these guys need as much help as they can trying to make people laugh ah ha ha!

Waka Waka *slaps knee* Kate O'Gorman Chairperson!

Dramat Áine Feeney We had a fantastic year this year! We had two mainstage shows this year, Vile Girls written and directed by Elle O’Leary Kelleher and The Shadow Genie, written and directed by Michael Holden, both of which received nominations at the Irish Society Drama Awards for Best Costume (for The Shadow Genie), Best Specialist Design (for both shows), and Best Supporting Performer (Spencer Gerber in The Shadow Genie) We also had our annual RAG Panto, Follow the Western Road, written by Fern Kealy and directed by Daniel Madden. Performing arts in general took a massive hit after the pandemic and we were no different, so we are extremely proud that we managed to put on three successful full scale shows after two years of online productions, and socially distanced shows.

UCC is due to host the Irish Society Drama Awards in 2024, a fantastic opportunity to showcase Cork’s theatre scene, and we’re very excited to bring shows from college societies all over Ireland to a new audience in Cork.

UCC is due to host the Irish Society Drama Awards in 2024, a fantastic opportunity to showcase Cork’s theatre scene, and we’re very excited to bring shows from college societies all over Ireland to a new audience in Cork.

We’ve had great engagement from our members this, who wrote, produced, directed and starred in our shows, as well as being in backstage crews, coming to all of our events, workshops, and socials. To our members new and old, thank you for keeping us going!

Traditonal Music Sophie Ryan TradSoc have had a very busy and exciting year!

As well as our weekly events, such as our Monday night sessions and Wednesday Lunchtime Concert Series, we also held two evening concerts in the Honan Chapel, “Harpers in the Honan” to celebrate Harp Day and our Christmas “Ceol By Candlelight” Concert.

In February, we also held our annual “UCC TradFest”, which is a traditional Irish music weekend held by the society and includes concerts, sessions and our annual Battle of the Bands Competition. TradSoc also had the opportunity to travel this year, with members representing the society at the opening of a new route of Brittany Ferries with Tourism Ireland, the RTÉ Radio One Folk Awards, and further afield as members of TradSoc travelled to the Embassy of Ireland in the Philippines and the Consulate General to Ireland - Hong Kong and Macau, as part of their St. Patrick's Day Celebrations.

We were so proud for our hard work to be acknowledged at this year’s STARS awards, receiving Best Creative Event for “UCC TradFest” and Best Creative Society, which was a proud moment for the whole society. We would like to thank everyone for all their support this year and look forward to another exciting year!

Knitting and Crotechet Heather Walsh Our year began in semester 2 with the merge of the knitting society to become the new and improved knitting and crochet society!

As a completely new committee we're extremely proud to have been part of the crew that prevented a great society from becoming inactive. Huge shoutout to Adrian for being such a great help!!!

We have really enjoyed carrying on with the traditional Stitch & Bitch sessions and meeting so many new faces at our beginner workshops.

Our hopes for next year are to expand our own cosy community on campus and meet more enthusiastic knitters and crocheters!

Musical Theatre Society Fergal Crowley Here at UCCMTS we had another amazing year!

From our first open mic night to our final bow at All Shook Up we have been blown away by the positivity and enthusiasm seen throughout the society. This year alone we had over 300 new musical theatre fanatics join our wonderful society.

This years outstanding committee put together many events and collabs we put on some incredible shows such as our Semester One Cabaret- "A Night At The Movies" and the amazing All Shook Up (We had our opening performance last night and it went phenomenally!). The year also marked our in person return to Musical Intervarsity's with Waitress, this year in Queens University Belfast. Most importantly, this year marked a huge triumph for the society...WE FINALLY HAVE A BANNER AGAIN! All in all the thing we are most proud of is not a single event or achievement but our members.

We have seen so much friendliness, dedication and compassion throughout the year from every person involved in our society and for that we are forever grateful.

The future is bright for our society and as our committee passes on to the next their is no doubt we will have many great moments in store!

June, July, August

September, October, November

December, Janurary, Feburary

March, April May

Clubs & Socs Story To Infinity and Beyond

Strategic Plan 2023-2027 A highlight of this year was the development and approval of the new Societies Strategic Plan for 2023-2027! This plan will help steer societies over the next few years and hopefully contribute to the development and htowth of societies in UCC

Strategic Pillars 1

Sustainability

Connection to the natural world, sustainable sponsorship, infrastructure and resources, utilising our societies space, student health and wellbeing, training, digital fluency, sustainability checklist

2

Student Success and Wellbeing

Looking at how Societies impact students, personal and professional development, training and where societies can take you

3

Civic, External and Global Engagement

Community outreach, democratic function, communicators of knowledge, effective global citizens, aiding academic success.

4

Societies and the UCC Community

Increasing accessibility, reaching Postgraduates, mature and part-time students impact on campus life

5

.

PR and Marketing

How can we best amplify the work of societies and all that they offer? How can we show our best selves + ensure our branding and ethos are recognisable?

Incoming Societies Executive 2023/2024

Chloe Boland President

VP, N Elliott M ew S ocs aulhall nd Aw ards

Ethan ussey Finance and H Sponsorship

Welf Ciara B are a a nd Acrrett cess ibilit y

Egan Reeve (Em) ion at Trainings and Educ

Alex Angland Events and Engagement

chair éilea inability C í N a a Síofr nd Sust

S e c re

a try

a

rray an Mulopment b u e R e d Dev PR an

Thank you and goodbye from the 2022/2023 Societies Executive