Rick O’Shea Award for Medical Students

Patrick ‘Rick’ O’Shea

In memory of our Patron, Rick O’Shea, who tragically passed away in 2025, we have established The Rick O’Shea Award, an annual prize for medical students.

The award is intended to encourage and recognise outstanding contributions by medical students in understanding, researching, and addressing mental health challenges within the construction industry.

This year’s award will focus specifically on mental health in the construction industry, an area of growing concern and importance. Full details of the award, eligibility criteria, and submission requirements are available on the Rick O’Shea Award page.

Three prizes will be awarded annually:

• First Prize: £500

• Second Prize: £250

• Third Prize: £100

In addition, Careif will make every effort to support publication of selected submissions.

The deadline for submitting entries for this year’s contest is 1 May 2026.

Commenting on this new award, Professor Rachel Tribe (Chair of Careif) said:

“We are pleased to be able to launch the Rick O’Shea award to honour the memory of our much-missed patron of over 20 years, who sadly passed away in 2025. Rick worked for over 40 years in the construction industry and this prize is to honour his memory and work and to also recognise evidence-based work conducted by final year medical students to improve mental health in the construction industry.“

Help us spread the word

We would be most grateful if this opportunity could be shared with students at medical schools and that eligible students are encouraged to apply.

Feel free to download and print out this flyer that we have created.

Thank you for your support in promoting this important initiative. Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.