Tomorrow, we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025. This week, the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences (CHAS) schools came together to hold a special event for IWD, inviting five expert speakers to the UCD Charles Institute to share their perspectives on aspects of Diversity and Inclusion in Women’s Health.
The event was organised by the UCD School of Medicine on behalf of CHAS, and was open to all CHAS staff and students.
Assistant Professor Eoin Brennan, Associate Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the UCD School of Medicine hosted and facilitated the event, with the assistance of Dr Nia Clendennen.
Our first speaker was Dr Brid Shanahan, a founding GP principal at Summerhill Family Practice and the Clinical Lead for Deep End Ireland. Brid is a UCD Medicine alumnus and a clinical tutor for the Medicine programme. Her presentation theme was ‘Diversity and Inclusion in Women’s Health in General Practice’. Brid shone a light on the significant challenges facing many women from diverse and marginalised backgrounds and provided some best practice approaches in trying to assist these women.
Our second speaker was Assistant Professor Olayinka Aremu, a Doctoral Researcher and Assistant Professor at the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Systems. As the President of the Association of Nigerian Nurses in Ireland and Executive Director of African Nurses and Midwives in Ireland, she actively leads initiatives to support diverse and migrant healthcare professionals. Olayinka is a Research consultant with the UN International Decade of People of African Descent (IDPAD) Ireland currently working on research to improve the health and wellbeing of this community. Olayinka’s presentation theme was ‘Bridging Health Inequalities: Addressing Gaps in Women’s Healthcare for Diverse Communities.’ She discussed cultural competency vs cultural safety and addressed healthcare and inequalities for black women.
We then stopped for some lunch and networking before welcoming our third speaker, Assistant Professor Marion Maher. Marion is Assistant Professor and lecturer in the UCD School of Medicine. As a clinical sonographer her specialist areas are gynaecology imaging, early pregnancy, and fertility ultrasound. Marion's current research is focussed on perceptions and experience of EDI amongst undergraduate Radiography students. Marion’s presentation focused on ‘Diversity in Fertility: Understanding Ireland’s Evolving Patient Cohort’. Marion highlighted the changing landscape of those who seek IVF services in Ireland (from 2000 to today) and, therefore, the ways in which the system may need to evolve to properly support these changes.
Our final speakers were Professor Amanda McCann and Ms Elaine Quinn. Amanda is a Principal Investigator and Senior Conway Fellow in the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research. She is also Professor in the UCD School of Medicine and Academic Lead for the project 'Cut From the Same Cloth' - Engaging Women from Minority Communities in STEM. Elaine is Institute Manager (Communications & Education) in UCD Conway Institute where her role focuses on research communications and reputation. Elaine is the Project Lead for the project ‘Cut From the Same Cloth’. Amanda and Elaine’s presentation focused on their collaborative research project, ‘Cut From the Same Cloth’ – Engaging women from minority communities in health research. They spoke about the safe space they created for these women to share their thoughts and insights on health research and the scope of the project – from the art and fabrics created, to the digital assets and finally, the tapestry artwork being created (and will then tour) by artist Lorna Donlon.
We would like to thank all our remarkable speakers for their insightful and educational presentations, as well as the staff and students who attended in person or online - many of whom asked thoughtful questions. It proved to be a wonderful celebration of accelerating actions in women’s health.
Happy International Women’s Day!