The survey is voluntary and completely anonymous. There is no onus on you to participate; however, the survey represents a great opportunity to help us identify areas that we can improve in UCD. So if you have an opinion, use the survey as an ideal opportunity to share it.
EDI Survey 2023 FAQ
If you have special accessibility requirements and require this survey in an alternative format, please contact (opens in a new window)edi@ucd.ie
All responses to the survey are anonymous. The survey is being managed confidentially by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team and reports created will only be for groups of at least 10 respondents to ensure anonymity.
The EDI Unit has committed to run a biennial survey. This is a comprehensive survey in order to gain your views on a broad range of EDI topics across the University.
We are mindful that this survey can take between 10-15 minutes to complete. However, we also think that it is also very important to gain insight from you about your experience of working in UCD – what you value and what you would like to see improved.
No. You can partially complete the survey, save it and return to it later.
We do not ask you for your name or contact details in this survey. To understand your answers in more context we would be grateful if you could provide us with some personal demographic information as part of this survey. The amount of information you provide us with is entirely up to you, please only disclose information with which you are comfortable, but the more you provide, the more useful it will be for us when analysing your survey response. Where you do not wish to disclose information, please choose the ‘prefer not to say’ option. All of the information you provide will be held confidentially in full compliance with data protection legislation and will only be seen by a small group within the EDI Unit . No data will be collected in relation to affiliation and no information relating to individual responses will be shared with anyone outside the EDI unit.
We also recently launched the Employee Self Serve (ESS) diversity screen where all University employees are invited to update or amend their diversity data confidentially and voluntarily.
For more Information and to update or provide your personal details please visits: Diversity Data recording on the Employee Self-Service (ESS) Portal
Survey responses are anonymous. All data collected through this survey will be held securely and confidentially in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018. The data will not be used for any purpose other than providing an overall picture of equality, diversity and inclusion within UCD. Access to the data set will be confined to a small group within the EDI Unit, who will be responsible for its subsequent analysis. We will only process data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018. At no point will the information you provide be shared in a way that would allow you to be personally identified. Any published material will be anonymised. Data shared will only be for groups of at least 10 respondents to ensure anonymity. The EDI team regrets that it is not in a position to personally meet with any individuals who provide a submission or to address personal grievances. Respondents are requested not to submit any details of grievances which are the subject of legal proceedings. If you have any questions about this survey that have not been answered by this information page, please contact (opens in a new window)edi@ucd.ie
Privacy notice- EDI Survey
- Purpose- the data collected in this survey is used to identify any inequalities that may exist in the University, and to inform institutional actions to combat inequality.
- Legal basis- We understand the collection of employee and student data to be central to the implementation of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty, deriving from section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014. Under this Act, all public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) must undertake assessment and monitoring, and have policies and plans to promote equality, prevent discrimination, and protect the human rights of staff, students and the wider public that are served by the work of HEIs. The University has a legal obligation under The Higher Education Act, 1971 to promote equality in the higher education sector.
- Article 9 of the GDPR 2018 Legal Basis- as we are processing special category data as part of this survey, we are relying on Article 9 (2)(a), explicit consent, in order to process this kind of data.
- Controller- the EDI Unit is the data controller for the data collected in this survey. You can contact the Data Protection Officer of the UCD via (opens in a new window)gdpr@ucd.ie
- Categories of personal data- gender including gender identity, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, and membership of the Traveller community.
- Confidentiality- Access to the data set will be confined to a small group within the EDI Unit, who will be responsible for its subsequent analysis. At no point will the information you provide be shared in a way that would allow you to be personally identified. Any published material will be anonymised. All data collected through this survey will be held securely and confidentially in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
The UCD Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) survey has been designed in order to collect data to better understand the diverse profile and experience of staff within the university community.
The purpose of the survey is to establish an evidence base for activities, policies and practice. Aspects of the survey repeat questions from the 2021 Athena SWAN (EDI) Survey in order to monitor progress over time and allow benchmarking.
The survey is not intended to generate 360 feedback and managers will not be identified or the subject of individual reports. The intention is to provide broad themes requiring action.
Respondents on permanent or temporary contracts, who are commenced on payroll are invited to participate. Casual, non-contractual or hourly staff will not be included on this occasion.
The outputs of this survey will be analysed by the EDI Unit and a report will be published. Anonymised data will also be used to support the University Athena SWAN silver application.
All data will be disaggregated across all equality grounds, College/VP level depending on completion rates in order to ensure anonymity.
All data will be anonymised in line with Data Protection legislation prior to publication.
Respondents should complete the survey based on their current role, rather than their title.
e.g. A Senior Executive Assistant with the title of Dr should record themselves as ‘Staff’ rather than ‘Academic’
To preserve anonymity in reporting, some pay grades have been grouped together.
Respondents should select “permanent/temporary” in line with their substantive post. For example, a permanent staff member in a temporary role such as a secondment should indicate that they are permanent.
Respondents in the role of Dean / Head of School / Vice-Principal etc., should choose the College their school is part off
Schools are the primary management unit in UCD and the survey has been constructed on this basis. You should select the College within which your academic centre resides.
As per UCD policy, Academic Centres are not management units, and should not employ or manage staff, or deliver programmes independently of Schools/Colleges.
Ideally, in such circumstances you should select the School as your location.
In the event that you are unable to locate yourself in the hierarchy, or you are unsure if you have selected the correct option, you may wish to contact (opens in a new window)edi@ucd.ie
In line with structures used for budgeting and headcount purposes, the hierarchy is based on the concept of “management units”.
Colleges and VP areas are the primary “management unit” in UCD and the survey has been constructed on this basis. Areas such as academic centres are not management units and so they do not appear in the hierarchy.
