University College Dublin (UCD) today announced that the UCD School of Medicine, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science and UCD College of Engineering and Architecture (made up of a further six Schools), have received Athena SWAN Bronze awards for their commitment to gender equality.

These awards were made on the basis of a gender equality action plan that describes how the Schools involved will drive gender equality for their faculty, staff and students.

Together with four previous UCD Schools that achieved Athena SWAN awards in Spring 2019, twelve (12) UCD Schools have now achieved Athena SWAN recognition and are delivering on their ambitious gender equality action plans. These Schools encompass some 1350 faculty and staff and almost 10,000 students.

“I am delighted to congratulate the Schools that have achieved this success on the basis of their commitment to delivering gender equality, encouraging greater female participation in STEM and ultimately making UCD a more inclusive place to work and study for everyone,” said Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact and Chair of UCD’s Gender Equality Action Group.

Building on UCD’s institutional Athena SWAN Bronze Award, these awards mark the second round of UCD Schools that have embarked on a data driven audit and a School-wide consultation of gender equality and inclusion among employees and students.

As a result of the audits, the Schools involved have begun to implement ambitious four-year gender equality strategies to ensure gender equality as part of UCD’s goal of being an employer and university of choice.

Examples of steps these Schools are taking to create an inclusive culture include:

• A minimum of 40% representation of women on interview boards and committees
• Gender-proofing workload distribution models to ensure work is transparently and equitably allocated
• Developing female talent via the Aurora mentorship programme
• Outreach to secondary schools to increase participation of the underrepresented gender in their subject.

Professor Feely added, “Diversity is one of the core values in UCD’s strategy, and one of our strategic objectives is the attraction and retention of an excellent and diverse cohort of students, faculty and staff. The Athena SWAN process is central to our ability to deliver on this objective and deliver on UCD’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.”

A further nine Schools and one College in UCD are progressing further Athena SWAN applications.