Research Day 2015 concluded yesterday evening with an awards ceremony which took place in the Cheyne Lecture Theatre. Dr Gianpiero Cavalleri, Research Day 2015 Academic Coordinator, hosted the ceremony which saw awards being presented to winners across 12 categories.

The ceremony began with the presentation of the Mr Kamal Sayed Prize in Neurosurgery to Zaitun Zakaria. The medal, which is generously supported by Dr Yacoob Kadwa, Class of 1965, is awarded to a neurosurgery trainee in recognition of outstanding work and excellence in the field of neurosurgery.

This is a prestigious award of RCSI and is run in conjunction with the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience. The prize pays special tribute to the memory of Mr Kamal Sayed, a graduate of RCSI (Class of 1960). The award was presented by Amos Sayed, on behalf of Dr Camilla Carroll (FRCSI and Class of 1985) and Dr Jacintha More O'Ferrall (Class of 1990).

The RCSI Author Citations Prize was awarded to Dr Eoghan O'Neill, Senior Lecturer, RCSI, and Consultant Microbiologist, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. The prize is awarded to the most highly cited RCSI-led paper and in recognition of its contribution to RCSI's listing in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking system. The prize was presented by Ms. Aoife Flanagan, Head of Institutional Research and Planning, RCSI.

Dr Regien Biesma, Lecturer, RCSI Department of Epidemiology & Public Health Medicine, was announced as the winner of the Health Professions Education Award. The prize was awarded by Professor Hannah McGee, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, for the best abstract and project in the broad category of health professions education, acknowledging the centrality of a robust research and development approach to all RCSI's educational programmes.

William Arthur Lackington, RCSI Department of Anatomy and Tissue Engineering Research Group, was presented a prize for the front cover illustration of the RCSI Research Day abstract book.

Medical student Amenah Dhannoon was awarded the Dr Harry O'Flanagan Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for the best undergraduate oral presentation. This category was open to all RCSI Research Summer Students who completed a research project in 2014. This medal award was created by Dr. Yacoob Kadwa, RCSI graduate (Class of 1965) to pay special tribute to the memory of Dr. Harry O'Flanagan, former Registrar of the RCSI. The undergraduate poster presentation prize was awarded to Karim Jundi.

In the postgraduate scholars - first year category, which was open to any postgraduate group, including PhD, Msc, MD in first year of fulltime registration or equivalent, Caragh Stapleton, RCSI Department of Molecular & Cellular Therapeutics, was the recipient of The Medical Supply Company (MSC) and Bio-Sciences Limited Prize for the best oral presentation. The poster presentation prize winner in the category was Mariana Alves, RCSI Department of Physiology & Medical Physics.

In the postgraduate scholars category, which was open to any postgraduate group, including PhD, Msc, MD in second or later year of fulltime registration or equivalent, Michelle White, RCSI Department of Medicine, was awarded the Roche Medal for the best oral presentation. The poster presentation prize winner in the category, which is sponsored by Fannin, was awarded to Sergej Susdalzew, RCSI Department of Physiology & Medical Physics.

In the Early Career Investigators category which was open to all RCSI post-doctoral fellows, Dr Mark McCormack, RCSI Department of Molecular & Cellular Therapeutics, was awarded the Barnes Medal for the best oral presentation. The award is named after Dr Joe Barnes, Professor Emeritus of Tropical Medicine in RCSI and was presented by his son Mr Matthew Barnes. The poster prize winner in this category, which is sponsored by Fannin, was awarded to Dr David W Murray, RCSI Department of Physiology & Medical Physics. The judges noted that the standard of science in this category was exceptionally high.

Congratulations to all the winners and Coordinators of Research Day 2015 Dr Gianpiero Cavalleri, Stephanie O'Connor and Cathy O'Byrne, on the success of Research Day 2015.