Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC)

24/09/2026

Project Funding 2026
The Research Committee of the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) is pleased to announce that funding is available to support research projects through the allocation of small research bursaries.

The Research Committee is now accepting applications for funding to support research projects relating to pre-hospital emergency care or paramedicine. See link below for details: https://phecc.ie/research-funding-2026/

17/09/2026

Registration and abstract submissions are now open for the PHECC Research Conference 2026, taking place on 1–2 December 2026 at the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.
The conference brings together researchers, practitioners, educators and students to share research, innovation and learning across pre-hospital emergency care.
Tuesday, 1 December
• Student Research Event – afternoon
• IPERN Event – evening
Wednesday, 2 December
• Main PHECC Research Conference
Delegates are welcome to attend whichever elements of the programme suit them, or join us for both days.
Call for Abstracts
We welcome submissions from across the broad spectrum of pre-hospital care, including research, quality improvement, service evaluation, education, innovation and other scholarly work.
Abstracts may be submitted for consideration as an oral presentation, poster presentation, or either format.
Abstract submission deadline: 4 October 2026
Registration
Registration is €20, covering attendance across the conference events, a two-course lunch on 2 December, and parking where required.
Registration deadline: 1 December 2026
Registration and abstract submission are available here:
https://phecc2026.exordo.com/registration
Please feel free to circulate this invitation widely among colleagues, students and others who may be interested in attending or presenting their work.
For any queries, please contact [email protected].
We look forward to welcoming you to Portlaoise in December.

24/08/2026

🏆 Nominations Are Open – The Geoff King Award | Respond 2026 🏆

Every Community First Responder group has someone who goes that little bit further — the person who is always there, supports others, gives their time freely and makes a real difference to their group and their community.

At Respond 2026, we will once again recognise that commitment through the Geoff King Award.

We are inviting CFR groups across Ireland to nominate someone they feel deserves this very special recognition.

❤️ Someone who has shown exceptional dedication to their CFR group
🚑 Someone who has gone above and beyond while responding in their community
🤝 Someone who is always there to support, encourage and help others
🌟 Or someone whose contribution represents everything that Community First Responding is about

We want to hear their story.

Tell us who you are nominating and, most importantly, why you believe they deserve to receive the Geoff King Award.

📧 Send your nomination to [email protected]

The Geoff King Award will be presented at Respond 2026 on Saturday, 19th September.

Nominate someone who makes a difference.
Recognise someone who deserves to be recognised.

🏆 The Geoff King Award – Respond 2026

17/06/2026

*** IPERN Event ***
The Irish Paramedicine Education and Research Network (IPERN) are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating International Paramedics Day (IPD) 2026
This year, the theme for IPD is "Innovate & Integrate” where we will highlight the various ways paramedics are advancing practice, improving patient care, utilising digital technologies, showcasing organisational, service and clinical integration, pushing the boundaries of research and being at the forefront in education.
IPERN have now been innovating and integrating for 5 years and we are delighted to also celebrate this milestone with you on IPD! 🎉
We would be delighted if you would join us on-site for the day in the School of Medicine, University of Limerick. Refreshments and lunch will be provided so please register using the attend on-site option for catering purposes. Alternatively you have the option to join on-line for the day or just dip in and out of our on-line programme. Our final schedule will follow - we have excellent speakers confirmed and are delighted to be co-designing some of the sessions with you - please let us know what sessions you would prefer on the day using this session design link.
Hope you can join us either on-site or on-line on Wednesday 8th July - if you are interested please sign up on Eventbrite via this registration link
IPERN aims to build capacity, culture and collaboration in our research community in order to improve practice, policy and patient care in Irish Paramedicine. Our events are an opportunity for sharing knowledge and ideas, generating discussion, networking and building relationships between practitioners, service users, academics, policymakers and other healthcare professionals and researchers. You do not have to be an experienced researcher to attend – anyone with an interest in out-of-hospital care is very welcome!
Follow us on X/Twitter for more IPERN updates

28/04/2026

*** We are Hiring!! ***

The position of Registration Manager (Grade VIII) with PHECC has been advertised on PublicJobs today with a closing date of Friday 15 May 2026 (5.00pm).

The link to the candidate booklet on our website is linked here:

Title of Position:  Registration Manager - Grade VIII Duration:         Permanent Position Office:              Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, 2nd Floor, Beech House, Millennium Park, Osberstown, Naas, Co. Kildare. W91 TK7N Location:         Naas, Co. Kildare For more ...

