Accenture's Women on Walls
Accenture’s Women on Walls at UCC is a campaign that seeks to make women leaders visible through a series of commissioned portraits that will create a lasting cultural legacy for Ireland. This is the fourth chapter of Women on Walls and the first outside of Dublin.
UCC is proud to hold Silver Athena Swan accreditation, recognising its ongoing commitment to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion across the university. In 2025, UCC launched its inaugural Athena Swan Trailblazer Award, celebrating pioneers and innovators dedicated to making Ireland a more inclusive and equal society.
Brigid Carmody
Coordinator of Cork Traveller Women's Network, a grass-roots community organisation that works for Traveller rights, leadership, culture and heritage.
Her achievement: As head of the Cork Traveller Women's Network, Brigid Carmody has not only given a voice to Traveller women, but she has helped to create a greater understanding and appreciation of Traveller culture in Irish society.
For decades, government policy sought to settle Travellers rather than develop ways of allowing their unique culture to flourish. Through her work, Brigid has been working to record, celebrate and protect Traveller heritage.
She has highlighted decades of neglect of Traveller culture, pointing out that it has been overlooked and misrepresented. It is still not taught in schools, but Brigid Carmody’s work with activists and organisations around the country, is designed to carve out a new space to tell the story of Irish Travellers.
In her own words: “I am proud of my history, my culture and my family and who I am. I want my children to be proud of who they are and to make a better life for Travellers in Cork.”
Caitríona Twomey
Caitríona Twomey, volunteer co-ordinator of Cork Penny Dinners, a charity that offers food and support to anyone in need.
Her achievement: As the voluntary driving force behind Penny Dinners, one of Cork city’s oldest caring charities, Caitríona Twomey has spent decades serving food and offering non-judgemental support to anybody who seeks help.
She was introduced to the need for such support as a child when she complained that her father Tom Lynch, a sergeant in Collins Barracks, went missing every Christmas Day. The next year, he invited her to join him as he visited the College of Commerce to join volunteers who were giving a festive dinner to people in need.
It opened her eyes to the extent of suffering in the wider community and influenced her decision to devote her life to helping others. Since she joined Penny Dinners, she has helped to transform it into a dynamic organisation responding to new needs – such as food poverty among students – when they arise.
In her own words: “Nobody goes hungry on our watch.”
Dola Twomey
Dola Twomey, therapist/activist at the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.
Her achievement: Dola Twomey has, for several decades, relentlessly campaigned to change a world that facilitates and ignores violence. She works as a therapist and activist and has consistently advocated for policy and legislative change in the areas of sexual violence, sex trafficking, domestic violence, female genital mutilation and human rights.
In 2000, Dola designed and set up the domestic violence service, One Stop Shop Cork, the first of its kind in the city. She was also instrumental in establishing Stalking in Ireland, a dedicated support service for victims of stalking.
In her role as therapist, Dola Twomey has been able to identify gaps in services and establish projects, such as Safegigs Ireland, to bring about change in attitudes to prevent violence. For example, the campaign #FixedIt – Ireland challenges misleading or victim-blaming media headlines that perpetuate dangerous myths about sexual violence.
In her own words: “As long as we just look at the victim, we’re not looking at the context in which they were assaulted. We’re not looking at how it can be stopped.”
Edna O'Brien
Edna O’Brien (1930-2024), novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer.
Her achievement: Edna O’Brien broke new artistic ground by giving voice to the experiences of women in Ireland. Her debut novel, The Country Girls, was banned in Ireland in 1960 and denounced for the very thing that made it exceptional – its depiction of two young women as emotional and sexual beings who questioned the restrictions of their Roman Catholic upbringing.
The books that completed the trilogy – Girl with Green Eyes (1962) and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1963) – were also banned, but Edna went on to write many more novels, plays and screenplays, earning a reputation as a courageous and gifted writer who ushered in a new era in Irish literature.
In 2019, at the age of 89, she also had the satisfaction of seeing her banned trilogy being chosen as Dublin’s One City One Book.
In her own words: “I am seen as a genteel romantic writer. But the reality is I am a savage writer with a savage eye. I write about the things we are not supposed to speak about.”
Dr Evelyn Grant
Dr Evelyn Grant, musician, broadcaster, educator, arts advocate, social entrepreneur and co-founder of the Cork Pops Orchestra.
