Gender equality award for UL and Trinity

University of Limerick and Trinity College Dublin have become the first Irish colleges to receive recognition from an international organisation for their efforts to increase academic gender equality.

They have received bronze Athena SWAN Awards, part of a UK programme that works to further and support equality for staff and students in higher education institutions. The Athena SWAN charter is currently limited to science and related fields, but is being expanded to other disciplines in the UK and perhaps later in Ireland.

It was extended to Ireland in the last year, with UL and Trinity among six colleges here that applied for awards.