NUACHTÁIN SAOR IN AISCE VOL.18 Issue 09. 07 FEB 2017
Student Independent News
SUGAR, SPICE AND ALL THINGS NICE SHAG week to raise awareness in how to look after your sexual health By Sorcha O’Connor
THE STUDENTS’ UNION launched their ‘Sweet and Spicy’ SHAG week this Monday 6 February and all week on campus there will be a range of activities to raise sexual health awareness. The spice can be found in SULT on Wednesday 8 February when the bar plays host to the Dirty Circus, for a free night of burlesque, cabaret, comedy and sauciness followed by a Traffic Light party in 44 night club. If it’s something sweet you’re after, stick around on Friday morning to nab
yourself an early-Valentine’s Day rose and a pack of rolos. Aside from the fun and games, SHAG week provides students with important information surrounding sexual health. Student Union President Jimmy McGovern hopes that the week can give sexually active students a positive arena for discussing their sexual health, without feeling embarrassed or pressurised. “We hope that our SHAG Week will encourage NUI Galway students to take a responsible attitude to their sexual health and to be comfortable talking about it,” he said. “It is vital that such issues are not
viewed as embarrassing and that all sexually active students are able to get tested regularly. Last year we secured funding for the free STI Clinic on campus and we encourage all NUI Galway students to use this great facility.” The STI clinic will have extended hours throughout the week to encourage attendance and condom packs will be offered free around campus too. The innovative exhibition of Tinderstyle online dating profiles for STIs makes its return after its success last semester. The “STInder” exhibit uses humour and some shock tactics to highlight the symptoms associated with
these STI’s. The Students’ Union hopes the exhibit will encourage students to protect their sexual health and familiarise themselves with the symptoms associated with common and lesser known STI’s. The rates of STI’s in Ireland is still greatest among the under 25 age bracket. There has been a steep increase in the number of Irish cases of reported sexually transmitted infections in 2016 compared with 2015. In 2016 reported Chlamydia cases rose to 6,901 (up 1.7%), Gonorrhoea cases showed a 51.8% increase to 1,964 cases and reported HIV cases were up by 5.8% to 513. Two
Over 1,300 attend smash-hit Akumakon convention on campus By Joseph McBrien Akumakon is the only anime and manga convention held in the West of Ireland, and took place in a across the NUI Galway campus from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 January. Once before almost completely unknown to the world outside Japan, manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese animation) have become a global phenomenon. Akumakon 2017 kicked off at 7pm at the Bailey Allen Hall, where the audience were given a taste for what they in for over the weekend. Events ran on Friday night and from 10am to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday, including screenings, signings, workshops, gaming tournaments, cosplay masquerade, and author panels covering a wide range of subjects. These included the language and literature of Japan. “The aim of the event is to promote Japanese culture and animation in Ireland,” explains James Broderick, Convention Director of the Anime and Manga Society. It also aims to help attendees meet like-minded individuals.
Akumakon has donated over €15,000 to Irish and Japanese charities to date, and each annual event aims to be bigger and better than its predecessor. “The idea is people make costumes of characters they really like from video games or anime or from anything,” explains James. He continued saying “We then have a masquerade for people who make their own costumes, they come along and we have prizes for the best costume.” The festival has grown from selling 300 tickets in its opening year in 2011 to selling well over 1,000 in 2016, its biggest achievement to date. Guest speakers flew in from Poland, Japan and the US and these included Eric Stuart, the voice of Brock on the Pokémon anime TV series. Mr Stuart in his speech at the opening ceremony, announced that it was his “first trip to Ireland” and invited the audience to “Rock with Brock” at his concert that took place on Saturday evening. As well as being a voice actor, Stuart is also a singer-songwriter and has supported Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ringo Starr. Continued on page 2
lesser known STI’s Lymphogranuloma venereum and Trichomoniasis also saw a sharp rise of 47 reported cases (up 135% on 2015) and 83 reported cases (up 43%) respectively. During the week Galway Rape Crisis Centre will be hosting free disclosure training for students to increase awareness of the causes and effects of sexual violence and give participants an opportunity to practice scenarios involving a disclosure of sexual violence. There will also be free Smart Consent workshops where students can explore what sexual consent means in a fun and safe environment.
NUI Galway welcome new Dementia centre By Cathy Lee
Photo: Donald Manning
A new research centre focused on the respect of personhood for those with dementia has opened at NUI Galway. A lecture took place to open the centre on Tuesday 31 January at the Institute of Lifecourse and Society in NUI Galway. Professor Eamon O’Shea, Director of the new centre, gave an inaugural lecture entitled ‘Bringing it all back home - Re-imagining Dementia Care in Ireland’. Funding in the form of a €1.6 million award was given for the new centre from the Health Research Board. The Centre’s mission is to support economic and social research on dementia in Ireland and develop and facilitate new thinking. The Centre’s research programme will investigate optimal, person-centred pathways to care, and placement for people on the margins of home care and residential care. There is hope to facilitate collaboration and networking opportunities in relation to social research on dementia. The centre aims to implement strategies set out the National Dementia Strategy in Ireland and continue that work. Continued on page 2