Newsletter 132

Content

National News and Events

  • Protest Outside Reed Elsevier's AGM
  • Training New Trainers and Training Old Trainers
  • Medsin Spring General Assembly 2007
  • Motions for SGA 2007
  • Be on the Next Medsin National Committee
  • Be a Campaign Coordinator for Medsin
  • GHEP Coordinator Needed

International News and Events

  • Be on the UK delegation to the IFMSA August Meeting, 2007 - in the UK!!
  • IPPNW Student Conference in Porto
  • IFMSA SCORA Exchange in Sweden

Website and News

The website is for YOUR events being held by YOUR branches, projects and campaigns. It is really, really easy to submit events and news, so please do, and let everyone know what wonderful things you are up to!

Action of the Week

If you have any ideas for a future action, please email Jen

National News and Events

Protest Outside Reed Elsevier's AGM

NC06/07

Medsin have been putting pressure on the publishers of The Lancet, Reed Elevier, to put an end to their involvement in the international arms trade. Reed Elsevier are a leading publisher of medical journals and textbooks and their role in organisation of arms fairs directly conflicts with the concept of health as a universally recognised human right.

To read more about Medsin's campaign and read our letter to Reed Elsever published in The Lancet click here.

To read more about Medsin's new Campaign on the Arms Trade click here

Medsin are joining CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade) to protest outside Reed Elsevier's AGM on Tuesday 17th April in London from 10:30am onwards.

If you are interested in coming please email armstrade@medsin.org

We need as many people as possible to join this peaceful protest - things may be about to change in Reed Elsevier, but we should not become complacent. Let's keep up the pressure and urge them to disengage from their involvement in the trade of weapons including cluster bombs and instruments of torture to regimes with questionable human rights records and a bad record of public spending on health, education, water and sanitation for all.

Training New Trainers and Training Old Trainers 2007

Training is a core Medsin and IFMSA activity. In practical terms, trainers deliver workshops on topics in leadership and project management, helping to ensure that members run their branches and projects in the very most effective way possible.

Medsin has a network of experienced trainers, most of whom have attended a Training New Trainers course (run either by IFMSA at their General Assemblies, or by Medsin itself). They are available to provide training on a local or national level through the Medsin Training Director.

Medsin-UK will host a combined three-day Training New Trainers and Training Old Trainers course in 2007. The course will take place:

  • Wednesday 18th – Friday 20th April 2007
  • University of Manchester, Manchester, England

Medsin-UK strongly believes that offering members training in leadership and project management is the key to improving sustainability and increasing both impact and efficiency across the organisation.

If you are currently a Medsin trainer and would like to learn more training skills to help you deliver more effective training on a wider range of subjects, we welcome you to apply to attend Training Old Trainers.

If you are a newcomer to Medsin training but are interested in learning to train in a variety of topics from leadership to conflict resolution and time management, then we welcome you to apply to attend Training New Trainers.

Please email Joel for more information.

For more info, see the Training page on the website

IFMSA stipulates that the three-day preparatory course must culminate in new trainers delivering four hours of training on a chosen topic at completion of the course; therefore the planned dates of TNT/TOT 2007 detailed above have been chosen to coincide with the Medsin-UK Spring General Assembly, London, 21st-22nd April. This is an ideal opportunity for new trainers to deliver training and to get more involved in the larger IFMSA training network.

Spring General Assembly - The Power is Yours

Medsin Spring General Assembly

21st-22nd April 2007

Imperial College, London

Medsin is all about its members and the general assembly (GA) is YOUR opportunity to affect the way YOUR Medsin network operates- 'you got the power!'

There's lots happening, here are some of the highlights:

  • Proposing bylaws and policy statements for the Medsin Network- see below for more details
  • Vote in the New Medsin National Committee- have your say! Or if you want to stand for election - see below for details.
  • Hear what Medsin's campaigns, projects and branches have been up to all year.
  • Opportunity to network with branches and groups, weighing up how the year has been, and start implementing change/ setting up new groups for the new year
  • Opportunity for training - Handover will be one of the hot topics for this year's SGA.
  • Mini-meetings will be happening on issues that affect you- email the national committee for your ideas on mini-meetings

And…

Great Social and lots of fun and Medsin debauchery!

SO if you want to come, then email the registration form to sga2007@medsin.org and lets get the ball rolling.

Costs at the moment are approx £10 for the weekend, which includes two lunches and all the resources.

There will be a Saturday night social (which is optional-pay on the day) but a lot of fun! Accommodation can also be arranged so let us know on the form!

For more information about what goes on at a General Assembly of Medsin, please see details of the Autumn General Assembly 2006.

Please put this date in your diary now and start thinking about making sure your branch/project/campaign is represented. We would like at least one person from each branch or activity, but the more the merrier!

Motions for SGA 2007

The deadline for motion submissions will be 11:59pm on Friday 6th April, 2007.

The Medsin-UK Constitution and Bylaws are available here - should you wish to submit any changes to these.

You may also submit policy statements - examples of these are available here.

