Athena SWAN Charter

The (opens in a new window)Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research.

In May 2015, the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.

The Athena Swan charter launched in Ireland in early 2015. The extension of the charter to Ireland was made possible through funding from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), which covers applications to the charter from 21 higher education institutions. Engagement with the charter is a key pillar of Ireland’s national strategy for gender equality with progress linked to institutional eligibility for funding from Ireland’s major research agencies: Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council and the Health Research Board. All of Ireland’s universities and institutes of technology and several colleges participate in Athena Swan Ireland.

The (opens in a new window)Athena Swan Ireland charter has recently undergone a re-development in line with the findings of a national consultation and offers a framework for progressing equality in higher education and research that is unique to Ireland. The objective of the Athena Swan Ireland 2021 charter framework is to support higher education institutions, academic departments, and professional units in impactful and sustainable gender equality work and to build capacity for evidence-based equality work across the equality grounds enshrined in Irish legislation. The Athena SWAN charter commits education institutions to adopt (opens in a new window)8 principles.

UCD signed the Athena SWAN charter in 2015 and received its second Athena SWAN Bronze Institutional Award in 2020 in recognition of its commitment to improving gender equality. The award is given to higher education institutions that have demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of gender equality issues and have enacted an action plan to tackle them.

In 2024, UCD was awarded the Silver Institutional Athena SWAN award - the action plan can be downloaded here: www.ucd.ie/equality/support/genderequality/