This morning, the law school announced that they have been awarded the Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) Bronze award for the advancement of gender equality.
This award is granted by the Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) charter.
The Athena SWAN charter was established in 2005 by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) in the UK, and was initially created 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, this was expanded to include the faculties of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS).
The charter, which is now run by Advance HE, now recognizes work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, such as the inclusion of trans students and staff, rather than just the barriers to progression that affect women.
The Athena SWAN charter was launched in Ireland in February 2015 after Trinity and six other Irish universities and stakeholders made a joint proposal to the ECU for the extension of Athena SWAN to the Irish higher education institutions. These stakeholders included the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)m Irish Research Council (IRC) and Irish University Association (IUA).
Trinity College are current holders of the “institutional bronze ” award, and three school bronze awards for the schools of chemistry, natural sciences and physics.
Up until now, no law school in the Republic of Ireland had received this award.
In an announcement this morning, the law school said that they were “delighted” to receive the award.
The award was granted in September 2020 and is valid until April 2024.
