Active* Consent reports on research and impact in 2023/24    Programme calls on the Further and Higher Education and Training sectors to set firm targets for education and prevention    Active* Consent wants every student and staff member prepared to respond to consent, sexual violence and harassment.    The Active* Consent programme based at University of Galway has called for the Further and Higher Education and Training sectors to set firm targets for consent education and sexual violence prevention among students and staff.   The programme has released a report on its work over the 2023-2024 academic year with almost 25,000 First Year students in Higher Education engaging with the Active* Consent orientation resource.    Active* Consent marked the report launch at an event in Dublin, with calls for institutions in the Higher Education and Further Education and Training sector to ensure that:  At least 80% of incoming Higher Education students engage with consent education during their orientation or induction. Further Education and Training learners should be supported to have access to the same level of consent education as is available for students in Higher Education. All students receive consent education and sexual violence prevention at multiple points during their third level experience. All staff engage in awareness-raising and training activities.  Professor Pádraig MacNeela from the School of Psychology at University of Galway said: “A lot of progress has been made in Further and Higher Education in recent years, but the time has come for these sectors to set firm targets for consent education and sexual violence prevention. Every student and staff member needs to be adequately prepared to address consent, sexual violence, and harassment in a meaningful and lasting way.”    Dr Siobhán O’Higgins, Education and Training Co-Lead on the Active* Consent programme, said: “Student feedback on Active* Consent education resources supports the argument that consent education should be rolled out to everyone who comes to college, backed up by campus campaigns and staff training.”   Active* Consent in the 2023-2024 academic year  Active* Consent’s programme ethos is that consent is ongoing, mutual, and freely given, for all relationships, genders and orientations. Its education model promotes a community-wide culture of consent using brief messaging, workshops, arts-based interventions, specialised staff training and research.   The Active* Consent orientation resource  Almost 25,000 First Year students in Higher Education engaged with the Active* Consent orientation resource in 2023-2024 academic year. Some 8,338 of these students completed a survey on their experience with 80% agreeing that they learned something useful, while 91% would recommend it to a friend.    Other student feedback during the year revealed:  94% of students who took part in a 1-hour in-person consent workshop said they learned something useful, and 90% would recommend it to their peers.   87% of the students who completed Active* Consent’s 40-minute eLearning resource agreed that it would help them to intervene in problematic situations involving their peers, while 90% said that it would help them to support their peers if they have a negative sexual experience.  Supporting student leadership: A new Active* Champions peer education training was piloted over the past year.    Gemma MacNally, Clinical and Therapeutic Lead with the Active* Consent programme, said: “In the past year, Active* Champions have delivered consent workshops, created art projects, hosted information stalls, and advised on university policy changes. By supporting peer education, Higher Education institutions inspire student leaders to lead out on culture change, and expand their own capacity to engage the whole campus community.”    Preparing staff: Active* Consent has made significant strides in providing staff training, with more than 2,000 staff members taking part in awareness raising and training in consent education in the Further Education and Training sector.   Active* Consent Research  All Active* Consent educational resources incorporate research evidence. As an example of this research, we are sharing the results of an exploratory online survey in which 366 university students reacted to short stories featuring sexist harassment, sexual hostility, online harassment, sexual coercion and sexual consent.   The purpose of this survey was to gather views on these issues as part of the development of new educational resources on sexual violence and harassment.   Survey demographics: 86% were undergraduate students; 72% were female, 23% male, and 5% did not identify with either gender.    Survey findings: Students rated their agreement with the statements following each story.   Students displayed a high level of recognition of sexual violence and online harassment in responses to the stories:  92% considered it online harassment to make disparaging sexual comments on an ex-partner online.  90% agreed that it was sexual coercion if sexual intimacy took place after one person persistently asked for it when the other person did not want to do it.  Student responses to stories on harassment were less consistent. Three quarters of students considered the behaviours described to be wrong, but fewer students agreed that they constituted harassment:  57% of students considered it sexist harassment for someone to show a video mocking women to a group of peers. 47% agreed that it was sexual harassment for one student to make sexual remarks during work meetings to complete a college assignment. Finally, in a story about consent, 42% of the students agreed there was sexual consent in a story about a ‘hook up’ that did not include verbal consent to sex.  On a positive note, students who took part in educational programming – such as engaging in consent workshops and being told about supports, services and definitions – displayed better awareness of services, that alcohol impacts the ability to consent, and a greater intention to intervene if they saw sexual violence and harassment.    Commenting on the students’ responses about what they would do in response to the stories, Clarissa DiSantis, newly appointed Education and Training Co-Lead with the Active* Consent programme, said: “It’s encouraging that 71% of students taking the survey agreed they would intervene if they witnessed harassment, while 76% would be comfortable talking to a peer who makes a disclosure about sexual violence. We must make sure that they have the skills to follow through on their intentions.”   Ends   