Her achievement: Evelyn Grant once described herself as a “Swiss-army knife musician”, a humble but evocative label that captures the essence of her determination to ensure that everyone has access to the joy of music.
She wears many hats, from former lecturer at MTU Cork School of Music to presenter of Weekend Drive on RTÉ Lyric FM, but it is her commitment to accessible music-making that has earned her widespread recognition. She was the first Irish person to receive a Master’s Degree in Community Music and was later awarded a PhD from UCC for her research on social inclusion in music education in Ireland.
The Cork Pops Orchestra concerts for schools series, running for over 30 years, brings all kinds of music to thousands of primary and post-primary students every year.
In her own words: “While we know all about the power of music, we are constantly knocked out by the openness of our young audiences to music, and the impact of it on the older people and the staff in the care homes we visit.”
Joanne O'Riordan
Joanne O’Riordan, sports journalist, disability activist, motivational speaker and student of law.
Her achievement: Joanne O’Riordan is one of seven people in the world living with tetra-amelia syndrome, a condition that means she was born without limbs. The title of a 2013 documentary about her life, No Limbs, No Limits, characterises her attitude to overcoming the considerable challenges of living, studying and working in a world built for able-bodied people.
During the 2011 election campaign, she took the morning off school to meet then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny and, in doing so, brought about a U-turn in government plans to cut disability funding. The following year, she addressed the UN, challenging the international body to develop technology to help people with disabilities. She got a standing ovation. Awards and recognition followed.
She was a sports pundit at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris and is now pursuing a career in law.
In her own words: “All decision makers, lobby groups, legislators and so many others should see what the Paralympics brings to those with a disability. Independence, pride, visibility and a general sense of ‘We’re disabled, and?’”
Mary Crilly
Mary Crilly, feminist activist and founding member and CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.
Her achievement: Over several decades, Mary Crilly has witnessed, and been party to, much of the positive change for victims of violence in Irish society. Since the Sexual Violence Centre first opened its door on International Women’s Day in 1983, she has tirelessly campaigned for policy and legislative change in the fields of sexual violence, human trafficking, domestic violence, stalking, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and human rights. She is active at local, regional, national and international levels.
Mary holds an MA in Women’s Studies and a diploma in the Psychology of Criminal Behaviour from University College Cork (UCC). In 2019, Mary received the Athena Swan Equality Award from UCC. In 2022, she was awarded the Freedom of the City by Cork City Council “in recognition of her unstinting support and advocacy for survivors of sexual violence over four decades”. In 2003, she was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the National University of Ireland and also received an Alumni award from UCC.
In her own words: “I’d love to eradicate sexual violence. But if victim blaming could be eradicated, that would be great. It’s never the victim’s fault.”
Dr Myra Cullinane
Dr Myra Cullinane, medical doctor, barrister and Senior Dublin District coroner who held the Stardust inquests.
Her achievement: Dr Myra Cullinane made history when she became the first female coroner in Cork, one of the busiest coronial districts in the country, and, again, more recently when she was the presiding coroner at the Stardust nightclub fire inquests, the longest-running hearing of its kind in the history of the State.
At the start of the 122-day hearings, she ensured that the bereaved families were at the centre of the process by inviting them to provide pen portraits of each of the 48 people who died in a fire on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1981. In doing so, the focus of the inquest was not only on establishing the facts of the nightclub fire, but on honouring those who died by publicly reclaiming their identities and acknowledging the lasting impact of the tragic loss of so many young people on their families.
In her own words: “The presentations brought home to all of us [...] the impact of this disaster on so many lives. I sincerely thank the families for allowing us to participate in their most private and treasured memories.”
Nano Nagle
Honora ‘Nano’ Nagle (1718-1784), pioneering educator, defender of the poor and founder of the Presentation Sisters religious order.
Her achievement: Working outside the law – and the conventions of her class – Nano Nagle set up schools for poor Catholic children at a time when the Penal Laws in Ireland forbade them. Born into a distinguished family in Cork in 1718, she might have settled into the genteel life of an 18th-century woman. However, when she returned to live in Cork in the 1750s she was struck by the extreme poverty and lack of education among children, and resolved to do something about it.
