Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (R.C.S.I.), Ireland. (Coordinating Institution)

w: www.rcsi.ie

The R.C.S.I. is Ireland's largest undergraduate medical college and is internationally active in medical education, research, training and hospital management. The RCSI has a strong international presence with Schools in both Malaysia, Jordan and Bahrain. Through its departments of Tropical Medicine and Epidemiology and an extensive international network of graduates, the R.C.S.I. nurtures strong links with health communities throughout the developed and developing world. R.C.S.I. is well equipped to conduct high-level research and has further benefited from over €40M of research infrastructure funding in the past 8 years. The R.C.S.I. Solar Disinfection (SODIS) group combines expertise in medical physics (Dr Kevin McGuigan), epidemiology & clinical trials (Ronan Conroy DSc), tropical medicine (Dr Sam McConkey) and clinical microbiology (Dr Siobhan Kehoe) to investigate all social, scientific and health related aspects of SODIS for use in developing countries or emergency situations. The four senior researchers that comprise the RCSI SODIS group have published over 150 peer-reviewed publications and specifically 18 peer-reviewed papers on the use of SODIS and/or running clinical trials in developing countries.

Dr Kevin McGuigan (SODISWATER Coordinator).
PhD in Physics (1989). Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics at R.C.S.I. since 1991. Since 1994 he has been the director of the R.C.S.I. SODIS group. He holds 1 patent and has published 3 book chapters and over 35 peer reviewed papers in internationally recognised journals. Reviewer for international journals and international grant awarding agencies. He holds grants from both national (EI, HRB, R.C.S.I.) and international (EU, Wellcome Trust, Libyan Govt.) research funding agencies. He is the Irish national delegate on EU Cost Action P9 "Radiation damage in biomolecules" for which he is chair of Working Group 3. He is a member of the IWA, ASM, SGM, IoP and the WHO Household Water Treatment and Safe-Storage Network. He has presented his research at over 25 international conferences and workshops and on national and international TV and radio