23/04/2026

Irish Paramedicine Education & Research Network (IPERN) are celebrating their 5th Anniversary in 2026! 🎉 see message below

We have a very exciting programme of celebratory events planned for our members which will take place both on-line and in-person throughout the year. All of our 2025 events took place in-person at venues across Ireland so for our first event of 2026 we've decided to return to our on-line roots. We're really looking forward to meeting you all via Zoom at our upcoming event and we are especially delighted to be reuniting with our international members! As always our events are free of charge and open to all with an interest in out-of-hospital research - from beginners to experts!

Our next event takes place on-line on Thursday 7th May at 3pm and is a very special meeting of our IPERN Human Factors Special Interest Group (SIG). It will be hosted by Theresa Murphy (Event Chair) and will feature Paramedicine Human Factors Experts Samuel Fournier and Ivan McCann. Please see below for more information and registration details.

Event Chair: Theresa Murphy has over nineteen years of clinical, educational and voluntary experience across Ireland and the United Kingdom. Theresa graduated with a BSc Paramedic Science (Hons Degree) from City St George's, University of London in 2020. She was awarded her MSc in EMS Immediate Care from University College Dublin (UCD) in 2022. IPERN were delighted to welcome Theresa to their team in 2025. Her particular areas of interest include Paramedic Wellbeing, Mental Health, Practitioner Health and Fitness and Theresa is particularly passionate about Women's Health.

Guest Speaker: Samuel Fournier is a paramedic trainer, Head of Research and Development at ES ASUR in Switzerland, and a PhD candidate at the University of Limerick. With 20 years of experience in prehospital care, he specialises in human factors, patient safety, and systems design in paramedicine. His recent work has focused on emergency obstetrics, neonatal resuscitation, connected tools for remote medical support, and occupational health and safety management for paramedics (with a PhD thesis on the prevention and management of violence against paramedics).

Guest Speaker: Ivan McCann is a patient safety specialist, human factors researcher and multi-national registered paramedic. He has over a decade of prehospital clinical experience spanning three continents. During this time he has also held roles as a quality assurance specialist, clinical auditor and paramedic advisor. He has completed his MSc in Human Factors in Patient Safety at RCSI. His research interests include human factors in paramedicine, with a focus on just culture, and patient safety incident review in paramedicine. Ivan acts as Co-Lead of the IPERN Human Factors Special Interest Group (SIG)

Hope you can join us on Thursday 7th May at 3pm - if you are interested please sign up on Eventbrite via this link https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ipern-human-factors-in-paramedicine-special-interest-group-sig-tickets-1986113498940?aff=oddtdtcreator

Follow us on X/Twitter for more IPERN updates on our celebratory events in 2026!

Welcome to our first IPERN event of 2026 hosted by Theresa Murphy and featuring Human Factors Experts Ivan McCann and Samuel Fournier

04/03/2026

19/12/2025

*** Attention Responder Level Educators ***

Following the recent developments and updates to PHECCs suite of Responder level Education and Training Standards, which will be launched in January 2026, the PHECC Education seeks to appoint suitably qualified person(s) or organisation who will lead the development of new education content for the 2026 Cardiac First Response (CFR) courses, including the production of the 2026 Cardiac First Response (CFR) training materials, videos and blended learning.

Responses are to be submitted by 6pm on Monday January 12th, 2026.

(see link below for details)

Have a great Christmas.

Following the recent developments and updates to PHECCs suite of Responder level Education and Training Standards, which will be launched in January 2026, the PHECC Education seeks to appoint suitably qualified person(s) or organisation who will lead the development of new education content for the....

16/12/2025

*** Opportunities to join PHECC's Research Committee ***

Good afternoon,

Established in 2021, the PHECC Research Committee has supported and promoted quality pre-hospital emergency care research, including funding key projects for Council and Paramedicine in Ireland.

The Committee has also delivered three successful conferences in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

There are currently a number of vacancies on the Research Committee.

If you feel your skills, experiences and knowledge can contribute to the future work of the Committee, please forward a cover letter and CV to Dr Dawn Higgins, Research Manager, [email protected] before noon on Friday January 9th, 2026.

06/11/2025

Last chance to Register for the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Research Conference, Promoting Quality Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Research in Ireland.

Wednesday, November 19th, 2025, [8.45am-5.15pm] (with an evening event, A Cup of Paramedicine, on Tuesday November 18th [5pm-7pm]).

The PHECC Research Team are delighted to deliver another packed and exciting agenda, with an array of insightful and inspiration speakers from Ireland, UK, Norway and New Zealand.

The full agenda is attached and can also be found at https://pheccresearch2025.exordo.com/

The deadline to register is Wednesday November 12th, please Register here.

Please share all this information with any stakeholder you think may be interested.