The Senate Hot Seat: Interview with Candidates

Doctoral Postgraduate Officer: Rehab Meckawy 

Maynooth University has over 2,000 postgraduate and doctoral students in its midst. This year, the position for Doctoral Postgraduate Officer in the Maynooth Students’ Union Election (MSU/Aontas na Mac Léinn, Mhá Nuad) is uncontested, with Rehab Meckawy looking to secure the position she was co-opted for a few months ago. Silver Hand Journal journalist Emma Crawford spoke with Meckawy to discuss PhD programmes, stereotypes about doctoral students, and why she is the perfect candidate. 

REHAB: Okay, so I'm Rehab Mackawy from Egypt! 'm a first year PhD student in the School of Business. My project aims to increase vaccination uptake among refugee children. My background, I'm a medical doctor specialized in public health. So this is my academic background. I'm running for the doctoral postgraduate officer. And I'm currently the co-opted doctoral postgraduate officer in the Minnesota Student Union, and I'm running for next year. 

EMMA: So what made you decide to run for that role in the first place? 

R: Okay, so actually [... ] what motivates me from the first place to get involved in the Student Union is that during my Bachelor of Medicine, I was deprived from the student activities. I didn't have much time. But later on, during my master's at Arizona State University, [ASU], which I took remotely, I became very passionate about helping and advocating for students' needs. And I co-founded two student organisations during my masters. So, it was really my first experience here at Maynooth to run that in person or get involved with the student activities and be raising their concerns, understanding more what can make our experience better in our PhD or generally in our university experience. This is my first time I will do this in person and just like live [alongside this] student passionate, like activities that I was deprived of in the past. 

E: Okay, so did you do your undergrad[ate degree] in Egypt? 

R: Yeah, my undergrade in Egypt. 

E: And then your postgrad in Arizona, and your doctorate in Maynooth? 

R: Exactly. I have two masters, one from Egypt and one from Arizona. 

E: That is really impressive. That's so cool. What would you say is your favourite part about being a student at Munich University? 

R: Okay, it is my first time being an international in-person student. So what I like here is that everyone is supportive and I feel I'm lucky because I was looking for a good PhD opportunity, but when you're in a PhD, you look for a good supervisor. But I was lucky enough that even not only a good supervisor, but actually a good university experience and everyone is kind and supportive. Would you like me to expand on certain aspects? 

Also, another thing unique that would make me enjoy being a PhD student is that I get to not only meet people from different nationalities, but actually with different goals in the research to solve problems. Simply in a PhD, you do not just study for being knowledgeable, but you study to solve real-world problems. And it's really impressive to get to understand the motivation of other fellow peers who have a passion for solving real-world problems that you were never even aware of or considering […] especially with the interdisciplinary type of education at Maynooth. I'm from a medical background, but I'm in the school of business. So, this interdisciplinarity [experience] is really, really a privilege. 

E: My next question is about the Hustings that took place on Tuesday evening [March 3]. You discussed some issues facing doctoral postgraduate students at Maynooth. One of them was sort of accepting the need to feel lost throughout the journey. Can you elaborate a bit more on this with your own experiences? And how would you approach that issue in the role of doctoral postgraduate? 

R: Well, everyone seemed to have a consensus when I tell them I'm PhD student, they look to me with an empathy or like “you must be struggling or you have a very long journey to go through”. It's normal to feel lost and not know how we do research where [we] succeed or not in the end. But I just want to like encourage most these students do not accept this like status quo. Like 4 years they can be well planned and even you can well planned that at some point of time you will face uncertainty. So yes, especially in my medical school it was seven-year education. So, for me four years it's still shorter. So, I just don't want us to accept that if your PhD student you definitely do not have time [for anything]. It is still manageable and consider it like you're doing double degrees one after the other, do not consider it like you're completely lost because you have a full year. 

E: So, you intend to make it known to either current students or perhaps prospective students that it is manageable. You can do it. It's something that you can achieve  [by] taking on a post-grad or a doctorate. 

R: My PhD experience is really good. I feel I'm very lucky to be progressing and I have what's planned next. I accept that at some point of time there will be uncontrollable uncertainty. But at the same time, whenever I tell someone like, I'm a PhD student, like, you must be struggling. This is not always the case. And if you're struggling, speak up. out or just tell us what you struggle with so that we can help you. Maybe it just can be solved or can be improved. Do not accept, like, because I'm a PhD student, I must be struggling [and can’t be helped]. 

