Thank you to all the students and staff that came along to the CHAS Pride celebration on 20th February 2025, and to UCD EDI for sponsoring the event. Pride week is hugely important for the LGBTQIA+ community in UCD and we hope that events this week will ensure that allies continue to support their fellow students and colleagues.

A huge thank you to Head of the Vets School, Prof Rory Breathnach, Dr Conor Buggy from SPHPSS and Dr Deirdre O’Connor from AgSci, for addressing our community. It was also great to see student advisors, senior staff from CHAS and members of the LGBTQIA+ subgroup in attendance.

Conor gave the audience plenty of food for thought and finished on a strong note by outlining eight overarching rules for instilling pride in yourself, whether you are members of the queer community or allies of the queer community. 
Support and other event info can be found on the UCD EDI unit and UCD LGBTI subgroup pages. The date was chosen to coincide with UCD Students Union's annual Pride march for (opens in a new window)Rainbow Week. 

For more on this event and others, check out the (opens in a new window)Vets EDI/Athena SWAN Instagram account

On February 27th 2024, the School hosted the annual College of Health and Agricultural Sciences (CHAS) Pride event. Since 2019, this event has grown into a flagship event for the School of Veterinary Medicine and has since been replicated across UCD.

The UCD EDI unit and UCD LGBTI subgroup kindly organised for a cake, decorations and rainbow lanyards to be provided to each college to host their own events. The date was chosen to coincide with UCD Students Union's 2nd annual Pride march for (opens in a new window)Rainbow Week, February 20-29th 2024. This was also Dean Rory Breathnach's first Pride event as Head of School, and was a great opportunity to address staff and students from across CHAS and UCD before heading into a busy exam season. 

For more on this event and others, check out the (opens in a new window)Vets EDI/Athena SWAN Instagram account

On April 20th 2023, the School hosted our annual flagship Pride event, supported by the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences (CHAS). This year we held the event a little earlier in the run-up to undergraduate students’ exams. The event kicked off with an address from Prof Michael Doherty, followed by inspirational and moving speeches from Róisín Walsh (Student LGBTQ+ VetSoc Rep) and Assoc. Prof Marijke Beltman, on what Pride means to them. VETEDIAS co-chairs, Assoc. Prof Cliona Skelly and Prof Stephen Gordon, provided closing remarks on the importance of recognising Pride in our community.

For more on this event and others, check out the (opens in a new window)Vets EDI/Athena SWAN X account 

The UCD Veterinary Sciences Community, supported by the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences, invited staff and students from across the college and University to their annual Pride event at the Veterinary Sciences Building on June 3^rd.

Dean and Head of School, Prof. Michael Doherty addressed attendees while they enjoyed cake and refreshments. Dean’s Inclusion Award 2021 recipient Dr. Niamh Nestor kindly recounted her inspirational award speech and Vice-President for the UCD EDI unit, Prof. Colin Scott provided closing remarks and thoughts on the importance of these events.

For more on this event and others, check out the (opens in a new window)Vet Athena SWAN Twitter account 

In 2021, we asked staff and students to participate in a Pride photo campaign and we had a fantastic response. The pictures in the gallery below show some of the things that evoke the spirit of Pride in the Veterinary Sciences Community.

Showing our support for all LGBTQ+ people, the School hosted a fabulous Pride celebration in June 2019. Staff and students from all over UCD were invited to craft friendship bracelets, listen to some great tunes and eat cake!