BiOrbic is a diverse and inclusive centre where everyone is welcome!
All BiOrbic members are committed to gender equality.
Our academic partners have achieved Athena SWAN bronze awards and Teagasc has a Diversity and Inclusion strategy in place.
BiOrbic formed its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group in 2020. The group has 7 members – 1 academic, 1 operations , 2 x PhD and 3 x PDs. Meetings are generally held a quarterly basis.
In line with the focus on gender at national level, our activities and focus to date have prioritised gender equality, but we recognise that a broader, more intersectional approach would benefit the Centre. Future activities will aim to take broader equality grounds into account.
Key EDI activities by the Centre and the EDI Group:
- Formalised key leadership roles for women (Governance Board Chair, Spokes Leadership Team, Research Programme Committee Chair)
- Review for Survey in progress
- Introductory training on sex and gender dimension in research in February 2020
- Policy comparison exercise across our member institutions to establish that all institutions have similar equality policies for their students and employees.
- Equality, diversity and inclusion will now be a standing item on the agenda of the BiOrbic Executive Committee and Governance Board
- Hosting a Pride table Quiz for Pride Month 2022
We are moving to ensure better gender representation (at least 40%) on key Centre committees. We are also considering conducting a survey of Centre members to better understand needs in relation to equality.
