Networking and career planning at the annual RCPCH Conference

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Collage of 2 students smiling to camera
Final-year Student Doctors Matthew Ryan & Niamh O'Reilly

Celebrating its 25th birthday this year, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) boasts over 20,000 members and supports the specialty with medical education, professional standards, research and policy.

The RCPCH Conference is its flagship event and this year’s online offering provided three days of insightful talks and interactive workshops. Two Liverpool Student Doctors were amongst the attendees. They share their takeaways from the event.

Year Five Student Doctor Matthew Ryan secured a free three-day pass to the conference as winner of the annual RCPCH medical student prize.

“It was a privilege to be chosen as this year’s winner for the University of Liverpool, which meant I was awarded an invitation to the annual RCPCH conference - something I had always wanted to attend. The conference was held virtually this year, but that didn’t limit the ample opportunities to network and ask questions to paediatricians from around the world.

No area of paediatrics was left untouched during the conference with talks ranging from global paediatrics, research and of course some COVID-19!

It was interesting to hear how COVID-19 has affected children and young people, but also the good that has come from collaborating virtually.

The conference provided many opportunities to chat with paediatricians and other student doctors through a range of interesting workshops and a quiz that was held one evening.

One session I found particularly interesting was the “From med school to paediatric consultant: paediatricians of the future in training” – an excellent set of lectures that I really enjoyed and found valuable for planning my career!

I would recommend this opportunity to any student doctor interested in paediatrics and academic medicine.”

Student Doctor Niamh O’Reilly, also in Year Five, also attended the conference where she presented an e-poster of work she had carried out at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, which contributed to clinical work on the newborn intensive care unit.  

 "To round off my wonderful experience at Liverpool School of Medicine, I was lucky enough to present an e-poster at the 2021 RCPCH conference.

It was an interesting and enjoyable experience which has given me lots of tips regarding abstract submission and poster preparation.

During my SAMP placement at the Liverpool Women's Hospital in neonatology I completed ‘An assessment of the agreement between laboratory and POCT blood gas analysis measurements of haematological indices on the NICU: a service evaluation’.

My supervisor Dr Richard Hutchinson is very inspiring with his research and clinical work and taught me new statistical methods, while helping me improve my writing skills and further ignite my interest in neonatology.

I am really excited for the abstract to be published in the Online Archive of Disease in Childhood in August 2021 when I will be starting my F1 job in Edinburgh."

Discover More

  • Find out more about the RCPCH on their website, including the full programme of the 2021 conference.
  • Interested in Paediatrics? Join Liverpool Paediatrics Society via the Guild.
  • Looking to the future? Liverpool Student Doctors have a range of dedicated career guidance and resources including access to tailor-made Specialty careers videos and one-on-one appointments with a Careers Advisor.