UCC Hosts IUA VPs for EDI

19 Jun 2026

UCC currently chairs the IUA VPs/Directors for EDI Working Group.  On 19 June, we were delighted to welcome the VPs/Directors for EDI and Data Practitioners from the Irish Universities Association to University College Cork to discuss how to further progress this work.

In a challenging global climate, we are proud that Irish universities continue to champion and work together to advance EDI, human rights and social justice.

With the plague of disinformation and misinformation we now face, it’s challenging to discern fact from fiction, rhetoric from reality. Data is critical to demonstrating the impact of EDI across the higher education sector. This includes:

✅ 7 woman presidents of Irish HEIs since 2020
✅ 151 Athena Swan awards - 32 Silver and 119 Bronze - for advancing gender equality
✅Increased representation of women across the academic promotions pipeline - Women now hold over 30% of full professorships in Ireland
✅ Dedicated policies and supports for 1) fertility treatment, 2) pregnancy loss, 3) foster carers, 4) menopause, 5) domestic violence, 6) gender identity and expression which have a meaningful and positive impact on student and staff experience
✅ 6 race equality action plans to advance and embedded anti-racism work
✅ First LGBT+ action plan in a HEI
✅ 15 HEA cross institutional EDI Enhancement Fund Projects including Engaging Men, Reverse Mentoring and Intersectional approaches to EDI
✅ Universal design for teaching, learning and assessment
✅ Enhanced built environment
✅Age friendly universities and life long learning
✅ Recognised as EDI leaders with six (6) European gender equality champion awards to Irish HEIs

We are all responsible for making EDI a reality and recognise our many dedicated colleagues and students who progress EDI in their day-to-day work, study and research. It’s hard when the tide turns but now is the time to stand firm in our commitment. This is about building a better and stronger society and we still have so much more to do.