UCC takes Silver at Athena Swan Awards Ceremony 2025

12 Nov 2025

Four prestigious awards were presented to UCC awardees at the national Athena Swan Awards Ceremony, held at South East Technological University (SETU) Carlow on 12 November 2025.   

UCC celebrated its first Silver institutional Athena Swan Award, along with three School awards – a first Silver for the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, a first Bronze for the School of Applied Social Studies, and a renewed Bronze for the Dental School and Hospital. Together, these awards mark a significant milestone in the university’s ongoing commitment to gender equality and inclusion.  

 The institutional Silver award was accepted on behalf of UCC by Professor Stephen Byrne, Deputy President & Registrar and Chair of UCC’s Gender & Athena Swan Working Group, alongside Dr Avril Hutch, Director of UCC’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Unit.  

In conferring the institutional Silver award, panel assessors commended UCC particularly for significant gains achieved in the representation of women at senior academic and research grades, supported by enhanced recruitment and promotion practices and stronger career progression supports. Since 2019, the proportion of women at Full Professor level has doubled (to 30%), while the number of women at Professor (Scale 2) has increased by 50% and at Senior Lecturer level by 28%. Over the same period, women have come to represent at least half of Senior Postdoctoral Researchers (up from 31%) and Senior Research Fellows (up from 25%) — evidence of meaningful progress in gender representation across all career stages.   The University has also implemented a suite of family-family and reproductive health policies, providing leave relating to fertility treatment, surrogacy, foster care and pregnancy loss.  

In addition to the institutional recognition, UCC celebrated three School successes:  

• The School of Food and Nutritional Sciences received its first Silver Athena Swan Award, recognising the impact, over time, of its work on gender equality. Application assessors commended the School for initiatives to consult with and support students, to understand and improve student experience of course load and factors influencing grade attainment.  

Image caption: The School of Food & Nutritional Sciences accepting UCC's first departmental Silver Athena Swan award.  L to R: Dr Therese Uniacke, School Athena Swan co-lead; Prof. Alan Kelly, Head of School; Ms Leah Neville, School Athena Swan co-lead.

• The School of Applied Social Studies earned its first Bronze Athena Swan Award. Assessors commended the School for its transparent reflection on the challenges in addressing gender stereotypes in social sciences and specifically praised the School for supporting a teaching buy-out for the SAT Convenor to facilitate its Athena Swan self-assessment process.  

Image caption: UCC School of Applied Social Studies received its first Athena Swan award.  L to R: Dr Rosie Meade, Ms Fionnuala O'Leary, Dr Gill Harold.

• The Dental School and Hospital successfully renewed its Bronze Athena Swan Award.  In earning its renewal, the School was commended for significant improvements in the representation of women in senior positions, a management restructure that strengthened research capacity, and its commitment to career development for professional services staff. Panel assessors also highlighted a new policy on religious observance, introduced by the School’s EDI Committee, recognising the diversity of religious expression among students.  

Image caption: UCC Dental School & Hospital successfully renewed its Bronze Athena Swan award.  L: Dr Sharon Curtin, School EDI Committee Chair (incoming).  R: Dr Elizabeth Anne Ryan, School Athena Swan lead and EDI Committee Chair (outgoing). 

These awards bring UCC’s total number of Athena Swan awards to 18, in addition to its newly awarded Institutional Silver accreditation.  

Speaking at the event, Professor Stephen Byrne said:  

“UCC's Silver award reflects the dedication and collective effort of our entire university community to create a more equitable, inclusive and supportive environment for all. It is both recognition of the work to date and a call to sustain our momentum.”  

Dr Avril Hutch added:  

  
“This is a landmark moment for UCC. These awards not only validate the commitment of our Schools and units but also inspire further progress in embedding gender equality throughout our university structures and culture.”  

The Athena Swan Charter, managed by Advance HE, recognises and celebrates good practice in higher education towards the advancement of gender equality.  

Headline image caption: UCC receives its Silver Athena Swan award.  L to R: Ms Ann King, Athena Swan Project Officer, UCC EDI Unit; Deputy President & Registrar Prof. Stephen Byrne; Dr Avril Hutch, UCC EDI Director; Ms Angela O'Donovan, UCC People & Culture; Ms Katarzyna (Kasia) Pyrz, EDI Data Analyst