Professor Malachy Ó Néill:

Our most exciting project at present is the much lauded and long-awaited School of Medicine, which will open next year. Our primary partner for that is St. George's, University of London, but one of our major partnerships is with NUI Galway. We have a monthly meeting with our colleagues there, which I co-chair. We benefit significantly from their experience of developing medical education and research provision in Galway city. We seek to replicate what they have created, learn from their experiences and collaborate with their work at Letterkenny University Hospital and the Donegal Medical Academy. We intend to use that experience to develop our own relationship with the Western Health and Social Care Trust in Lisnagelvin.

Our research and education partnerships with universities across the island are prolific.

As one would imagine, most of our academics or external examiners are in universities across the island. Many of our external examiners are from Irish universities. The vast majority of our research activity involves partnerships, North and South. It is much valued and post Brexit there will be an added significance in that regard.