UCD Science Society (SciSoc) raised and recently presented a cheque for over €82,000 to representatives from the Children’s Medical & Research Foundation (CMFR) at Crumlin Hospital. The money was raised by the society throughout the 2014/2015 academic year.
Over €64,000 of the money raised was as a result of the society’s annual “Sci-cle”, a sponsored cycle from Dublin to Galway taking place in January, which proved to be their biggest event of the year. The 208.3km sponsored cycle has become increasingly popular in recent years, with over 150 students taking part. It won the Society Event of the Year at the recent UCD Society Awards.
Eimear Mylod, webmaster of SciSoc and a 3rd year physiology student, said that the money from the cycle alone topped previous year’s total funds raised. She said that the society has “raised money solely with the CMRF for the past few years but we’re thinking of working with a few other charities this year”, and that they are “hoping to raise some money for the Berkeley survivors, one of whom, Aoife Beary, is a fellow science student.”
CMFR is the principal fundraising body for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and is dedicated to working to improve the quality of life for this and future generations of sick children. They play a key role in delivering state of the art facilities including equipment, infrastructure, leisure and entertainment devices for the children, accommodation for the families and other special requirements. In addition to this, they fund paediatric research and have been able to establish the National Children’s Research Centre (NCRC), a world class facility which provides high tech laboratory facilities for investigation into the causes and treatments of childhood disease.
The society had over 1000 students sign up during Freshers’ Week, and have already planned several events for the upcoming year. The Science Pubathon will be taking place on Thursday, 15 October, and is the largest student pub crawl in Ireland. There will be a Fight Night, in collaboration with Ag Soc in December, as well as smaller events such as a debate with the L&H.
Mylod said that students who wished to get involved in any of the events, or want to join SciSoc can email them at science.society@ucd.ie, or contact them through their Facebook page at UCD Science Soc.
Author: Rachael Lafferty
