Trinity College Launches new Centre for Women in Science & Engineering Research

Posted on: 10 November 2006

Trinity College’s  new Centre for Women in Science & Engineering Research (WiSER) which aims to increase the representation of women in science and engineering research  in Ireland was launched  on  November 8th last by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Micheál Martin TD. International and national research shows that women are not progressing along the academic career ladder in the areas of science and engineering.  The new TCD Centre is one of three new national projects  funded by Science Foundation Ireland which seeks to address this.

The Centre is the first of its kind in Trinity College and represents approximately 200 female academic staff and contract researchers working in science and engineering.  

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Micheál Martin TD, stated at the launch: “There is a clear and unequivocal case for increasing the participation of women in science, engineering and technology in Ireland. The under representation of women threatens our global competitiveness and requires a coordinated set of interventions.”

The director of the new TCD Centre, Caroline Roughneen said: “The Centre seeks to develop sustainable mechanisms and practices to ensure that women can compete in research on an equal basis using their scientific expertise, knowledge and potential.”

The TCD WiSER Centre has identified significant activities which if successful should make a lasting impact on women undertaking science and engineering careers in Ireland. Its programme includes promoting networking opportunities at a local and national level, offering a career and personal development programme for women (particularly for women at the beginning of their careers) and career enhancement workshops. It will also include the collection of baseline gender statistics on staff in science, engineering and technology in TCD as well as  policy and procedure review in the context of gender mainstreaming.

WiSER will also host an international conference to facilitate the exchange of evidence-based best practice on the retention of women researchers in science and engineering in academia.

Commenting on the importance of the Centre for Trinity College, the TCD Provost, Dr John Hegarty stated: “The College is ranked among the world’s leading research universities and in order to maintain this ranking, we need to ensure that we can attract and retain the best talent. We therefore need to offer a working environment in which everyone is supported to achieve their full potential.”