Tyndall Celebrates Equality on International Women’s Day

International Women's Day (IWD), celebrated annually on 8 March, is both a global day celebrating the achievements of women and a call to action to accelerate women's equality. This year’s theme is #EachforEqual and Tyndall staff have joined in to celebrate the official 2020 IWD pose while marking Tyndall’s progress towards equality in the workplace.

“I’m very proud to work in an organisation that has such a visible commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion,” explains Racquel Hegarty from Tyndall’s Human Resources department. “Although Tyndall could benefit from increased representation of women in lead and senior roles, we’re working proactively to improve that and everyone can see those initiatives – they’re very visible.”

Initiatives include collaborations with Soapbox Science, WiTS, and Aurora, as well as Tyndall-based programmes like Empowering Women @ Tyndall and Athena SWAN. The Athena SWAN Charter recognises institutions that excel in recruiting, retaining and promoting women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEM) in higher education.  Tyndall signed on to the Athena Swan Charter in 2019 and is preparing the work to be considered for Bronze status.

 “Talented, motivated people are Tyndall’s greatest asset. Our People & Culture Action Plan -- a key part of Tyndall’s 2025 strategy -- is focused on ensuring equality of opportunity for all our staff and postgraduate students.”

Aidan Quinn is Chair of the Tyndall Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team with 35 participants from across the genders and representative of staff and students from all levels within Tyndall. He acknowledges both the need for initiatives like this and the progress they represent. “Our application for an Athena SWAN Bronze Award in November this year demonstrates our commitment to identifying barriers to gender equality at Tyndall and taking action to remove these obstacles. “

Lynette Keeney, Royal Society / Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellow at Tyndall’s Micro and Nano Systems (MNS) Group, cites issues around the decision to raise a family as one of those obstacles.  “The loss of women from scientific research at higher levels of career progression is well-documented,” she points out.  “Unfortunately, career interruptions like maternity leave impact on track-records and the career development of researchers. As an example, the ‘h-index’, which is commonly used to characterise research output, does not account for career breaks.

“Practical initiatives are required to support women and I welcome Tyndall’s recent decision to financially support PhD students while on maternity leave. I believe it’s equally important to support mothers when they return to work. UCC has introduced an ‘Academic Returner’s Scheme’ to support academic staff within 12 months of their return from maternity or adoptive leave. This is available to academic staff across all colleges in UCC, however this is not yet applicable to Tyndall researchers.  A scheme like this could provide financial support to researchers for additional childcare costs that arise when delivering invited talks at conferences or during collaborative research visits. Both are key in enabling researchers to get their research careers back on track.”

Lynette also notes the hugely positive and supportive environment she’s encountered at Tyndall over the past 11 years. “I have personally found that there is a culture of equality in Tyndall and I’ve been recognised for my achievements and my commitment to high standards of work, rather than hindered or favoured on account of my gender.”

Racquel Hegarty agrees about the positive environment for students, researchers and staff throughout Tyndall: “Tyndall is serious about driving equality in our workplace.”