February 2015 NUI Galway Announces Members of Gender Equality Task Force

Following a meeting of Údarás na hOllscoile/the Governing Authority today (February 27), NUI Galway announced the full membership of a Task Force on Gender Equality to advise the University on its policies, procedures and a range of initiatives to achieve gender equality in promotion.

At an earlier meeting of the Governing Authority in December, the University agreed to establish a Task Force and last month announced that Professor Jane Grimson has been appointed as Chairperson. It has now confirmed the 15 members of the Task Force which comprises of individuals with a broad spectrum of expertise and perspectives.

The members are as follows:

Professor Jane Grimson
Former Vice-Provost, Trinity College Dublin

Liam Bluett
General Manager, Ballybane Enterprise Centre

Norah Gibbons
Chairperson, Child and Family Agency

Professor Áine Hyland
Former Vice-President, University College Cork

Dr John Kremer
Former Reader in Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast

Professor Gerry Loftus
Former Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science, NUI Galway

Gráinne McMorrow, SC
Senior Counsel and Sole Member at Douch Commission of Investigation

Tadhg Ó hÉalaithe
Former Secretary General of the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht

Dr Louise Allcock
Lecturer, School of Natural Sciences, NUI Galway

Dr Nata Duvvury
Senior Lecturer, School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway

Caroline Loughnane
Academic Secretary, NUI Galway

Aoife McNena
HR Operations Manager, NUI Galway

Professor Donncha O’Connell
Head of the School of Law, NUI Galway

Professor Maura Sheehan
Personal Professor, J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, NUI Galway

Natalie Walsh
Research Support Officer, Research Office, NUI Galway

A student member will also be added to the task force in the near future.

Speaking on today’s announcement, Professor Grimson said: “Firstly I am hugely honoured to act as Chair of this Task Force and delighted to be working with such a group as that announced today. As previously stated by the University President, NUI Galway has fully acknowledged the issues and are fully committed to addressing them and these appointments clearly mark a milestone for the University in tackling gender equality and I very much look forward to working with the University on this Task Force.

The University has also committed through its Strategic Planning process, to develop a programme of gender equality initiatives through the international Athena Swan programme, something I am hugely supportive of, which will provide a framework to enable the University to set itself realistic but stretching targets to move towards greater gender equality.

The establishment of a Task Force for gender equality is a significant step towards tackling challenges around gender equality. I am confident we will meet this challenge but it will take time. Having announced the full membership of the Task Force, we plan to hold our first meeting in March following which we will set out our full and detailed terms of reference.”

The Task Force, which will report directly to the University’s Governing Authority, has a wide ranging remit aimed at helping NUI Galway to achieve gender equality. The Task Force was established in response to the recent decision of the Equality Tribunal in respect of gender discrimination towards a staff member in the 2008 Senior Lecturer promotion round.