Over 300 people gathered in Kinsale on Thursday, 20 February for an inspirational leadership evening with Marie Gleeson, former Irish Navy Captain and motivational speaker. Hosted by the Kinsale Lions Club in collaboration with Kinsale Community School and the Cork University Foundation at UCC, the event brought together distinguished guests, media representatives, and community leaders. Proceeds from the event will support the vital work of the Pregnancy Loss Research Group.

Forty-six people from across the South West, Mid West and Saolta Health Regions completed TEARDROP training at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) on Friday 14 February. This was the fifth TEARDROP workshop held at CUMH and the seventh held nationally, as two workshops have been delivered by the Saolta Group since its roll-out in 2023. To date, around 300 health professionals have completed TEARDROP training across both hospital groups.

The Pregnancy Loss Research Group is currently inviting applicants for a PhD Scholarship funded by Féileacáin (The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association of Ireland). The project is titled ‘Second trimester pregnancy loss - investigation, management and care’.

The PLRG was well-represented at the Junior Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society (JOGS) Annual Scientific Meeting 2024 – “Together Towards Tomorrow: Innovations in Obstetrics & Gynaecology”. Together, the team delivered one oral and 12 poster presentations at the event which took place on 29 November in Dublin.

The second annual Collective Social Futures Festival of Social Science took place at UCC on 25-26 November. Members of the PLRG were delighted to attend and present at this event, themed 'Social Science Matters: innovation, co-production and transformation'.  

Dr Sara Leitao attended the 17^th European Public Health Conference 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal from 13-15 November, presenting work from a range of projects. Sara presented findings from the PLACES project on workers’ experiences of pregnancy loss and a systematic review of healthcare professionals and students’ knowledge on termination of pregnancy. She also presented a poster on perinatal mortality in women in minority ethnic groups in Ireland (2011-2021), work which was led by Laura Robinson, a final year medical student at UCC, using data from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre (NPEC).

Professor Keelin O’Donoghue and Marita Hennessy PhD recently attended and presented at the European Grief Conference in Dublin. Marita gave an oral presentation on how we can we better support people who experience pregnancy loss under 24 weeks in the workplace, on behalf of the PLACES project team. 

Members of the Pregnancy Loss Research Group attended and presented posters at the Association of Early Pregnancy Units (AEPU) Annual Scientific Meeting in the UK. Dr Josh Selva Jothi, Dr Laura Linehan and Louise Dooley travelled to York, sharing recent work from the Group on ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, pregnancy of unknown location, biochemistry and molecular science and service evaluations.

Members of the PLRG attended the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Maternity & Perinatal Loss Network Meeting 2024 on Wednesday 06 November in Dublin. The meeting featured presentations on education, training, research, and initiatives taking place in maternity settings across the country.

The Radical Humanities Laboratory and Comhrá (Cork Medical Humanities Research & Teaching Alliance) hosted a roundtable event on reproductive justice at UCC on October 30. Dr Céire Broderick, Marita Hennessy PhD (PLRG), Dr Claire Murray and Dr Basia Sliwinska spoke about their work in this area. Dr Kylie Thomas - Senior Lecturer at the Radical Humanities Laboratory and in Art History at UCC – then facilitated a panel discussion on points of connection, with audience input. Dr Oana Marian and Dr Sara Leitao also attended on behalf of the PLRG.