Athena Swan

Trinity College Dublin holds an Institutional Silver Award

The Athena Swan Charter is a framework that is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research. Originally established in the UK in 2005 to encourage and recognise the commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) in higher education and research, it was extended to Ireland in 2015. That same year, the scope of the Charter was expanded to cover gender equality in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law disciplines, and staff in professional and support roles as well as academics.

The Charter is now being used to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women. The objective of the Athena Swan Ireland 2021 charter framework is to support higher education institutions, academic departments, and professional units in impactful and sustainable gender equality work and to build capacity for evidence-based equality work across the equality grounds enshrined in Irish legislation. 

Read the letter signed by Provost Dr. Linda Doyle committing Trinity to the 2021 Athena SWAN Ireland charter.

Trinity College currently holds an Institutional Silver award, 4 Schools at Trinity have secured Silver and 15 Schools have secured Bronze Athena Swan awards. One professional unit has secured a Bronze award, becoming the first Athena Swan Ireland professional unit award in Ireland.

University Athena Swan Committee

The University Athena Swan committee is responsible for overseeing Trinity’s objectives in relation to Athena Swan and the pursuit of Athena Swan awards, as well as steering implementation of the current institutional action plan, submitted as part of our successful Silver award.

Institutional Application and Action Plan

Click on the links below to view our 2023-27 Silver institutional application and gender action plan:

• TCD Athena Swan Silver Application
• TCD Action Plan 2023-27

Find out more / Get involved

The EDI Office oversees Athena Swan in Trinity and works directly with Schools, supporting them to engage in and embed the process locally. We can help with getting started in the process, data collection and analysis, as well as advising on good practice and reviewing applications.

Please click here for additional resources and information on Athena Swan.

To get started contact us at athenaswan@tcd.ie

Athena Swan Equality Charter Ireland and Horizon Europe

Attainment of an Athena Swan Equality Charter award aligns with Horizon Europe's research grant criteria requirements. Horizon Europe is the European Union’s key funding programme for research and innovation. It facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. A new eligibility criterion to access Horizon Europe research grant funding for research performing organisations and higher education establishments is to have a gender equality plan (GEP) in place. The European Commission (EC) has made this mandatory since 2022. The GEP is required to contain four compulsory process-related requirements and is recommended to address five thematic areas.

Read more about how Trinity College Dublin meets both the mandatory and recommended areas of a GEP here.

See our Horizon Europe Gender Equality Plan Eligibility for more information on how we are progressing this work.