Professor Ted Vaughan appointed Interim Director as University sets out ambitious research agenda for public good University of Galway has announced it is to establish the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation, to pursue pioneering research into the understanding of disease, and solutions for healthcare. Professor Ted Vaughan has been appointed Interim Director of the new Institute, which will formally launch on Thursday October 10th 2024 at a special day-long event on campus. The Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation has been designed to spearhead groundbreaking research in understanding diseases and developing healthcare solutions, leveraging the University’s expertise in biomedical science and engineering. The new Institute brings together more than 200 researchers and academics across a wide range of fields of study, from groundbreaking discovery in biology to technological innovation of novel medical devices. University of Galway has also established the Research Institutes Technology Services Directorate, led by Dr Elaine Breslin. It will support the new research Institute and the existing Institute for Clinical Trials, which was formally established last year, by managing core facilities and technologies and by introducing new resources, to foster a world-class research ecosystem. The combined institutional investment in new research capacity will enhance the harnessing of scientific breakthroughs for the benefit of clinical trials and healthcare, by accelerating the provision of potentially disruptive and cutting-edge therapies and medical solutions, and how they are applied in the treatment of disease. Professor Peter McHugh, Interim President of University of Galway, said: “The establishment of the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation, alongside the recently established Institute for Clinical Trials marks a step-change and a highly ambitious strategic approach to research at University of Galway. “People are our strength and the research work of our people in these institutions, and in partnership with others, will enable the translation of fundamental scientific research into potentially life-changing treatments and interventions that directly benefit society - fulfilling our mission to be here for public good. “We are a research-led institution, and the combined strength, capacity and expertise of these two institutes will allow us to expand our ambition and research agenda by bringing new discoveries and technologies into clinical practice while offering yet more learning and opportunities for our students, researchers and academics.” Professor Laoise McNamara, Head of School of Engineering, said: "The foundation of the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation is strong, built upon many years of pioneering research in biomedical engineering and health sciences at University of Galway. Its establishment marks a significant step change in our efforts, which seeks to empower our researchers to make substantial progress in our mission to develop cutting-edge therapies and innovative technologies. It will also enhance the environment for student learning by providing excellent research facilities, along with opportunities for research internships and enhanced research-led teaching." Executive Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, Professor Walter Gear, said: “Professor Vaughan’s blend of both fundamental and applied research and innovation, his track record in research leadership and his experience of working collaboratively with the medtech industry, positions him to provide the leadership and impetus to build on our existing strengths to enable an acceleration of fundamental and applied understanding of disease, and an application of this understanding and knowledge to pre-clinical research to provide potential disruptive solutions for health.” Professor Ted Vaughan, Interim Director of the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation at University of Galway, said: “Our vision is to create the best possible environment in University of Galway for our research community to develop new healthcare technologies. We aim to address any remaining gaps in the research development pipeline from scientific discovery to innovation. “We want to support our research community to discovery, develop and deploy novel technologies and therapies to facilitate earlier detection and diagnosis, to reduce treatment times, to improve clinical outcomes for patients, and really pave the way for next generation technology in health.” The Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation will be led out of the College of Science and Engineering at University of Galway, creating a new environment to integrate and expand the excellence of the University’s research. It will operate in close collaboration with the University’s Institute for Clinical Trials, as well as CÚRAM, the Research Ireland-Taighde Éireann funded centre for medical devices, and BioInnovate, the Enterprise Ireland Innovators’ Initiative programme. This strategic combination of expertise will facilitate sustained, research-led development at University of Galway, further positioning Galway as the centre of Ireland’s global medtech hub and a significant contributor to economic growth and regional development.  Ends  

Two University of Galway researchers have been given the green light as part of Health Research Board funding for research to address health challenges. Dr Sinéad Lydon, Behavioural Psychologist with the School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, is leading a project that will allow patients to play an active role in ensuring safe care in hospitals. Dr Lydon has been awarded €408,085 for “Patient Involvement in Patient Safety - The PIPS Study” which will design an approach to patients playing a role in safety data collection in adult inpatient hospital care. This will provide evidence-based guidance for policy makers, health service managers and providers on how patients can best be involved in the data collection to support improved patient safety. Professor Andrew Smyth, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, will lead a project to examine the sources, benefits and harms of higher potassium intake and its associations with health, need for hospitalisation, cognitive function, physical function and mortality. Professor Smyth has been awarded €412,340 for “Sources and Health Impacts of Dietary Potassium (SHIP)” which aims to provide novel insights, inform dietary recommendations and population-level interventions to reduce non-communicable disease, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney disease.             Professor Jim Livesey, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at University of Galway, said: “The HRB funding awards to Dr Lydon and Professor Smyth is testament to the high-quality, patient-oriented and health research taking place at the University. Both projects will help to address important questions for health and social care and contribute to improvements in human health for patients globally. The scheme is a highly competitive process and I congratulate both of them on their success.” The HRB fund includes 29 Investigator-Led Projects across three overarching themes; patient-oriented research, population health research, and health service research. Ends