E: Do you think a lot of students sort of just are worried if they speak out that they'll be seen as [less] 

R: They're not aware they can speak up! So that's why I also got involved in the Students’ Union because I wasn't sure to whom should I raise my concerns with. They are not really challenges but areas of improvement. So I just want, I wasn't sure whom should I speak to and whether this person would take my like suggestions seriously. So I said, okay, I'll step up and try to be that person. 

E: Okay, that makes a lot of sense. As well in the Hustings, you emphasise the importance of having a teaching experience within your PhD studies and perhaps developing a survey to understand your peers' perspective on the matter. What would you say, if any, are the current weaknesses of Maynooth's teaching opportunities for doctoral postgraduates at the moment? 

R: I remember this question and actually I am meant to explore this experience in my next year. So I will understand more the context. But I'm already in my country an assistant lecturer, so I have the teaching experience. So I want to understand more, because most of my PhD students who are my fellows, they have teaching experience. So when I got this question, I emphasized that I want to understand the context more. But definitely as a PhD student you need to leverage this opportunity not only doing research but to be like have tutoring experience because most often after a PhD you will seek a career in academia and it's important to have a teaching experience. And I know other previous students who neglected this part and unfortunately they got a PhD but not an easy career in academia because academia research is very important, but if you don't have a contact with students how to teach, how to tutor, unfortunately it could be a missed opportunity. You didn't take advantage of it during your PhD years. So I need to understand more of the context and as myself, I'll start tutoring expected next academic year. So it would be put me more on the ground to understand what kind of challenges. 

E: You're currently running uncontested, so you're not facing any opponents. Has that changed the way you have or would approach a campaign? 

R: No. Because I don't have more time being like a PhD student to do more campaigning of it, but at the same time, that matters to me actually is that PhD students' areas of improvement get heard and taken seriously, and I keep on emphasising. So far, I don't have a particular challenge for the PhD student experience, but I can see areas of improvement. So whoever is this person who would do such things, I would be happy. So it doesn't have to be me, but please just focus on raising our suggestions to make our experience better. 

E: You're not really worried about victory per se. You're just worried about what you can do. 

R: Yes, I would be happy if  this position was carried by multiple PhD students so that we can help each other. Yeah. So, especially if we have time constraints, this is undeniable, but..what matters for me is that I make the experience of teaching students, including myself, better. 

Environmental Officer: Virgil Morris 

Environmental Senator candidate whose new slogan has accidentally become “Eat More Dirt” talks about all thing's campus beauty, AI divestment, sustainability promotion, and, surprisingly, bears. 

VIRGIL: So, I am running for Environmental Officer. You can probably tell from the accent I’m American [though readers can’t, you definitely can in conversation with candidate]. So I have been passionate about the environment for a very long time. My undergraduate was actually — this is a long one — Educational Psychology and Bioethics. So, part of my problem is that I love too many things, but the environment kind of ties all of those elements together. Where I'm passionate about taking care of our natural resources because we do have an ethical responsibility for it. There are also the scientific wonders that come from studying the environment, the psychological element of spending time outside with your plants, with the animals — which you guys don't have as many we have in the U.S. [...]. Sorry, I got distracted thinking about the one time that we had a bear on campus back in my first university. Yeah, that was a good time.  

Anyway, the psychological aspect of you can improve your health by just walking in the woods, such a lovely campus just to walk around. And the education aspect of it, I do really want to teach. I want to be a professor eventually. So next year, I will be undertaking a Master's of Social Research here. 

JADE: So, we're on about your love in Maynooth. What is your favorite aspect about being a student at Maynooth? 

V: I love the campus. I do really like my classmates. I am substantially older than them, just because my situation got a little messy with my first round of applications. But, you know, it's been nice. I like the people I am studying with. I've been able to find people that I get along with, particularly in the Senate, because when I first got here, I found that, like with how direct I am, that came off as kind of abrasive to a lot of people, simply because the Irish way seems to be a little bit more subtle, little bit more discrete. But in the Senate, a lot of people are more likely a little bit more conversationally aggressive, which I appreciate, which I mean; it's part of what we have to do, because we only have so much time. We have to get to a solution before the time runs out, because none of us want to be there past nine. 

J: Yeah, absolutely [...] and late on an evening, on a Wednesday. So, what made you decide specifically to run for this role? I know you mentioned that you're really passionate about the environment. But what is the key factor that made you go “okay, this is for me”?

V: So this year, I've been the International Student Senator, which has just been a lovely time. It is possibly the easiest job on Senate, I kind of make my own responsibilities. But I've been involved with several of the environmental groups on campus. I do want to focus part of my Social Research thesis on environmental sociology and psychology. So I just made connections in those departments, and I got to know Lily [Kilmartin-Gath] our current Environmental Officer, and she and I connected a lot over the course of the year, we've done a few little events together, and we have another one planned for Green Week, but she told me she was going off for Erasmus, and they sent a note about “someone should run for office” in the Environmental Soc group chat. So I decided to do it. 

