2022_23 News

Shannon College of Hotel Management receives Athena Swan Bronze Award- Aug 2023

Congratulations to Shannon College of Hotel Management who successfully achieved a Bronze Athena Swan award following minor revisions. This is a testament to Shannon College's Self Assessment Team's (SAT) hard work over the past year. Congratulations to all involved!
See our university's timeline with Athena Swan achievements and future plans

Signing of the HEA Anti-Racism Principles, 27th June 2023

President Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh signs the Higher Education Authority Principles of Anti-Racism for Higher Education Institutes. 

University of Galway President Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh signs the Higher Education Authority Principles of Anti-Racism for Higher Education Institutes,27^th June 2023. Dr Jennie Rothwell, Laura Austin, Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion HEA, Dr Helen Maher, Vice-President for Equality Diversity and Inclusion, Owen Ward, EDI Programme Manager for Race Equality, staff and students witnessed the formal signing of the document. The Anti-Racism Principles for Irish Higher Education Institutions will guide the development, implementation and monitoring of the Race Equality Framework and Action Plan 2023 – 2027.

  Read more

Athena Swan Silver Seminar 21st of June 2023

A seminar on Silver Athena Swan Silver accreditation, organised by the OVPEDI, was held on Wednesday the 21^st of June, the Aula, 10.00-12.00. In 2025, University of Galway will be applying for a Silver Athena Swan. A number of Schools will also be submitting Silver applications over the coming years. The event was chaired by Dr Laura Loftus, Programme Manager for Athena Swan, with Guest speakers; Sarah Fink, Athena Swan Ireland (The new Athena Swan framework vs the previous iteration, and the criteria that need to be addressed to achieve a Silver Athena Swan award) and Dr Caroline Murphy, Kemmy Business School, UL (Achieving Silver Athena Swan accreditation and the transition from Bronze to Silver). Our own  Dr Maeve Duffy, School of Engineering, University of Galway, talked us through the school's journey in achieving the School of Engineering Silver award status in 2022 status. 

Addressing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Policy and Practice Seminar, 16th June 2023

 
L-R: Dr Padraig MacNeela, Niamh Gallagher, Rebecca Connolly, Dr Helen Maher, Clarissa J. DiSantis Humphreys & Niamh Kavanagh

On the 16th June, the Office of the Vice President for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and the Active* Consent team welcomed Clarissa J. DiSantis Humphreys, co-author of ‘Addressing Student Sexual Violence in Higher Education, co-editor of Stopping Gender-based violence in Higher Education’, to host the Addressing Sexual Violence in Higher Education - Policy & Practice Seminar at the University of Galway.  Clarissa currently works as the Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Manager at Durham University and is responsible for policy development, case management, student support, and prevention and training. The seminar presented practical guidance on how to address sexual violence and related forms of gender-based violence in a higher education setting, utilising a comprehensive institution-wide approach.  

Launch of the new Active* Consent Programme 2023-2027

‌Back Row L-R: Dr Laura Loftus, Aoife Cooke, Dr. Siobhán O Higgins, Niamh Kavanagh, Owen Ward & Helen Maher
Front Row L-R: Dr Padraig Mac Neela, President Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, Dr Charlotte McIvor, Niamh Gallagher, Margaret Forde & Rebecca Connolly

University of Galway President Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh and the Active* Consent team launched their new five-year cycle [2023-2027] of the Active* Consent programme at 2.30PM on Friday June 16^th.  Supported by Lifes2good Foundation and the University of Galway Strategic Fund, the 2023-2027 Active* Consent programme will extend and expand on a decade of efforts to empower schools, colleges, and sports as the key settings for young people to learn about consent in Ireland.  

Athena Swan Culture Survey 2023

The Athena Swan Survey which is run every two years is now open: April 19th to 17th May 2023

The survey responses that are collected will form the basis of both the University and our School’s and Unit’s next Bronze and Silver Athena Swan action plans and applications, so it is imperative that there is a high response rate for us to get a clear picture of the major issues.  

Read more here

April 2023, Two new Athena Swan Bronze Awards

University of Galway has secured two additional Athena SWAN Bronze Awards in recognition of the University’s commitment to advancing gender equality for staff and students. 

The University’s School of Law and a joint award between the School of Computer Science and the Data Science Institute have received the accolade which acknowledges efforts to create cultural change within higher education institutions.

This latest accreditation sees a total of ten Bronze Awards and one Silver Award in the University, along with an Institutional Bronze Award which was renewed in 2021. Eleven out of the University’s 18 schools now hold Athena SWAN Awards. 

The School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and the School of Natural Sciences were also successful in their application to transfer their Bronze Athena Swan Awards following the restructuring of their Schools. Read more

Wear Red Day March 31st, 2023

To highlight our commitment against racism, staff and students participated in the Immigrant Council of Ireland #WearRedDay to Show Racism the Red Card #WRD2023  

20th Anniversary-Nelson Mandela Anti-Racism Week 2023

Remembering Nelson Mandela’s conferring ceremony at the University of Galway

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 The Intersection between Racism and Public Spaces

L:R Ikenna Anyabuike, Rosemarie Maughan,  Emer O’Neill,  Dr Amanullah De Sondy, Aoife Cooke & Owen Ward

‌Racism is still prevalent, from the big bright stages out in public to the dark corners of the internet. Emer O’Neill, Rosemarie Maughan and Dr Amanullah De Sondy called out racism and experienced the backlash. Emer O’Neill delivered the keynote address on her experiences and her ongoing struggle to fight against racism in Ireland, followed by a panel discussion with Emer O’Neill, Rosemarie Maughan, Dr Amanullah De Sondy and Ikenna Anyabuike, chaired by Aoife Cooke.

