Prof Aoife Ahern

College Principal, Dean Of Engineering College of Engineering and Architecture Administration Office

Lorraine Keane

Broadcaster& Journalist

Lorraine Keane is an IFTA-nominated broadcaster and journalist. Best known for her work over the last decade as entertainment correspondent for TV3. Lorraine is an ambassador and volunteer with Irish and International charities. Lorraine has been speaking up about her experience of perimenopause for six years now. She is passionate about the subject of women’s health, perimenopause and menopause. She is a host of the podcast Let's Talk Hormone Health.

Shane Walsh

Fitness coach & Nutritionist

Shane Walsh is the founder of Shane Walsh Fitness and a Fully Qualified Nutritionist who specialises in working with Females providing support it areas such as PCOS, perimenopause & menopause.
Shane is the host of one of Ireland's top Nutrition podcasts "Shane Walsh Podcast" which has close to 1 million downloads. Shane has also been featured in Image Magazine, Irish Runner Magazine and has provided talks for some of the largest companies in the country.

Karen Arthur

Menopause activist and fashion creative

Karen is a woman with a powerful message to send. A former teacher, she’s a Menopause activist and fashion creative, model, content creator and speaker who has been honing her craft for over 40 years.

She lifts the veil on the inevitable and fundamental changes that every woman will go through. She sheds light on coping with the realities of the transition for young women and reminds mature women to own their value and to buck convention, stereotypes and the world’s attempts at erasure.

Dr Catherine Riordan

Women’s Health, Urology & Reproductive Medicine, MB FRCS

Dr Catherine is a menopause specialist, accredited by the North American Menopause Society & a member of the Britsih Menopause Society. Dr Riordan graduated from UCD in 1988 and is one of the senior clinicians at The Menopause Hub in Dublin. Her initial training was in urology & she is a member of the urology team at St Michael's Hospital. She has worked in women's health and reproductive medicine for over 20 years, including as a fertility specialist at two of Ireland's largest IVF clinics.

Loretta Dignam

Founder & CEO of Menopause Hub

Founder, Social Entrepreneur & CEO of The Menopause Hub. She founded The Menopause Hub to give Irish women the opportunity to manage their menopause their way… a resource to understand the changes you are going through…and an option to keep living the life you love, at home and at work. Loretta has had a lengthy and highly successful career working in Marketing and Communications with many multinational, global businesses.

Mary Connaughton

Director of CIPD Ireland

Mary is passionate about developing people and workplaces to be at their best.
Mary leads the growth, development and contribution of the people profession in Ireland. She pushes forward the CIPD agenda of people, wellbeing, inclusion and flexible working through research, policy and member engagement. She has a wealth of HR experience, supporting individuals and companies on the strategic people agenda, HR practice and organisation development.

Ms Vivienne Horkan

Assistant Principal, National Wellbeing Office, Garda Occupational Health & Wellbeing, An Garda Síochána

Experienced Human Resource professional with a demonstrated history of working in the public and civil service. Skilled in Strategic HR Management with a focus on employee health and wellbeing.
Currently working for the Garda National Wellbeing Office (GNWO) to ensure continued support to all personnel through the rollout of health and wellbeing initiatives aligned to the principals of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Qualified Yoga Teacher.

Professor Karen McCloskey

Director of Queen’s Gender Initiative Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences Queen’s University Belfast

Karen is Director of Queen’s Gender Initiative (QGI), a female-focused entity that leads gender equality in Queen’s, she works with a dedicated team to advance women’s visibility, support leadership development, provide bespoke mentoring and foster an enabling culture. As a Professor of Physiology, Karen has educational and research academic roles and has served on a range of boards and committees

Marcellina Fogarty

Strategic EDI Manager, UCD

Marcellina is the Strategic EDI Manager in UCD with over 20 years’ experience working in HR and 7 years of that period working in equality, diversity and inclusion in UCD. Marcellina is responsible for leading on a range of initiatives across the equality grounds including the implementation of the University EDI Strategy and institutional Gender Equality Action Plan and managing the work of the University EDI Group, Athena SWAN, Dignity and Respect, EDI Training and Awareness raising & EDI Data

Paula Maher

Researcher, Institute of Art, Design and Technology

In 2022 Paula took up the position of Researcher in the Faculty of Enterprise and Humanities, IADT where she is currently working on the project Working Women and the Menopause: The Impact of Menopause on Careers in the Higher Education Sector in Ireland. Paula Maher has a background as a librarian and archivist and is passionate about equality and in 2021 Paula began her journey into the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion sector by starting her Masters.