The Active Consent Workshops will be rolled out to all undergraduate incoming first-year students next week from September 20th -23rd. As we have seen from the USI Sexual Experience Survey in 2020 and the Healthy UL Surveys (2019 & 2020) the campus culture regarding consent needs to be changed. Understanding what is meant by consent is essential for positive sexual relationships. One of the many things you learn during the workshops is Active Consent is OMFG.  

     The online workshop introduces a variety of topics and issues such as: 

  • What is consent? The legal definitions of consent, including the most recent Irish law on Image Based Sexual Abuse. 
  • What does non-consent look like? 
  • Realistic fictional scenarios that explore the nuances of consent 
  • Real time Slido voting exploring popular consent beliefs 
  • What do other young people think? - facts and findings presented from our research in an engaging and easy to digest format 
  • The ‘grey areas’ of consent: 
    • Alcohol / drugs 
    • Social norms 
    • Gender stereotypes 
    • Body language & non-verbal communication 

This academic year we have reached 2808 students with our Active Consent Workshops, last year we reached 712 so this is an increase of 294%. 

The Active Consent Workshops aim to promote a positive approach to sexual health and to equip young people with the tools to recognise and communicate about sexual consent.

Thank you to the Midwest Rape Crisis Centre for their continued support and guidance. Thank you to the Active Consent team,  thank you to the workshop facilitators Chelsea Joyce, Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin and Maureen Keogh and a massive thank you to all the students who engaged and participated in the workshops.

 We must continue to educate ourselves and others around Consent, we must call out anti-social behaviour amongst our peers when it is safe to do so and we must actively show our support for victims of sexual violence. Please see the support services below. 

Support Services. 

Rape Crisis Helpline -1800 77 8888

Women's Aid- 1800 34 1900 

Men's Aid - 0155 43 811

As we have seen from the USI Sexual Experience Survey in 2020 and the Healthy UL Surveys (2019 & 2020) the campus culture regarding consent needs to be changed.
Understanding what is meant by consent is essential for positive sexual relationships. One of the many things you learn during the workshops is Active Consent is OMFG