Humblebrag Alert! We won award

Humblebrag: Our very own Caryn Leong won the RCSI Engaged Research Undergraduate Prize 2025 for her work “Debunking The Myths: Fostering Positive Relationships Through a Social Media Campaign”. Caryn was the 2024 RCSI undergraduate summer student and in her time she was part of our team which created a social media campaign for World Sexual Health Day 2024. This campaign focused on fostering positive relationships, empowering teenagers to take control of their sexual health and well-being and highlighted the importance of communication, consent and mutual respect in relationships. All the good things! 

To create the campaign, we analysed student submitted questions from the 2024 workshops. We identified 133 questions related to positive relationships. We then narrowed down questions which then served as the foundation for a week-long social media campaign. 

We recorded Q&A videos with health experts from various fields, including Dr. Dan Kane and Ms. Cristine Pucillo from the Dublin Sexual Assault Treatment Unit, Dr. Caroline Kelleher, Health Psychologist at the RCSI, Dr. Grace Madigan, Specialist registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Dr. Stiofán Hatton and Dr Eoghan De Barra, Infectious disease specialists from the Beaumont Hospital. Which are available on our TikTok and Instagram. 

We focused on important issues like ongoing consent in long-term relationships, the importance of taking ownership of your sexual health and pleasure, as well as advice on the procedures involved and the care options available at the SATU. The partnership with the SATU team also introduced support services for sexual assault survivors.  

Debunking the Myths collaborates with healthcare experts. It is because of this we can deliver reliable information to tackle myths and misconceptions surrounding positive relationships. The collaboration with the SATU team and the inclusive content addressing LGBTQIA+ issues further ensured that the programme was comprehensive and supportive of all teenagers. 

We understand that some readers will have ben affected by the discussions around sexual assault, and some may have experienced it. We recognise that this is a sensitive issue and want to ensure you are aware of the available support services: 

• Tusla provides a dedicated website for young people https://changingfutures.ie
• Sexual Assault Treatment Units (SATU) has a dedicated page on the HSE website with Information on all care options: www.hse.ie/SATU Rape Crisis Network Ireland: www.rcni.ie
• Dublin Rape Crisis Centre – National Helpline: 1800 77 8888 
• We Consent campaign is Ireland’s national consent programme: www.we-consent.ie they also have a resource hub where to find many information and booklets.