J: So at the March 3rd Hustings, you mentioned that you want the university to divest itself from the use of AI. How do you plan on achieving this? 

V: No, I have no idea, but I'm excited to find out. Ultimately, most change happens just by talking. So, I need to find the right people to talk to in the right words to say in the right order, and that's not an easy undertaking, but for the most part, the Faculty of the University are pretty anti-AI. I’m involved in the Climate Justice Union, and that includes a lot of faculty members. Actually, at the last meeting, I was the only student there, well, with the exception of a postdoc and one PhD candidate. So, I was the only one; I was one of the only students, I'll say. And the overwhelming opinion was also an agreement of divesting from AI sources, moving away from having machines thinking for us and having more students thinking for themselves, yeah.  

J: How do you think, if you were to bring it to students and staff, that you'd make the environmental impact specifically aware? I know it's a big thing at the moment within departments about academic integrity and having your own work, but there is a lot less emphasis in university on the environmental impact. 

V: So, unfortunately, the environment for a lot of people is a bit of an afterthought because they're [...] so much of our lives to revolve around what we do indoors, what we do on our computers, what we do on our phones. There's not as much of your day-to-day life that really relies on the environment, which I think is kind of a shame, because, I mean, for most of this island's history, people were not farming on these huge clear cut fields. They were in forests, [...] gathering things, and cultivating things on the forest floors. And that's kind of a shame that we lost a lot of that we have an apple orchard on campus, yeah, which, I don't know many people that go apple-picking. Unfortunately, I mean, they're out of season right now, but they'll be back in the fall. 

I guess how do we make people aware of the environmental impact? I think we have to get people to be outside more and kind of embrace the few good days that we have. Yeah, I am still trying to get used to the rain. It's not quite the same as the rain in Georgia, but I've been kind of walking out of my house thinking like, Okay, I'm in frog mode. I'm fine being slimy and damp. Yeah, it's fine 

J: It's unfortunate, but that’s Ireland really, I know we had the good weather on Monday, no Tuesday, sorry, which is brilliant, because we never get that like it feels like it's summer right now when it isn't. So, if the university administration resists a sustainability proposal you sent to them, how would you respond to this? 

V: Make more noise, while a lot of change can be accomplished by talking.Even more change, I think, can be accomplished by being incredibly obnoxious. So that is how we saw a lot of the positive change in the U.S., particularly. So, I'm from the south. Yes, that's like the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. And a lot of how we made progress during the Civil Rights Movement was just being unignorable. There were boycotts, there were marches, constantly. There was no way to escape the noise being made about the desire for change. Yeah. So, keep making noise.  

J: What will success look like for you at the end of your term, if you were elected?  

V: So, one thing I definitely want to make sure I do is enshrine all of the good work that Lily has done this year into the Student Senate. I want her policies and whatever policies I put together to stay after we're gone. Part of my environmental philosophy comes from a quote by Aldo Leopold about planting and watering the trees that you'll never get to sit in the shade of. So, cultivating something that lasts that will be here for the students who are here after I graduate and move on. Although I keep meeting professors that went here, so I'm thinking, if I do get my degree in sociology, I might end up staying here forever. 

Then, ideally, completely divest from any AI investment and come up with an environmentally sustainable AI policy, but that is ambitious, and probably more than I could accomplish in a year. But who knows? Things can be accomplished that you're not suspecting. 

J: You may as well bring all the ambitions than not. Is there anything that you want to make students aware of, whether it's about yourself, your campaign, your manifestos? 

V: I guess I want the students to know just how lucky they are to go here, to be able to come to this university that is just so beautiful. We have the oldest tree in Ireland. So, I want our students to kind of recognise that this is not just a privilege, but like a blessing to be here and enjoy while you can. 

Oifigeach na Gaeilge: Joris Rooney 

Joris Rooney is a first-year student at Maynooth University. Emma Crawford and Rooney reflect on his journey with the Irish language and what he hopes can be achieved by making speaking and learning Irish on campus a comfortable and fun process. 

JORIS: So, I'm Joris Mooney. I'm in first year at the minute studying law, Irish and politics. I'm from out west, in County Sligo. So, yeah, I'm running for Oifigeach na Gaeilge, which is the Irish Language Officer in the Students' Union. So, I've been in charge of promoting and increasing the use of our native language throughout campus and in the life of the university, and that's what I aim to do. 

