Coimbra Group founding member Trinity College Dublin receives EU Sustainable Gender Equality Champion Award from Commissioner Maryia Gabriel
08 March 2023
On International Women’s Day 8 March 2023, Trinity College Dublin was named a European Union Gender Equality Champion in recognition of its century-old effort to work toward gender equality on its campus and in its sector. The new European Union Award for (Academic) Gender Equality Champions, which comes with a €100,000 prize, was presented to a delegation from Trinity by European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Maryia Gabriel, at a ceremony in the European Commission offices in Brussels. Trinity was named a Sustainable Gender Equality Champion and cited membership of the Coimbra Group, and in particular the Equality and Diversity Working Group, in its application for the award and highlighted the importance of university networks to share good practices and learnings.
As part of the related award events in Brussels on International Women’s Day award winners were delighted to have a meeting with the Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for Research Innovation, Joanna Drake, along with staff from the Directorate Unit – Democracy and European Values. This meeting was very constructive consisted of engaging discussions in relation to further embedding gender equality into European Union research and innovation ecosystems as well as developing pipelines of equality champions across the ERA.
The Trinity delegation who travelled to Brussels to collect the award were: Professor Lorraine Leeson, Associate Vice-Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Professor Graeme Watson, Chair of the Trinity Athena Swan Champions Network; Ms Antoinette Quinn, Director of Human Resources in Trinity: Dr Siobán O’Brien Green, Acting Equality Officer; and Professor Eileen Drew (now retired) who played a key role in bringing the Athena Swan gender equality programme to Ireland.
Professor Lorraine Leeson, Associate Vice-Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, said: “This is a wonderful recognition of the intentional interventions that have been made over an extended period of time to open up pathways to participation for women in Trinity. There is a proverb that says that, when we drink water, we should never forget those who helped to dig the well: this award then also gives us the opportunity to stop and reflect on the incredible commitment to change that has been brought about over the past century, the past decades, and in the past years. We are thrilled in Trinity to celebrate this incredible recognition of the work that has been done by achieving this award.”
For further information:
EU Gender Equality Champion – Equality | Trinity College Dublin (tcd.ie)