School of Medicine wins Athena SWAN Bronze for commitment to gender equality
Posted on: 31 March 2022
Trinity’s School of Medicine has received an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of its commitment to gender equality.
This brings to 15 the total number of Bronze awards held by Trinity College Dublin’s academic units, as well as its institutional Bronze award. In 2023, Trinity will make an institutional application for a Silver award.
The Athena SWAN Charter is an international framework that seeks to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research. Bronze award holders are recognised for their detailed self-assessments of gender equality, their commitment to targeted action plans, and their capacity to deliver these plans and bring about change.
Professor Michael Gill, Head of the School of Medicine, said:
This award is a result of the combined effort of staff and students on the School’s Self-Assessment Team (SAT). The process of compiling our application has been both rewarding and revealing. I have been astonished and encouraged by the SAT’s insights, consistent hard work, and commitment over the past two years in pursuing an award, despite the unique challenges we have faced as a medical school since the advent of COVID-19, and I am delighted with this recognition of our work.
Throughout the application process, we reflected on our position as a large medical school and how we can improve our current ways of operating to ensure all have the opportunity to aspire and achieve their full potential. I have begun to witness an increased awareness within the School of not just gender equality, but equality work more broadly and believe our commitment to Athena SWAN and implementation of our action plan will bring about a sea change in the School’s culture.
Provost Linda Doyle said:
We greatly appreciate the fantastic work of Professor Lina Zgaga and Co-Champions Dr Seónadh O’Leary and Professor Kumlesh Dev; the dedication of the SAT members, and the support of the School’s leadership.”
“In committing to the principles of the Athena SWAN Ireland Charter, we recognise that we join a global community with the shared goal of addressing systemic inequalities and embedding inclusive cultures in higher education.
Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Prof. Lorraine Leeson, said:
This recognition of the School of Medicine’s commitment to the necessary iterative, reflective practice of doing equality work is wonderful and we celebrate it. Here in College, we see equality as foundational to all we do. Equality is everyone’s business, and the Athena SWAN process provides an opportunity for us to give focused, critical attention, to where we are and to plan effectively how we can implement positive change across a range of themes.
Athena SWAN Champion, Professor Lina Zgaga said:
Apart from bringing to light issues that we can now work on improving, in the self-assessment process we also identified aspects where School is performing strongly. The student and staff engagement during the Athena SWAN process was very encouraging and indicative of a strong commitment to ensuring equality.
The Athena SWAN Ireland charter has recently undergone a re-development?following from a process of national consultation and now offers a framework for progressing equality in higher education and research that is unique to Ireland. The objective of the Athena SWAN Ireland 2021 charter framework is to support higher education institutions, academic departments, and professional units in impactful and sustainable gender equality work and to build capacity for evidence-based equality work across the equality grounds enshrined in Irish legislation.
For more on Athena SWAN in College, including our commitment to the new Athena SWAN Ireland Charter, see: https://www.tcd.ie/equality/athena-swan/