EMMA: What made you decide to run? 

J: Well, I since about TY, I've kind of been obsessed with Irish. And before that, I didn't know Irish, basically, because none of my parents, neither of my parents have Irish. My mum's Belgian, so she had no knowledge of the language. So I went to Coláiste Chamuis in Ros a' Mhíl for three weeks just after the Junior Cert, and I fell in love with it then. So since then, I've focused on Irish for a lot of stuff. I got my H1 in the Leaving Cert. And then as soon as I got here, I got into the Scéim Chónaithe, which is the Irish-speaking accommodation on campus. And then through that, I use Irish every day. And I've been involved with the Cuallacht, so the Irish Society- I'm the first-year rep for that. I'm the first-year academic rep for Irish. I'm the first-year academic rep for law. And so through the and the and academic Irish, I've gone. I recently went down to Cork for a which is basically a conference on the not only Irish but on Welsh and Gaelic as well […] I want to do whatever I can to improve Irish, because it is our native language and it is the primary language of the country even though it doesn't seem like that. But I want to do my best to improve it, increase the use of it, and make sure everyone on campus knows about Irish. 

E: Not bad! Heading into the campaign, and looking ahead to if you get elected, are you anticipating any challenges or obstacles in your attempt to encourage Irish on campus? 

J: So obviously the majority of people here on campus can't speak Irish fluently. Most people will have done it in school, and think they don’t have it, some people don't realise that they have it. Then because they don't feel like they have it, they feel like they can't get involved with the Irish society or anything like that, or to everyone that they can get involved no matter what Irish they have. We've had people show up to pop up Gaeltachts who've said, two words of Irish and we've cheered every time they did it. And it's a great craic, right? I know what it's like to not be a native speaker because I'm not a native speaker. And like my mum's from Belgium, she had no knowledge of the language whatsoever. But now, because I've got invested, she's seen how much I'm into it and she's seen the effect it can have.

In Ireland, Irish is very directed towards people who have an interest, and that's it. Whereas I want to expand it out, so I want to go around campus, put up posters, whatever, put more activities in the students' union in Irish, at least. once a week or once every two weeks, because currently they don't have any outside shops in the way I get. So the biggest challenge will be trying to get people involved, but hopefully I've done enough socialising outside of the Irish aspect that I can try and drag a few people along. I know this year I dragged a few of my friends along to Irish stuff and they've improved their Irish. And ideally, I'll put on classes or something to try and make people more comfortable before they go to anything. But if people don't want to go to classes or whatever, and they just want to show up, we will happily take whoever comes. Because every Irish language speaker, everyone who has any interest in the language whatsoever is incredibly valuable. 

E: Yeah, I wanted to ask you a little bit about those events, because I know it was brought up the Hustings on Tuesday. Those sorts of classes to encourage speaking, what would they look like for you? And as well, another question was sort of, would you want to maybe even have it so that those classes are open to international students and faculty? Because as we know, Maynooth has such incredibly broad Erasmus options and plenty of international students. 

J: Yes, absolutely. I would 100% open them up because through my mum, she was looking at trying to get Irish language classes and they're all directed at people who went to school here- none of them are directed at people coming in [and] immigrating. So she's now managed to find one and she's enjoying it so much. So I absolutely want to start from the bare basics. Through being on the cool up committee and through being in the game, I live with 30 Irish language speakers. So, I'll be able to convince a few people, put on a few simple basic lessons whatsoever, and just be informal, just having the chats really. And if people want to get technical into grammar, we can get technical into grammar, but I doubt people will want that. 

E: Introducing the Yanks to the Modh Coinníollach [the conditional tense as Gaeilge]! 

J: Yeah, exactly! I don't know if you want that [though]! So yeah, there are currently classes that the university does to try and get a certain level. So it's like just [to] put on your CV that you have an A1 or B1 or C1 in Irish, which would help you get jobs everywhere. But in my opinion, it's better to have it just spoken naturally. So we just teach basic phrases that you could say, go to the shop. And you could ask for stuff in the shop or in the cafe in TSI [building] or something. And you could just say… “Báinín beag, le do thoil” (flat white, please). And hopefully I'd be able to talk to the cafe and stuff and just go, look, this is what this means if someone comes up…because I know when I was learning in primary school and [the] junior cert, I'd never seen it used like in life. And so I was like, “this is kind of pointless.” But then once I saw it being used everyday [then] I had the best 3 weeks of my life. all through Irish…So the best way to see Irish being used and the best way to use Irish is just use it every day, normal conversation, and just have to craic through it it.                                                                                                          

E: You mentioned your mom managed to find somewhere she could get Irish lessons in this Lego. May I ask where that is? It sounds something really bad. 