While in France, she saw how free education could transform the lives of poor people, and this inspired her to work in secret to establish schools in Cork despite the legal risks. When she inherited a fortune from her uncle, she had new means which she used to establish seven schools for Catholic children, an alms-house for elderly women and, later, a new congregation that would become the Presentation Order.
In her own words: “I often think my schools will never bring me to heaven, as I only take delight and pleasure in them.”
Dr Naomi Masheti
Dr Naomi Masheti, psychologist, three-time UCC graduate and Programme Director of the Cork Migrant Centre.
Her achievement: Dr Naomi Masheti puts migrants and their needs at the centre of her work as coordinator of the Cork Migrant Centre at Nano Nagle Place. She works closely with families in direct provision and, drawing on her scholarship, she has developed culturally sensitive programmes designed to create a safe place for migrant families while promoting wellbeing and integration.
Originally from Kenya, she has been living in Cork since 2001. She graduated with a BA in Applied Psychology from UCC in 2007, followed by an MA in Forensic Psychology in 2008, and a PhD specialising in the psychosocial wellbeing of Sub-Saharan African migrant children in 2015.
In 2024, she received a Cork Lord Mayor’s Community and Voluntary Award in recognition of her work and contribution to social justice.
In her own words: “It always starts with listening, understanding [migrants’] many emotional and practical needs and then creating the activities and programmes and the enabling conditions to address these.”
Dr Patricia Sheahan
Dr Patricia Sheahan, consultant palliative care physician and head of palliative care at University Hospital Kerry.
Her achievement: Dr Patricia Sheahan has been recognised for her outstanding dedication to cancer patients in Kerry, and her role in developing a fully integrated palliative care service for the people of Kerry, alongside Kerry Hospice Foundation. A native of Listowel, she was named Kerry Person of the Year in 2022 for her contribution to palliative care medicine.
Her decision to follow a career in palliative medicine was shaped by seeing her own grandmother being cared for at home before she died. That was possible because many of her grandmother’s children had a medical background and were able to provide a sort of familial multidisciplinary team. Dr Patricia Sheahan felt everyone should be entitled to have what her grandmother got, a belief that influenced her work in creating what is considered one of the best palliative care services in the country.
In her own words: “If you were asking me what has palliative medicine done for me, it has made me realise that we have to live today and enjoy today and that we should go to bed, all of us, at night, feeling there was something good about today.”
Gerry Davis
Gerry Davis was born in Cahir, Co. Tipperary, in 1985 and studied painting at LSAD from 2005 to 2009. He is based in Limerick, where he was involved in the founding of Wickham St Studios. His work focuses on figurative painting, often drawing from autobiographical elements, imagined landscapes, and aspects of contemporary life.
In 2016, Gerry was awarded the Hennessy Portrait Prize, which led to working full-time on commissions and exhibitions. The following year, his portrait of Henry Shefflin was unveiled at the National Gallery of Ireland. He has had solo exhibitions at The Source Arts Centre, Galway Arts Centre, Pallas Projects, the Bourne Vincent Gallery, Limerick City Gallery of Art, and, most recently, the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion in Cork.
His work is in the collections of The Arts Council of Ireland, the OPW, and the University of Limerick, and he has exhibited internationally in China, the UK, and New York.
Julianne Guinee
Julianne Guinee is an Irish figurative and landscape painter based in Buttevant, County Cork. Working primarily in oils, she explores the complexities of the human form and the quiet magic of everyday life. Her work balances tender intimacy with a subtle narrative depth. Best known for her evocative depictions of childhood, she exhibits throughout Ireland, and in 2024, her work was selected for the 194th RHA Annual Exhibition. In 2025 she appeared on Sky Arts ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’.
Vanessa Jones
Born in Tennessee, Vanessa Jones is a visual artist living and working in Dublin, Ireland. She received her BA in Fine Arts in 2003 from the George Washington University in Washington DC. Since completing her MFA in 2021 at NCAD, her paintings have received multiple including the R.C. Lewis-Crosby Award, the Centre Culturel Irlandais Residency in Paris as well as the Arts Council Ireland 2022 Next Generation Artists Award. She is also the winner of the inaugural self-portrait Sequested Prize, 2021 based in London, UK.
