Athena SWAN

Staff at Athena SWAN Award Ceremony 2019

Athena SWAN

Maynooth University achieved an Athena SWAN Bronze Institutional Award in 2018. Maynooth was the first Irish institution to achieve a Bronze Award under the ‘expanded’ Athena SWAN Charter. Since receiving the Award, the University has been implementing the associated Gender Equality Action Plan 2018‑2021. This Action Plan is a living document which is reviewed and updated during its lifetime in order to be responsive to the lived experience of the MU community.

Key 2019/2020 Activity

> MU’s Gender Equality Steering Group chaired by Professor Linda

Connolly met 3 times during the 2019‑2020 academic year.

> MU’s Athena SWAN Chairs Network met at various points throughout the year to discuss progress and share knowledge.

> During this time period, six departments were working on preparing

Athena SWAN applications including: Department of Biology,

Department of Geography, School of Business, the Department of Law, the Department of Psychology, and the Department of

Chemistry. The Department of Experimental Physics is a recognized

Supporter of the Institute of Physics’ Juno Code of Practice since 2018. The Department is currently working towards achieving Juno

Practitioner status.

> Three MU Department applications were successful in securing

Athena SWAN Bronze awards during 2019/20 including the

Department of Biology, Department of Geography, and the

Department of Law.

> Gender awareness was incorporated into the MU Certificate in

Science.

> MU’s All Island Research Observatory (AIRO) partnered with the HEA to develop an innovative Gender Dashboard.

> A workshop on the gender dimension in research content was held during Research Week (21st–25th October 2019).

> A presentation on Introduction to Athena SWAN for Departments was delivered by Dr Victoria Brownlee of Advance HE (14th

November 2019). > MU held a “Citizens’ Assembly” on gender equality with taught postgraduate students in the Department of Law (15th November 2019).

> In 2019 MU participated in the 30% Club Scholarship Executive

Education Scholarship scheme, providing one scholarship on a part‑time Masters programme, the MU MSc in Strategy and

Innovation.

> Since 2019, MU funds two Women in STEM Hume (WISH)

Doctoral Awards annually, as part of the John and Pat Hume

Doctoral Awards. The WISH Awards are available to the two top‑ranked female doctoral applicants to STEM projects who demonstrate excellence in academic course work and research.

> MU is funding a four‑year Athena SWAN PhD Scholarship on

Intersectional Analysis of Gender Equality in Higher Education

Institutions. This Scholarship was advertised in 2019 but was not filled, so will be readvertised.

> The Intersectionality Working group met twice during 2019/2020 and the Chair, Dr Chandana Mathur was appointed to the National

AdvanceHE/HEA Intersectionality Working Group along with the newly appointed MU Equality Officer.

> The Athena SWAN ‘Teaching Free’ Research or Extended

Handover period was put in place in 2019 in recognition of the challenges employees may face when returning to work from maternity or adoptive leave (more details available in

‘Family‑Friendly University’ section).