If you want Medsin to *do* something, but you're not sure if what you're proposing is a change to the constitution, bylaws or a policy statement or guidance statement please email Jen for some nice friendly advice on how you can shape the way that Medsin works. She might even offer you a cup of tea whilst she expplains how things work...

Be On the Next Medsin National Committee

NC06/07

The network is getting ready to elect its next national committee. We want to encourage as many people as possible to run for positions.

Absolutely anyone may apply for a National Commitee position - no matter your experience of Medsin!

The process of electing the national committee has changed and you may now run for more than one position at the Spring General Assembly. You may stand for one position in each of the following categories:

  • Category A - President
  • Category B - Vice President for Branches, Vice President for Projects, Vice President for External Affairs
  • Category C - Secretary, Treasurer, Campaigns Director, Training Director, Publicity Director, Technology and Communications Director

The elections will commence in the order A, B, C and if you are elected in one category, you must withdraw your candidature for other categories.

If you are interested, please read the following webpages and documents:

Application Page - for essential information about all positions - more detailed positions and job descriptions than included in this email. Also has important information about the new procedure for voting in the National Committee.

Current National Committee Page - information about this year's national committee and how to get in touch with them. Please ensure that you contact the person holding the relevant position before applying.

Applications (a 500 word summary of motivation) for each position you are running for must be received to the current committeeno later than midnight on 11:59pm on Friday, 6th April. You will then be expected to attend the Spring General Assembly and make a short speech to the network.

Candidature Forms are available here and must be signed by your branch president and handed to the National Secretary before the first voting session of the Spring General Assembly. If these are not received, your candidature will be declared invalid. If you are the branch president, two members of your committee must sign the form on your behalf.

If any of this seems confusing -don't be put off!! Email Jen for more information and clarification.

Be a Campaigns Coordinator for Medsin

Campaigns coordinators for all Medsin campaigns that do not have their own general assemblies are elected at the Spring General Aseembly each year.

Campaigns coordinators run their campaign, liaising with local branches running that campaign, sit on Medsin's activities board and represent their campaign as a voting member of Medsin. Campaigns coordinators also work with the coordinators of other campaigns as part of the Campaigns Team, headed by the Campaigns Director on the National Committee.

If you want to find out more about the role, contact the current coordinator of the campaign by clicking on the campaign's name below. You should also contact Pete, Medsin's Campaigns Direcotr. If you are the current campaign coordinator, you may stand for re-election.

Coordinators needed for:

If you want to stand for election as a campaign coordinator please send a statement of motivation to the national committee by 11.59pm on Friday the 6th of April.

As well as electing campaigns coordinators, we will also be electing priority campaigns.

GHEP Coordinator Needed

The coordinator for the Global Health Education Project will also be elected at the SGA.

GHEP - Global Health Education Project - please contact Rob and Vanessa at this address to find out what this role involves.

Please send a letter of motivation to the national committee by 11.59pm on Friday 6th April.

International News and Events

ukAM2007 - Be on the UK Delegation

NC06/07

Do you want to be part of the UK delegation to the IFMSA August Meeting? The deadline for applications is 22nd April.

As you have probably heard by now, the UK is hosting the IFMSA August Meeting in Canterbury. So you don't need to jet off to Australia or Chile to find out about the IFMSA - it's coming home to the UK!

If you'd like to be part of the delegation to the conference now's your chance.

The experience you have will be fantastic, you'll get to learn about Access to Essential Medicines, work with 1000 students from around the world and develop skills. To find out more see the application page.

IPPNW European Student Conference

Porto, PORTUGUAL. 27th-30th April

HURRY get your place! REPRESENT the UK and come to an AMAZING Conference discussing:

  • Conflict in India- Pakistan, Middle East conflict and Landmines in Egypt,
  • Humanitarian and Volunteer Projects,
  • Koyoto Protocol
  • Make Trade Fair
  • Nuclear energy and Weapons including conflict in N. Korea and Iran, Thyroid Cancer due to chernobyl, Russian and French nuclear Tests
  • Humanitarian and Volunteer Projects including the Refugee Camp Project and the UN Millenium development goals.

Email:ippnw.porto07@gmail.com Also - let Kiran know if you're going

Website: http://ippnwporto07.com.sapo.pt

IFMSA SCORA Exchange 2007, Sweden

The IFMSA Standing Committee on Reproductive Health and AIDS is running an exchange with Sweden.

In September 2007, 8th-30th, SCORA-Sweden arranges the 8th Exchange on HIV and AIDS in Sweden. The exchange, which is an international training programme on HIV and AIDS for medical students, is organized by IFMSA-Sweden and national SCORA groups, this year in Lund/Malmö, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Umeå.

The aim of the exchange is to raise awareness and increase the knowledge about HIV/AIDS as a global issue among medical students. This is done by offering medical students from different parts of the world an opportunity to obtain new knowledge and exchange ideas and experiences in this specific field.

Go to this page for more information.

The deadline for applications is May 1st, 2007.

Last updated on Wednesday 04 April 2007 at 10:11.