Funding updates

Published:

Funding eligibility to be linked to gender equality accreditation

The Health Research Board and other Irish research funding agencies, including the Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland, will require higher education institutions to have Athena Swan gender equality accreditation in place by 2019 to remain eligible for research funding.

The HRB and other institutions are adopting a key recommendation of the National Review of Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions, published earlier this year, which showed that significant gender inequality remains in higher education. The move will promote gender equality in researcher careers and the gender dimension in research content, which are also key requirements for winning European Horizon 2020 research funding.

According to Dr Graham Love, Chief Executive of the HRB,

'The HRB is committed to mainstreaming gender equality in our funding programmes and practices.  Our gender policy reflects the need for equitable and fair treatment of both genders in assessing applications for funding, and also in ensuring that the design and conduct of research considers gender influences and issues. We welcome the recommendations from the HEA Expert Group and look forward to working in partnership with the HEA and other Irish Funding Agencies on the national implementation plan'.

More information is available from the press release from the Higher Education Authority.

Links to the Athena Swan Charter website and the National Review of Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions report are also below.