In recognition of International Men’s Day 2024 and this year’s theme, “Men’s Health Champions and Positive Role Models,” the College of Science EDI Committee and the Culturally Responsive Mentoring initiative will be holding a coffee morning to mark the occasion.

The event is taking place on Tuesday 19 November from 11.30am-12.30pm in Second Floor Atrium, Science East, UCD O’Brien Centre for Science. 

UCD EDI are kindly supporting the event by providing a delicious cake, with tea, coffee and other treats also being provided by UCD College of Science. It is hoped that the coffee morning will bring together a diverse range of staff and students to celebrate the positive influence male role models have in advancing science and gender equality in STEM and higher education. We hope to see you there.

The event will follow on from the ‘STEM For All: Let’s Talk About Gender’ event being hosted by UCD School of Chemistry, from 9.30am until 11.30am in E2.18, Science East. The workshop aims to inspire meaningful conversations around gender equality in STEM, be exploring the challenges and opportunities to foster a more inclusive and equitable environment for everyone.

Additionally, the “Engaging Men in EDI” working group, co-chaired by Ernesto, VP for EDI in the College of Social Science and Law, will be hosting an event the day after International men‘s day on the 20th, to share the findings of their engaging men in EDI report. This event is open to all employees, and the organizers kindly ask you to sign-up and share the details with your colleagues. Details and booking information can be found here here.

Last week, a group of assistant professors in the College of Science took part in an ‘Empowerment Workshop’ run by the excellent Dr Karen Kelsky from The Professor Is In, and organised by Culturally Responsive Mentoring in collaboration with the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science.

During the 2-hour workshop, Karen spoke candidly and thoughtfully about her work and experiences in academia to build into a critical discussion of how to manage power dynamics and address toxic environments and cultures in academia. Karen shared with the group new insights from her next book project, based on a expansive database of complaints documenting sexual harassment and violence in academia. Those in attendance engaged in frank discussions, reflecting on their own experiences, responsibilities, and values, to help them build confidence to identify, name, and address difficult relations they may witness at work. The workshop followed a delicious sandwich lunch, which provided a great opportunity to get to know Karen, and we we were thrilled to welcome her into our College. The feedback we received has been excellent, and we thank Karen for being generous with her time and her thoughts in the workshop.

We would like to invite all new research staff at UCD to our upcoming UCD Pint of Postdoc event, while giving a friendly reminder to everyone else to sign-up to attend if you haven’t done so already!

The event is being organised to recognise all the hard and important work that postdocs, research fellows, research scientists and research staff do at UCD, and give us all a well earned break as the trimester kicks into gear. The event will be the perfect opportunity to get to know new colleagues from across all colleges at UCD, as everyone is invited to give a short informal talk on their postdoctoral research (or any aspect of postdoc research you want!). Even if you do not wish to present you can come along and share a drink (one will be free!), eat some food (free as well!) and have lovely chats with friends, old and new. If you want to attend and present, or just attend, you can sign up here or copy and paste the link at the bottom into your browser!

Please find the important information below:

When is it? Thursday 26th of September, 4 pm
Where is it? Clubhouse Bar, O’Neill Lounge (student union)
What will it involve? Organised socialising with fellow researchers, talks, food, drinks and a good time!
Do I need to present? No, but you’ll miss out on winning amazing prizes and a certificate acknowledging your participation.
I want to present, what should I do? Choose a topic you are passionate about, think of a way to present it (a PowerPoint, interpretive dance, a song, a film, a poem…), create a (strictly) 5 minute presentation, and you’re ready to go. We can provide examples of presentations from last year, help with props, sound checks etc. on request.
Who wins the prizes? The audience will vote for their favourite talks by ballot.
How much does it cost? It’s free!
How do I attend? Please complete this google form. Or scan the QR code on the attached poster.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and feel free to email marianne.haarr@ucd.ie with any questions.

Link to Sign-up form: https://forms.gle/69w7gutK326J5Fry6

After a successful run of rotating postdoc coffee mornings hosted by 4 schools in UCD College of Science, the School of Physics are pleased to host a one-off summer coffee morning for postdocs in August.

The event promises to be an excellent opportunity for postdocs throughout UCD College of Science to reconnect at the end of the summer, and share plans for the upcoming academic year. Refreshments will be kindly provided by the School of Physics.

We look forward to welcoming you to the event, and please share widely with all of your postdoc colleagues and friends in UCD College of Science.

UCD College of Science will be celebrating LGBT+ Pride month with a Pride celebration event on Friday 14 June at 11am in the 4th floor atrium of UCD O’Brien Centre for Science.

The event promises to be an enjoyable morning where you can pick up rainbow flags and other goodies to celebrate LGBT+ visibility and inclusion in the college. We will have lots of treats to share with you, including a Pride cake, cupcakes, teas and coffees, and there will be a Purl Jam craft table to make your own rainbow creations.

The event is being organised by the College of Science EDI committee and will be opened by College Principal Professor Jeremy Simpson. The morning will include short speeches from staff and students in the college reflecting on the importance of Pride and LGBT+ inclusion in science.

Please put the event in your diary if you can join us, and invite your colleagues. We look forward to seeing you there to celebrate our LGBT+ peers!

In March around 15 postdocs from across UCD College of Science made time in their morning to connect together over coffee and pastries for the third in our College of Science Postdoc Coffee morning 2023-24 rotating coffee series. The School of Chemistry did an excellent job at hosting the event, with refreshments provided by the Culturally Responsive Mentoring team.

The event gave postdocs an opportunity to meet over the UCD break period to celebrate St Patrick’s day and reflect on the successes of the spring trimester so far.

The next postdoc coffee morning will be hosted by the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science later in the trimester, so stay tuned for details to be confirmed soon.

We are thrilled to report on the success of the first UCD College of Science Women in Science Mentoring Awards that took place on March 8th, International Women’s Day 2024. The initiative was organised by UCD College of Science’s Culturally Responsive Mentoring team, spearheaded by Vice President for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in the College of Science, Associate Professor Catherine Mooney, along with Dr Andrew McCartan from UCD School of Computer Science and Maeve O’Connell, Senior Project Officer in the College of Science.

The Women in Science Mentoring awards acknowledge mentors in the college whose efforts have fostered encouragement and support for women, girls, and other underrepresented individuals within the UCD College of Science community. A nominations process earlier in the year invited staff and students to nominate colleagues, mentors, teachers, and staff who had shown excellence in mentoring. In total, 21 certificates were awarded to the following winners:

The awards were presented to recipients during a special ceremony held on International Women’s Day in the O’Brien Centre for Science, which was beautifully decorated with purple and white balloons and bunting for the occasion. Associate Dean of Science and Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Tara McMorrow opened the ceremony with a rousing speech advocating for the inclusion and encouragement for success of women and girls in science, before handing out the certificates.

Students and staff from throughout the college gathered to celebrate the success of those receiving the awards. International Women’s day cakes and cupcakes were shared, along with tea and coffee. Finally, all award recipients were entered into a prize draw for a 50 euro one4all gift voucher.