Achievements
UL has delivered on the commitments made in our 2015, 2018 Athena Swan Gender Equality Action Plans.
“University of Limerick has shown a deep-rooted commitment to delivering gender equality and that is shown in the comprehensive review it has conducted into the way it recruits and promotes its staff,” Sarah Fink, Advance HE’s Head of Athena Swan Ireland. April 2023
Dr Marie Connolly, UL’s Director of Human Rights, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion said: “I am absolutely delighted that UL has once again been recognised as a leader in the field of gender equality. I would like to thank the president for her continued commitment to our HREDI agenda and for her leadership and chairing of our AS/EDI committee which sends out a very strong message of the commitment of the leadership of our institution.
“I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of members of the HREDI office and the excellent cross institutional teams who worked with us to put this successful application together and the on-going work that the Athena Swan/EDI committees are undertaking throughout the University supporting us in our goal to achieve gender equality and the broader EDI agenda in all areas of our institution supporting staff and students to achieve their full potential.”
Research Grant for Returning Academic Carers (RGRAC)
In 2015 UL introduced the Research Grant for Returning Academic Carers (RGRAC) to help academic staff re-establish their independent research careers on returning from extended leave (20 weeks or more).
- Returning Academic Carers’ can avail of 6 months protected research time on return from carers’ leave or hire a research assistant for the period of the carers’ leave to maintain their research. The grant is open to all carers.
- Over 85 grants (March 2025) have been availed of have been supported through the Research Grant for Returning Academic Careers (RGRAC). To date only females have availed of the leave.
Feedback received attributed having this protected research time following long-term absences as critical to the success in the promotions process.
The RGRAC was a game changer for me
It gave me time to reconnect with PhD students, collaborators etc.
I used the time to recruit a PhD researcher and applied for funding with them
I was able to publish highly ranked peer-reviewed articles which built on previous publications but incorporated the developments which had taken place during my leave period.
RGRAC application procedures are available on the Human Resources website A to Z
UL has delivered on the commitments made in our 2015 and 2018 Athena Swan Action Plans:
- Success in achieving funding for four Full Professors through the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative (SALI)
- In 2020 we saw the success rate for promotion (Lecturer to Senior Lecturer) rise from 37% to 70%, with 72% of the women that applied being successful and 72% of the women that applied from SL to Associate Professor having success.
- 2 strands of funding were secured through the Gender Equality Enhancement HEA fund to roll our sectoral programmes to support women through their promotions process.
- The establishment of a dedicated Human Rights – EDI Office. A commitment made in the 2018 submission and our Gender Action Plan
- Policies developed to address the steep increase in sexual harassment, misconduct, and violence against women .
- Establishment of Ethnic Diversity Forum in December 2021
- Recruitment and selection procedures have been updated to ensure 40% gender representation on all panels and single gender recruitment competitions only permitted with prior approval.
- Unconscious Bias training is mandatory for all selection board and promotions board members.
- All senior posts include the key criterion of “Demonstrable experience of leadership in advancing gender equality’.
- The UL@50 SP has set a target of 40% representation of men and women at professorial grades by 2026.
- Job profiles reviewed for gender-neutral language
University of Limerick becomes first higher education institution in Ireland to win an Athena Swan Silver Award. Click here to read more.