Recent News

University of Galway celebrates success at Irish National Athena Swan Awards 2025 (November)

University of Galway was honoured with a Silver Institutional Athena Swan Award at the Irish National Athena Swan Awards on 12 November, recognising an important milestone in our continued efforts to advance equality and foster an inclusive culture. 

^{L:R Anne O' Grady (School of Nursing & Midwifery), Dr. Laura Loftus (EDI), Dr, Ciara Meehan (School of Nursing & Midwifery), Dr. Helen Maher, Vice President for EDI, Dr. Edel Dohorty (School of Business & Economics), Dr. Catherine Emerson (School of Languages Literaturs & Culture), Aoife Cooke (EDI), Margaret Forde (EDI), Dr Kate Dawson (School of Psychology) & Dr. Ciara Egan (School of Psychology)}

This award highlights the collective efforts of our staff and students in driving meaningful change and embedding equality, diversity, and inclusion into the University’s structures and practices.

In addition to the institutional recognition, five University of Galway Schools were also celebrated for their achievements:

• J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics – Silver Award
• School of Nursing and Midwifery – Bronze Renewal
• School of Languages, Literatures and Culture – Bronze Award
• School of Political Science and Sociology – Bronze Award
• School of Psychology – Bronze Renewal

While acknowledging that the University has had a difficult past in relation to gender equality, this success demonstrates the progress we have made – further details here – and our determination to continue this work. Our new Gender Equality Action Plan 2025–2030 (GEAP 4) will build on this foundation, guiding us towards deeper, lasting change and ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion remain at the heart of everything we do as a community.

There is always more work to do to create an equitable environment for all our staff and students, and we look forward to continuing to work collectively to achieve this vision. Through our collective efforts, we aim to cultivate a University culture that places our people and their lived experience at the centre.

To mark these achievements, an internal celebration will take place on Monday, 2 December in the Michael D. Higgins Auditorium (12:00–14:00). All staff and students are warmly invited to join us in celebrating this important milestone together.

2-Year Anniversary of the Race Equality Framework and Action Plan

The Office of the Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion marked the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Race Equality Framework and Action Plan. 

^{L-R: Anne Marie Stokes (Race Equality Advisor), Owen Ward (Programme Manager for Race Equality), Dr. Helen Maher (Vice President for EDI),  Prof. David Burn (President University of Galway), Prisca Chipao (Race Equality Advisor, Gugulethu Thabethe (Student ), and  D.r Tanja Kovačič (Race Equality Advisor).}

University of Galway Race Equality Framework & Action Plan 2023-2027 provides a clear roadmap for advancing race equality and fostering a more equitable and inclusive university. It outlines our commitment to valuing diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds, recognising that race equality is integral to the University’s core values of respect, openness, sustainability, belonging and excellence.

It contains 125 actions across five thematic areas, with emphasis placed on ensuring race equality is prioritised in all strategies, policies and many other aspects to ensure the University develops as a welcoming, inclusive environment where everyone has a sense of belonging. The agreed success criteria, to be reached by November 2027, are as follows: 57 actions fully implemented and 68 actions demonstrably progressing in line with agreed timelines.

The Race Equality Framework and Action Plan Mid-Term Review 2023-2025 clearly illustrates that, as of 31st August 2025, the University is making strong, measurable progress toward its November 2027 Race Equality Action Plan objectives. Of the 125 actions, 107 (85%) are either complete or progressing as planned, reflecting sustained institutional commitment to embedding race equality across all levels.

Launch of the National Speak Out Report- Nov 2025

Our University of Ending Sexual Violence & Harassment team attended the launch of the Speak Out National Report 2024 in TCD on November 3rd, 2025. Funded by the Higher Education Authority, Speak Out’s dataset will be used to inform future responses to abuse and harassment in higher education, and to encourage formal reporting. 

