Maynooth University Department of Biology

The Department of Biology was proud to receive an Athena Swan Bronze Department Award in 2018.

In 2024 we are very pleased to announce that we have been awarded an Athena Swan Silver Award. We will be updating this page over the next couple of months with details of our Silver Award.

This award recognises our progress on, and our commitment to, gender equality, inclusivity, and diversity and for providing opportunities for all staff and students in a supportive environment. Our action plan aims to improve our culture and our environment for research and teaching, scholarship and learning, student diversity, recruitment, retention and promotion.

What is Athena Swan?

The Athena Swan charter is a framework that is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality in higher education and research. The charter launched in Ireland in 2015 with a specific remit to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine (STEMM) employment. The charter has since been expanded to include Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Business and Law (AHSSBL) and staff working in professional, managerial and support roles (PMSS). The charter framework expanded to recognise work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, including the under representation of men where appropriate, and not just barriers to progression that affect women. Intersectionality is a key principle of the expanded charter, in particular the intersection of gender and ethnicity.

A new charter unique to Ireland was introduced in 2021 which aims to support higher education institutions in impactful and sustainable gender equality work. The new Ireland charter also supports higher education institutions to build capacity for evidence-based equality work across the equality grounds enshrined in Irish legislation. For more information on Athena Swan in Ireland, visit the Advance HE website.

For more information on Athena Swan at Maynooth University, visit the EDI Office webpage Athena Swan at Maynooth University

View the Maynooth University Gender Equality Action Plan (2018-2022) here

Biology Action Plan

For further information on the Department's Bronze Action plan see Biology Bronze Action Plan

Our Activities and Achievements

Prof. Kim E. Barrett, UC Davis, giving the inaugural Phyllis Clinch ‘Women in Science’ Lecture, 14th March 2022

The Biology Athena Swan Committee:

Kirti Achanta	Undergraduate Member
Courteney Tunstead	PhD Member
Deirdre Daly	ATP Member
Dr Joanne Masterson	Academic Member
Dr Paul Dowling	Academic Member
Dr. Ailbe Brazel	Postdoctoral Member
Dr. Mark Robinson	Chairperson
Dr. Rob Leigh	Postdoctoral Member
Frances Tinley	ATP Member
Gavin Fanning	Undergraduate Member
Gemma Lynch	ATP Member
Jamie Casey	PhD Member
Lauren Flynn	PhD Member
Louis McCabe	Undergraduate Member
Omar Abdelrahman	PhD Member
Prof. Bernard Mahon	Academic Member
Prof. Karen English	Academic Member
Rebecca Owens	Academic Member
Tina Sidoli O'Connor	ATP Member