Experience Africa Day-Nelson Mandela Anti-Racism Week 2023

Attending the experience Africa day in Áras na Mac Léinn, 22nd March 2023

HEA Race Equality (First Annual event)

The first HEA National Race Equality Conference was hosted by the University of Galway (Institute for Lifecourse and Society building, ILAS building) on Monday 20^th March 2023. Over 100 attendees from institutions in Ireland and abroad attended the event.

Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, President, University of Galway, opened the event followed by Professor Kalpana Shankar launching of the Anti-Racism Principles for Irish Higher Education Institutions: A Panel discussion was held on race and anti-racism with panelists Siobhán Kangataran (Chair), Dr Nata Duvvury, Thomas McCann, Tonye Benson-Olatunde, Liam Thornton and Professor Kalpana Shankar.

Dr Arun Verma, Bristol University (keynote speaker), is the former Head of the Race Equality Charter at Advance HE, and a leading strategic figure in co-creating and implementing equity, diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality initiatives into meaningful applications across programme, policy, people and culture functions in the United Kingdom and internationally. 

A series of workshops took place in the afternoon:

• Developing race equality plans (Dr Lucy Michael and Dr Niloufar Omidi)
• Institutional Experiences of Advancing and Implementing Race Equality (Owen Ward and Oluchi Porter)
• The Voiceless Colony (Dr Sarah Sartori and Lilian Nwanze)
• University of Sanctuary (Professor Lorraine McIlrath, Dr Veronica Crosbie, Aidan Harte and Karina Curley)
• Actions in the HEA Race Equality Implementation Plan (Dr Ross Woods)

International Women's Week -March 2023

International Women's Week took place throughout the week of March 6th to 10th March, 2023.  There were excellent discussions throughout the week, see the International Women's Week - March 2023 Programme of events which took place. ‌

"Fixing the Women”? Supports for Female Staff in Higher Education

L-R:  Prof Margaret Hodgins, University of Galway; Niamh O’Donoghue, Chair of 2nd HEA National Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions, Dr Monica O’Mullane, UCC and Dr. Helen Maher VP for EDI University of Galway.

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L-R: D‌r. Helen Maher and Fariba Foolad

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L-R: Rebecca Connolly, Dr. Laura Loftus, Aoife Cooke, Niamh Gallagher, Margaret Forde and Dr. Helen Maher

Athena Swan Award Transfer, Feb 2023

Congratulations to both the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences for succeeding in transferring the Athena Swan Bronze award to the restructured schools.

Race Equality Survey Jan 20th-2023

The Race Equality Survey from, Jan 20^th until Feb 10^th 2023. 

Twitter Page Launched- Jan 19th 2023

The office of the VP for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has launched a Twitter page

Athena Swan Champions Network- 1st December 2022

The first meeting of the Athena Swan Champions Network was held 1^st of December, 2022, hosted by Dr. Laura Loftus (Gender Equality Programme Manager). The aim of the Athena Swan Champions Network is to facilitate knowledge exchange and support between those involved in Athena Swan activities across the University. The champions network consists of the SAT (Self-Assessment Team) Chairs, the Vice Deans for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and the office of the Vice President for Equality Diversity and Inclusion.The meeting was then followed with an open-to-all-staff gathering to celebrate the Athena Swan/Gender Equality work to date in the University of Galway. The Chair of Queen's University Belfast's Athena Swan Champions Network, Dr Deirdre Gilpin was invited as a guest speaker.  Dr. Gilpin exchanged great knowledge and experiences about QUB's Champions Network’s journey so far and best practice in terms of Athena SWAN. 

Race Equality Town Hall - 7th November 2022

Dr. Su-ming Khoo (Lecturer in the School of Political Science and Sociology), opened the discussion on Race Equality in Higher Education, followed by Dr. Arun Verma, Keynote Speaker – Dr Arun Verma is the editor of Anti-Racism in Higher Education: An Action Guide for Change, 2022, Bristol University Press. Dr Verma is former Head of the Race Equality Charter at Advance HE, and a leading strategic figure in co-creating and implementing equity, diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality initiatives into meaningful applications across programme, policy, people and culture functions in the United Kingdom and internationally. 

Launch of the Annual Diversity and Inclusion Report- Nov 7th 2022

 Left to right: Aoife Cooke, Dr. Arun Verma, Dr. Helen Maher, Dr. Su-ming Khoo and Sinead Gibney

The launch of the 2021/22 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion report took place, on 7th Nov 2022.  The Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Ms Sinead Gibney launched the report.  The OVPEDI is excited to use this report to showcase the important work being done by the office and colleagues across the University of Galway. The report is structured in accordance with the five overarching goals of the
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2000-2025 while recognising that many of the initiatives are relevant to several goals simultaneously, owing to their multifaceted nature.