The hierarchy has been approved in consultation with Colleges and VP areas.
In order to preserve anonymity, some smaller groups are not listed separately in the hierarchy. In many cases, small areas have been combined to ensure that the minimum level of 10 respondents is achieved.
If you are part of a very small School or Unit with less than 10 team members participating in the survey your results will be aggregated or rolled-up with other teams in your local organisational structure.
In the case of shared offices such as “Arts and Social Sciences”, respondents will be required to choose just one location within the hierarchy.
The (opens in a new window)Employment Equality Acts 1998–2015 outlaw discrimination in a wide range of employment and employment-related areas. These include recruitment and promotion; equal pay; working conditions; training or experience; dismissal and harassment including sexual harassment.
The legislation defines discrimination as treating one person in a less favourable way than another person. There are 9 grounds for discrimination, including:
- Gender (Including Gender Identity): Gender identity refers to an individual’s intrinsic sense of self. It relates to how an individual defines their gender regardless of their assigned biological sex.
- Civil status: includes single, married, separated, divorced, widowed people, (opens in a new window)civil partners and former civil partners
- Family status: this refers to the parent of a person under 18 years or the resident primary carer or parent of a person with a disability
- Sexual orientation: includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual
- Religion: means religious belief, background, outlook or none
- Age: this does not apply to a person aged under 16
- Disability: includes people with physical, intellectual, learning, cognitive or emotional disabilities and a range of medical conditions
- Race: includes race, skin colour, nationality or ethnic origin
- Membership of the Traveller community.
The most recent Census of Population of Ireland defines a 'carer' as someone who. ... provides regular, unpaid personal help for a friend or family member with a long- term illness, health problem or disability (including problems which are due to old age).
Source: CSO & carealliance.ie
Parent’s leave is a statutory entitlement for parents introduced under the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 and applies to births/adoptions that take place on or after the 1 November 2019. It aims to let working parents spend more time with their baby during the first year following the birth or adoption of the child.
- Total period of Parent’s Leave is 7 weeks (an additional 2 weeks leave available for eligible parents)
- The period in which the leave and benefit can be taken has increased to anytime up to two years from the birth or adoption of the child (Under the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021).
- The eligibility period for parents of children due to turn two in July 22 can be extended for up to a maximum of 12 weeks. When making an application for Parent’s Leave and Parent's Benefit for dates outside of the 2 year eligibility period, you must submit supporting documentation to include confirmation from your employer detailing the reason for the application being submitted outside of the eligibility period.
Parental Leave is unpaid leave from work, taken by parents to enable them to take care of their child in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Parental Leave Act. The policy covers children up to 13years old (rather than 8 years old).
- Parental leave is available to employees with continuous service of one year who are natural or adoptive parents, and also extends to persons acting in loco parentis in respect of an eligible child.
- Employees who have less than one year’s service are entitled to a pro-rata parental leave entitlement after three month’s service in UCD, if the child is approaching the age threshold. Part-time employees are entitled to unpaid parental leave on a pro-rata basis.
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The leave may be taken in blocks of weeks or, in agreement with the Head of School/Unit, it may be broken down into pre-planned time off in the form of half days or full days.
The proposed period of leave must be agreed with the Head of School/Unit and approved by UCD HR. All public holidays that fall during the period of parental leave can be taken at the end of the parental leave or as time in lieu on dates to be discussed and agreed with the Head of School/Unit
Paternity leave is available to those employees who are deemed to be the “relevant parent” of a child. Only one person who is a “relevant parent” in relation to a child can be entitled to paternity leave in respect of that child. There is no qualifying period for entitlement to paternity leave.
The Relevant parent, defined in the Policy, is entitled to two weeks leave following the birth or adoption of their child, or the child of their spouse or partner. This two week period is referred to as “paternity leave” and must be taken within twenty-six weeks following the birth or placement of the child.
What is Reasonable Accommodation?
Under Employment Equality legislation employers are obliged to take appropriate measures to enable a person who has a disability to access and participate in employment or undertake training – unless these measures would result in a disproportionate burden for the employer.[1]
Reasonable Accommodation (RA) can be defined as some modification to tasks or the structure of a job or the workplace at nominal cost which allows a qualified employee with a disability to fully do their job and enjoy equal employment opportunities. Reasonable Accommodation can vary from something as simple as rearranging office furniture, to providing Assistive Technology or providing for changes to working hours.
Examples of what may be considered a Reasonable Accommodation
Successful accommodations are often minor, requiring little or no expense
Some simple examples of Reasonable Accommodations may be:
- Rearranging furniture
- Changing the level of a desk
- Buying a piece of equipment
- Adapting standard equipment
- Adjusting training materials
- Accepting that there may be alternative ways of accomplishing a given task
- Providing company information in appropriate formats
- Allowing flexi-time, part-time work, job share
Please Note:
Reasonable Accommodation does not include any treatment, facility or item that you might ordinarily or reasonably provide for yourself, for example; a wheelchair or reading glasses.
Minority ethnic/cultural background refers to a culture or ethnicity that is identifiably distinct from the ethnic majority. This may include people who have been long established in Ireland, people who are naturalised Irish citizens or British, or people who have recently arrived.
CSO defines Ethnic/ background as:
- Asian or Asian Irish: Chinese
- Asian or Asian Irish: Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi
- Asian or Asian Irish: Any other Asian background
- Black or Black Irish: African
- Black or Black Irish: Any other Black background
- Other including mixed group/background: Arabic
- Other including mixed group/background: Mixed Background
- Other including mixed group/background: Other
- White: Irish
- Irish Traveller
- Roma
- White: Any other White background
https://www.cso.ie/en/census/faq/detailedlookatcensusquestions/question14/