Matthew Thornes, a 3rd year Pharmacy student, attended a U21 summer school on Substance Misuse. Here is his report, in his own words:
"In July I travelled overseas to New Zealand to attend the Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group Summer School on behalf of the University Of Nottingham. The summer school, In Substance Misuse: A harm Reduction Approach took a health focused approach to reducing harm for individuals, communities and populations through harm reduction when concerning tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs. Students from universities’ in Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, Sweden, UK and USA attended!
The two week course explored a number of psychoactive substances whilst exploring concepts related to public health, harm reduction and the development of educational interventions. Working in a multidisciplinary healthcare student team I spent two weeks developing a harm reduction intervention regarding alcohol. With guest speakers such as Professor David Nutt and Doctor Thomas Babor I felt very privileged to have attended the school. Organised by the director of the centre for addiction research, associate professor Janie Sheridan, the school was a huge success bringing future healthcare professionals from around the world together in a great learning experience.
Following my fantastic time with the University Of Auckland I continued my kiwi trip by skiing, mountain biking, bungee jumping and jumping out of a plane! The overall experience was a trip of a lifetime and I thank both the University of Nottingham and the University of Auckland for making such a great experience possible."
Matthew Thornes MPharm 3
Posted on Tuesday 7th October 2014