Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Health Sciences public lecture series launches
Posted on: 31 March 2022
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group at the Faculty of Health Sciences will bring Visiting Professors to Trinity throughout 2022, across a range of topics relating to EDI, including racism and bias in health sciences education, accessibility, inclusion and action in medical education, breastfeeding supports for women, medicine and gender, queer mental health, and much more.
The Faculty EDI Group seeks to harness the interest and enthusiasm of those with a willingness to get involved in creating more visibility around EDI in Health Sciences. The public lecture series is intended to bring pertinent topics in the areas of equality, diversity and inclusion to the fore, allowing healthcare professionals and members of the public to learn more and participate in discussion openly.
Dr Brendan J Dunlop (pictured below) will present the first public lecture of the series: The Impact of Systems, Structures and Stories on LGBTQ+ Mental Health. Brendan (he/him) is a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist in Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and a Clinical Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at The University of Manchester. Drawing on his book (The Queer Mental Health Workbook), Brendan will speak about how various systems, structures and stories in a heteronormative society render maintaining good mental health for LGBTQ+ people challenging, and how might the queer community overcome these barriers using methods underpinned by psychological theories.
Visiting Professor, Dr Brendan Dunlop, said:
LGBTQ+ people live in a world that is not really designed for them. A felt sense of difference makes navigating relationships, education, work, and social life tricky or stressful. In turn, this can lead to particular mental health challenges. This doesn’t mean that anything is inherently wrong with LGBTQ+ people. Rather, surviving and living in a world that marginalises you can be exhausting, overwhelming and sometimes traumatic.
Speaking ahead of the series, Professor Brian O’Connell, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences said:
The Health Sciences EDI event series shows the interest and enthusiasm of our staff and students in discussing and engaging with equality, diversity and inclusion in our courses and our professions. As Dean I am very pleased to support the Faculty’s Athena SWAN and Inclusive Curriculum agendas in this way and look forward to the expertise and perspectives our visiting professors will bring.
More information
You can register for this evening’s lecture HERE.
The lecture series will run throughout 2022, and you can find more information here: https://www.tcd.ie/healthsciences/events/visitingprof2022.php
The next event in the series (April 12th – 14th 2022) focusses on ‘Inclusion and Equity for Disabled students in Health Sciences’ and will be delivered by Dr Lisa Meeks, University of Michigan.