The RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences has been awarded a Silver Athena Swan Award, and the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics has successfully renewed its Bronze Athena Swan Award. Both submissions were prepared by the respective self-assessment teams, with support from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit and HR Department.

The Athena Swan Ireland Charter offers a framework for progressing gender equality in higher education and research that is unique to Ireland. It is run by Advance HE, which has worked in partnership with the sector for 10 years, supported by the Higher Education Authority.

The Silver Athena Swan Award application led by Athena Swan Champions Dr Ingmar Schoen and Dr Chiara DeSanti, shows the significant process the School has made in embedding impactful and sustainable gender equality initiatives. The panel commended the School’s commitment to supporting inclusion across all equality grounds, and leadership in workload allocation models in RCSI.

The Bronze Athena Swan Award renewal was led by Athena Swan Champions Dr Orlaith Brennan and Prof. Christopher Torrens, recognises the substantial progress made on the Department’s initial Athena Swan Action Plan. The panel commended the actions taken to address the gender imbalance in professional support roles, such as ensuring male representation on interview panels, and the actions taken to support staff with caring responsibilities.

A continuous journey

Welcoming the awards, Prof. Cathal Kelly, Vice-Chancellor of RCSI, said: “I am delighted to congratulate the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences and the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics on achieving this success. These awards recognise our commitment to advancing gender equality, and to creating a more positive and inclusive culture for all in RCSI. Achieving RCSI’s first Silver Athena Swan Award is a significant step forward in embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in our institution.”

Prof. Helena Kelly, Head of the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, said: “I am proud that the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences has achieved RCSI’s first Silver Athena Swan Award. We are delighted that the panel recognised the contribution our School has made to the Institutional Athena Swan Working Group, and our leadership on workload allocation models in RCSI. Our ambitious action plan contains actions to advance gender equality, and to support inclusion across the equality grounds. Many thanks to our self-assessment team whose collaborative effort resulted in this significant achievement for our School.”

Prof. Jochen Prehn, Head of the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics said: “The renewal of our Bronze Athena Swan Award is a great achievement for our department, and recognises the substantial progress made on our action plan. This is a journey of continuous improvement, and our new action plan will advance this important work. Many thanks to all the members of our self-assessment team for their hard work on this application.”

Impactful and sustainable change

The Athena Swan Charter was established in Ireland in 2015 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in higher education and research. The Charter recognises work undertaken by third-level institutions to address gender equality, as well as the barriers to progression that affect women.

The Charter was updated in 2021 to broaden the scope of the Athena Swan framework by supporting both academic and professional units to deliver impactful and sustainable change in gender equality as well as championing equality work across other equality grounds. 

RCSI’s Institutional Bronze Athena Swan Award was renewed in 2023, under the new intersectional charter.