ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS IN IRELAND 2022 – 2024

• Girls Mathematics Olympiad Ireland: as part of “The Irish Mathematical Olympiad (IrMO)” female students are trained at University of Galway; