In 2012, for the first year, undergraduate students from pharmacy schools in the UK and Ireland took part in the Pharmacy Law and Ethics Association (PLEA) bioethics competition. RCSI senior cycle pharmacy student Alice Holton came first in the competition.

The second place went to Ayla Atalar of the University of East Anglia and Lisa McDonald of the University of Hertfordshire.

In addition to RCSI securing the top place, two other RCSI students were listed in the top 10 (Lisa Geraghty-fourth and Sinead Ryan-tenth).

Dr Judith Strawbridge, Programme Director of the RCSI Undergraduate Programme, remarked that the success of RCSI students in this British Isles competition was a strong external validation for the teaching of bioethics in RCSI.

The competition was administered by Dr Cathal T. Gallagher, Principal Lecturer, School for Pharmacy, University of Hertfordshire.

The Pharmacy Law and Ethics Association is for pharmacists who are interested in law and ethics and lawyers or ethicists who are interested in pharmacy. The Chair of the UK and Ireland PLEA are Prof. Joy Wingfield (University of Nottingham, UK) and Ms. Cicely Roche (Senior Lecturer, University of Dublin, Trinity College Dublin) respectively.