Colleges to lose funds over gender inequality

Only colleges tackling academic gender inequality will be eligible for a slice of an annual €230m public research fund.

The measures aimed at getting more than 20 publicly funded institutions to take gender equality in research careers more seriously will take effect from the end of 2019.

Only those with the minimum bronze accreditation under the Athena Swan gender equality scheme — requiring a successful phase of self-assessment, data collection, action planning, and peer review — will be considered for funding from the Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, and Health Research Board.