On 12 June 2024, members of the School of Medicine EDI Committee took part in an important workshop, safeTALK, held in the Charles Institute Boardroom.

SafeTALK is a half day interactive training workshop that prepares participants to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first-aid resources. These specific skills are called suicide alertness. Participants learn how to provide practical help to persons with thoughts of suicide. Following a safeTALK workshop attendees are better equipped to perform an important helping role for someone with thoughts of suicide.

Facilitated by Fiona Lavin (Programme Administrator, Charles Institute and trained safeTALK presenter) and supported by UCD Student Advisor, Simon Gray, the workshop provided useful, practical and insightful information and prepared attendees to be suicide alert.

Thanks to Fiona, Simon and 3Ts (Turn the Tide of Suicide). 3Ts provides this training free of charge to interested groups and organisations. We highly recommend it.

On 1 May 2024 the first gathering of School of Medicine EDI sub-committee members took place in the Conway Institute Theatre.

Led by Marie-Louise Ryan, the School’s Associate Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, the meeting covered:

• An introduction to EDI in the School of Medicine and Governance Structure
• Insights into the Dignity and Respect Initiatives in UCD by Prof Cormac Taylor
• Sub-committee Chair presentations by:
  Anna Truman – Organisation, Culture and Communication
  Dr Eoin Brennan – Career Progression
  Dr Fiona McGillicuddy – Gender Equality
  Dr Melinda Halasz – Student Engagement
• Marie-Louise also presented a review of Athena Swan and the School’s gender analytics.

The sub-committee chairs shared the meetings and conversations that have taken place to date within their groups and mentioned some of their plans for the year ahead.

There was fantastic engagement and discussion during the meeting with several take away ideas to explore further.

Thanks to all who helped organise the gathering, those who presented and everyone who attended.

Well done and thank you to the great speakers and all involved in the UCD EDI Conference 2024: Tackling Racism and embracing Cultural Diversity and Intersectionality, held on Wednesday 20 March. So many great insights and examples of how we could be achieving more, better. Several School of Medicine staff attended the conference and the EDI Committee and Sub-Committees have much to discuss.

Professor Orla Feely, UCD President, opened the conference, highlighting the importance of EDI within UCD. The keynote speaker was Siobhan McKenna, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Public Appointments Service. Siobhan provided crucial data and successful process examples. There were panels and many more speakers and a consultation session opportunity for staff to feed into the development of the UCD Anti-Racism and Cultural Awareness Action Plan.

For a full list of speakers and activities, visit here.

To celebrate and support the importance of International Women’s Day 2024, the UCD School of Medicine EDI Committee, led by Associate Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Marie-Louise Ryan, organised a series of events on Thursday 7 March at the Kevin Barry Gallery and Conway Institute lecture theatre.

This year’s theme is inspiring inclusion, and the day was a great success with excellent attendance and engagement from staff and students across the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences.

There were educational and inspiring presentations from five speakers who focused on women’s health awareness:

Radiography and Diagnostic Imaging – Medical imaging in Women’s Health:

Ann Fleming, UCD Assistant Professor and Lecturer – Gynaecology ultrasound
Éilish McDermott, UCD Assistant Professor and Lecturer – DXA scanning
Geraldine Redmond, UCD Assistant Professor and Lecturer – Breast imaging

Tackling the myths and misconceptions of menopause:

Catriona Keye, Advanced Practice Nurse, Scholarstown Family Practice
Dr. Deidre Lundy, Specialist in Women’s Health and Menopause, National Maternity Hospital

Dr Deirdre Lundy was recently named in the Top 100 for Ireland’s Most Influential Women.

Guests also enjoyed networking opportunities over tea/coffee, cake and lunch.

Thank you to all the speakers and guests for their time, enthusiasm and support.

Wishing all a happy International Women’s Day and highlighting the important role we all play in inspiring inclusion.

UCD provides many EDI support services. Below are the services focused on menopause support:

• There’s a new eLearning course Menopause in the Workplace developed by The Menopause Hub was launched in February and is available for all employees on Brightspace. The training raises awareness about the menopause and its impact, supports available and other important information for employees, managers and HR teams.
• There will be a series of menopause networking sessions over tea/coffee commencing on 14 March. You can network, get practical tips from guest specialists, share stories or just listen. All genders are welcome. For the first session, registered Dietitian and Nutritionist Gillian McConnel will talk about the importance of nutrition, tackle myths, share tips and recipes and answer questions. Register on the EDI website.

There is a dedicated UCD Menopause page for the policy, guidelines and resources.

Third image from top (L-R): Dr Marie-Louise Ryan, Dr Éilish McDermott, Dr Geraldine Redmond and Dr Ann Fleming.

School of Medicine Associate Dean EDI, Dr Marie-Louise Ryan, attended the CHAS Pride Coffee Morning on 27 February 2024 organised by UCD Veterinary Sciences Community and UCD CHAS. A great morning and a great gathering! Thanks to all those who organised the event.

Movember walks marked each Wednesday in

November, departing at noon from the Conway Institute. The initiative culminated in a bake sale event on Monday 27 November, all dedicated to raising awareness for men's health.

The effort was led by Professor Bill Watson (the moustached man in the group photo). Staff and students contributed a variety of cakes and treats, incorporating recipes from diverse corners of the globe, such as Germany, Sudan, Israel, Italy, and Ireland.

Thanks to everyone who made it to EDI catch-up in the Kevin Barry Gallery on Thursday 16 November. The occasion marked our School’s recent Athena Swan Bronze renewal and was a chance for us to get together and talk about upcoming initiatives in the EDI space.

The UCD School of Medicine have officially received their Athena Swan Bronze Renewal Award. Congratulations to all those involved in the submission and for all the terrific EDI work carried out across the School.

Associate Professor Marie-Louise Ryan (Associate Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) and Associate Professor Marguerite Clyne (previous Associate Dean for EDI) co-chaired the School of Medicine Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team. They attended the awards ceremony where they received the award.

Associate Professor Ryan says, ''UCD School of Medicine's commitment to the Athena Swan Charter reflects our dedication to the support and promotion of gender equality, community and inclusion for all. We look forward to continuing on this journey of consistently setting ourselves goals to achieve, and actions to take, in this important area.''

The Athena SWAN Bronze, Silver and Gold awards testify to institutions’ and departments’ success in advancing the defined goals and a list of current Athena SWAN award holders in Ireland can be found here.

To find out more about the School’s Athena Swan Charter, please see here.

On 10 October 2023 we celebrated World Mental Health Day in the School of Medicine. The theme was ‘Mental health is a universal human right’.

We had several activities at the Health Sciences Building for students and staff to get involved in. Thanks to all those who volunteered their time and energy to help throughout the day.

Let’s promote and protect everyone’s mental health, together.

Special thanks go to:

• UCD Nutrition Society
• UCD Chaplaincy
• UCD Volunteering in the Community 
• UCD Students Union
• UCD Gamelan Orchestra

The UCD SoM EDI team was delighted to welcome so many colleagues to the annual EDI Staff BBQ. What a fantastic turnout to the event at the University Club on a bright, sunny evening. We look forward to seeing you all at our events throughout the year.