RCSI Bahrain students undertake projects in Asia

Manama : Four medical students from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) have landed in locations in China and Japan as part of RCSI’s International Research Summer School (IRSS) programme.

Remarkably, RCSI Bahrain students have taken up half the places made available, the second year of the IRSS, which is also open to students at RCSI in Dublin.

Intermediate Cycle students Maryam Alzeera, Yousef Ashraf Ishaq Abousedu, Fatema Ahmed Hamza Ahmed Ali and Maryam Shaikh Nasser finished among the eight highest-scoring of 54 applicants, 20 of which were from Bahrain.

As a result, Yousef and Maryam Alzeera have joined two colleagues from RCSI on an eight-week research project at the University of Hoshi in Tokyo, Japan, while Fatema and Maryam Nasser are attending Soochow University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, in Suzhou, China.

Writing from Japan, Maryam Alzeera spoke positively of her work with the Organic Chemistry department at the University of Hoshi as well as the experiences she has enjoyed on her journey.

“At the end of the second week here, I realised how quickly time would fly,” she explained.

“We are working intensely; the days feel too long and too short at the same time. For now though, I’m going to continue to try to live in the moment. I know I will fondly look back on these times for years to come.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Maryam Nasser in Soochow, who said: “It is amazing how time flies by in China. The experience so far has been so enriching over so many levels and in different aspects.

“I am certain that I have learned a lot and I know that I am yet to learn more in the coming weeks. However, I would say that the highlight of my experience here is getting to know China, its people, its culture and the mix of history and modernisation.”

Organised through RCSI’s School of Pharmacy, the IRSS is a student exchange programme open to Intermediate Cycle medical students from across RCSI’s international campuses.

RCSI Bahrain’s Ahmed Bassim Dhaif was among six candidates who took part in the inaugural IRSS last year. It was launched as part of a wider collaboration for teaching, innovative scientific research, student training, and technology development over the coming years.

The students will return to Bahrain in time for the new academic year in September.

RCSI Bahrain is a constituent university of RSCI, which was established in 1784. Like its Irish counterpart, RCSI Bahrain is a not-for-profit health sciences institution focused on education and research to drive positive change in all areas of human health worldwide.