^{L:R Rebecca Connolly, Gemma MacNally, Gillian Connolly (TCD), Rachel Skelly (TCD), Elaine Mearse (TCD), Niamh Kavanagh, Pádraig Mac Neela & Elaine Maise Hall (President of the Students Union, Galway)}

Reported by TCD "Universities and colleges across Ireland have teamed up to release national data from anonymous reports of abuse and harassment by staff and students from 2022-2024. The data shows that bullying and harassment were the most common abuses reported to Speak Out, an anonymous online reporting tool introduced at 17 higher education institutions (HEIs) in a bid to enhance safety for students and staff.  

Funded by the Higher Education Authority, Speak Out’s dataset will be used to inform future responses to abuse and harassment in higher education, and to encourage formal reporting. 

While 1,011 staff and students made anonymous reports over this period, only 12% of students made a formal complaint to their university or college about the abuse while only 4% of students made a complaint to An Garda Síochána.   

Speak Out, whose national office is based at Trinity, allows people to disclose their experiences anonymously of bullying, harassment, assault and sexual violence – and avail of signposting to support services. It is one of a range of reporting options available in HEIs.  

The report, based on data from the 16 HEIs that implemented this tool from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2024, should not be read as reflecting the true prevalence of these behaviours. The number of reports made through Speak Out is expected to rise as the service becomes more established. HEIs exist within the wider cultural and societal context, and as such many of the issues reported are reflective of the broader experiences of those living within Ireland. 

Key findings included:    

• 1,011 individuals made anonymous reports through the Speak Out tool. Of these, 636 were students and 303 were staff. 784 reported on their own behalf and 227 on behalf of someone else. 
• The most common behaviours experienced were bullying (382 reports) and harassment (340). 
• Sexual violence and sexual harassment accounted for 25% of behaviours disclosed by students. Students made 55 reports of rape, 106 reports of sexual assault and 108 reports of sexual harassment.
• Students disclosed significantly higher levels of purely physical abuse (17%) while 4% of staff disclosures involved purely physical abuse. 
• 20% of staff and 12% of students made a formal complaint to their HEI about the abuse.
• 4% of students made a formal complaint to An Garda Síochána about the abuse. 
• Common reasons for not reporting the incident to the HEI include a fear that nothing would be done or lack of proof that the behaviour took place.    
• Common reasons for not reporting to the Gardaí included a sense that the behaviour was not serious enough, or again, that proof was lacking.  "

University of Galway’s adoption of the ALTITUDE Charter

University of Galway celebrated the adoption of the ALTITUDE Charter for Universal Design in Tertiary Education, 29th September, with our University President, Professor David J. Burn.

The learner population in tertiary education is becoming increasingly diverse, and students’ lives are also increasingly complex. The responsibility on educational institutions to provide equitable access for all is now strongly embedded in Irish legislation, and national tertiary education strategies contain more specific goals to implement a Universal Design approach, (SOLAS, 2020; Higher Education Authority, 2022).

Universal Design, or UD for short, offers us an evidence-based approach to engender this mindset, and is increasingly seen as a central tenet of our response to rising diversity, (Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, 2022).

Funded by the HEA under PATH 4, the ALTITUDE Project was an extensive cross sectoral collaboration involving six national agencies, fifteen higher education (HE) institutions and six Education and Training Board (ETB) representatives, nominated by Directors of FET to represent the Further Education and Training sector. The Charter was launched in Spring 2024, alongside an accompanying technical report and implementation toolkit.

Dr Donal Fitzpatrick, Senior Advisor on the European Accessibility Act with the Centre of Excellence in Universal Design shared his knowledge on Universal Design in Education and his experience of working with partners in University of Galway and across the higher education sector.

^{L:R Dr. Deirdre McHugh (University of Galway), Dr. Donal Fitzpatrick, Prof. David Burn, President, University of Galway, Dr Helen Maher (University of Galway)}

^{L:R Dr. Bairbre Flemming (UCD), Dr. Maureen Haran (ATU), Dr. Deirdre McHugh (University of Galway), Prof. David Burn, President, University of Galway, Dr Helen Maher (University of Galway) and Dr. Lisa Padden (UCD)}

^{Front Row: Dr, Deirdre McHugh, Prof. David Burn, President, Dr Helen Maher &  Róisín Birch (Access Centre) 
Back Row:  Izzy Tiernan, Miriam Collins, Niamh Griffin ( University of Galway Students)}