J: Well, she's got them online! It's “Irish with Molly”, I believe. 

E: I'll have to look into it. With sort of taking the pressure off students to speak Irish. Would you say at the moment there's sort of an air of intimidation about it? Do you think that comes from sort of Irish being associated with studying it in school? 

J: Yes, 100%. Like the way Irish is taught in school, it's not ideal. Unless you have an interest in it, you kind of can get a bit put off by it. Like some of the stories are fairly graphic. I'm not sure we want to be learning about some woman taking an inhaler away from a blind man on a train. Like, I don't need that in my life! They have that general thing where they've been taught it, formally teacher at the front of the class telling you what to do for however many years. What? Eight years in primary and six years in secondary, so 14 years. Like, that's not what I aim to do. So I'm aiming to have a bit of fun through it. I've put on a few quizzes, put on a ceilidh or something, teach [people] how to dance through Irish or whatever. It's not that difficult, like. So there definitely is that formal aspect to Irish currently. And like I do know when everyone in this game is like, we're all wearing our same hoodies that we get or whatever, we do kind of look like a cult. But We're not really. We're just…  
 
E: A commune!  
 
J: A commune, yeah. And so, yeah, like…we're all great friends. Like, I'm there living with a master's student, two third year and two second years, and I have great crack with them. There are several master's students who I would happily go [out] and just chat to no matter what. And so that's what I aim to do, is [to] have more people in that group. Because I know there's people who study Irish who don't necessarily want to get involved with the Cullacht or whatever. They seem a bit scared because they're like, “oh, maybe my Irish isn't good enough and they're only doing it because they're doing teaching” or whatever. But like the Cullacht are, I'd argue…we're the most active society on campus. Like, we have something at least every day, if not, twice a day. So, even if it's just a few phrases, show them what they will get, free tea and biscuits, [to] say a few words in Irish, I think it's worth it! 

E: OK, so you're running for this [position] uncontested…should you get elected you know, let's say[...] a year from now. How would you define success for this role at the end of your term? 

J: Success for me would be more visibility of Irish on campus. And ideally, like, really optimistic, I would like a full-time role for Oifigean na Gaeilge in the Students' Union, where one of the only primary universities in the country, if you say that. So UCD, UL, UCC, Trinity, TUD. So out of them, only us and UCC don't have a full-time Irish officer. 

E: Wow, I didn’t know that! 

J: Like TUD have one and then no disrespect to TUD, but I'd like to think we're better [than them] 

E: No shade to TUD! 

J: No shade! And…the fella who's in UCC [Student Union] now currently has a referendum vote to get a full-time officer in UCC. 

E: That's something you'd like? 

J: So ideally, I know that's what Jess, who's currently in it [Oifigeach na Gaeilge 25/26] she's pushed for it. Sophie, who was there last year [Oifigeach na Gaeilge 24/25] and who's my current roommate, she was pushing for it. So I'm going to be pushing for it as well. That's like, the optimistic, if we get that, it's definitely a success…I'd want a full-time role, hopefully put the name of the [Maynooth] Students' Union in both Irish and English officially, because that's what every other college has. In fact, in Galway, it is only in Irish. It's not in English whatsoever. And then more informally, If we got, whatever, 30 more people interested in Irish outside who aren't in studying Irish or even if they are. that's a win. I'd like anyone that wants to come, we will take, no problem whatsoever. If they're Americans coming over for Erasmus, if they're Belgians coming over for Erasmus, if they are from Timbuktu…Success for me is more visibility for Irish, fix some of the signs [across Campus] so that they're bilingual, and more people speaking Irish. That's all. 

Go raibh maith agat! 
 

Editor’s Note: Rooney sent us this transcription as Gaeilge that was not possible to be recorded on the day:

"Seachtain na Gaeilge shona go gach duine! Tá sé soléir go bhfuil paisean agam ar son ár dteanga dhúchais agus ba mhaith liom an paisean sin a scaipeadh do gach duine ar champas. Má tá fadhb ar bith ag éinne nó má tá smaointí ag daoine, le do thoill, bí i dteagmháil liom. Táim ar champas an t-am ar fad go háirithe i seomra na Gaeilge. Sin é. Vótaigí domsa ar an 10ú agus an 11ú. Beath teanga í a labhairt!"

Voting will be available both online (from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) and in person at booths (open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) in the Arts Block, TSI, Library, MSU Club Foyer, and MSU Info Centre – the latter will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Whether voting today online or in person, students are encouraged to take the time to review each candidate and make their voices heard.