Her portraits have been shortlisted from 2021-2023 in the Zurich Portrait Prize at the National Gallery Ireland, and she has exhibited in solo and group shows at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Kerlin and Molesworth galleries in Dublin as well as the ISA Gallery in Indonesia at BIRAMA 3/4 at Art Jakarta Gardens 2024 and Tutur Bentuk 2023. Her works are in multiple private and national collections across Europe, America and Asia, and she is currently a part-time lecturer in the Painting Department at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland.
Vera Klute
Vera Klute is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her work spans from painting to sculpture and public art. She was born in Germany but is based in Ireland since 2001.
She is particularly well known for her portraiture and has received many high profile commissions for paintings as well as busts. She has two portraits in the National Gallery’s portrait collection and is represented in the National Self-portrait Collection, the Kings Inns, as well as the Royal Irish Academy, the Office of Public Works and the Arts Council. She has undertaken numerous portrait commissions for Universities including the RCSI, UCC, DCU, UCD and UL.
She has received a number of awards for her portraits including the Hennessy Portrait Prize at the National Gallery and the Hennessy Craig Scholarship at the RHA (both 2015), the K+M Evans Award (2013) and was shortlisted for the RCSI award.
She has had solo exhibitions at the RHA, the Butler Gallery, Limerick City Gallery, the Molesworth Gallery, QSS Gallery and the LAB. She has received several Arts Council Bursary Awards and was elected member of the RHA in 2018.
Project Description
Accenture’s Women on Walls at UCC is a campaign that seeks to make women leaders visible through a series of commissioned portraits that will create a lasting cultural legacy for Ireland. This is the fourth chapter of Women on Walls and the first outside of Dublin.
UCC is proud to hold Silver Athena Swan accreditation, recognising its ongoing commitment to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion across the university. In 2025, UCC launched its inaugural Athena Swan Trailblazer Award, celebrating pioneers and innovators dedicated to making Ireland a more inclusive and equal society.
These portraits celebrate 11 trailblazing women from, or with links to, the Munster region and builds on this commitment by making the contributions of these outstanding women permanently on display in the Aula Maxima, inspiring current and future generations. The collection was officially unveiled in November 2025 and followed the first public call for subject nominations which received over 600 submissions. The project was managed by Business to Arts. You can find out more at www.ucc.ie/en/edi/women-on-walls/
Accenture’s Women on Walls campaign began in 2016 with the Royal Irish Academy, followed by a second campaign with RCSI in 2019, and a third with DCU in 2020. Read more about Women on Walls at www.accenture.com/womenonwalls.
They will be hung in the Aula Maxima, which is based on the North Wing of the UCC Quadrangle, which is the most prestigious location on the UCC campus.
Message from the President
Professor John O'Halloran, President of UCC, said: “I am delighted that UCC is partnering with Accenture and Business to Arts to bring the Women on Walls campaign to Cork. It is important the diverse talents and contributions of women are recognised and that their stories are visible and celebrated. This campaign aligns with our University’s longstanding commitment to promoting and advancing equality, diversity and inclusion and creating an environment where everyone feels they belong. We hope the trailblazing women we will spotlight as part of this campaign will inspire and encourage our students, staff, alumni, and the wider community to pursue their dreams and realise their full potential.”
The Campaign So Far
Women on Walls began in 2016 with the RIA. Five portraits of leading female academics were commissioned–the first in their 230-year history. In 2019, Women on Walls at RCSI celebrated the pioneering achievements of eight women leaders in healthcare. In 2021, DCU unveiled the third chapter of artwork for Women on Walls commemorating five women pioneers in science.
Location of Portraits - the Aula Maxima
Photo showing the Presidential Portraits Collection in the Aula Maxima at UCC. Credit: Tomás Tyner.
Since November 1849 the Aula Maxima has served many functions both ceremonial and practical. Annually since 1850, prize-givings and awards of scholarships have been presented in the Aula Maxima. Extending beyond the University walls, UCC has welcomed events from the wider community, including conferences, celebrations and concerts.
Up until July 2025, the Presidential Portraits Collection at University College Cork were hung on the western wall of the Aula Maxima. Individually and collectively this is an assemblage of significant Irish artists, including John B. Yeats RHA, James Sleator PRHA, Edward McGuire RHA, Derek Hill HRHA, Basil Blackshaw HRHA, Colin Davidson RUA and Vera Klute ARHA amongst others. The Accenture Women on Walls portraits will be unveiled on 27 November 2025.
For more on the Aula Maxima, please see here.
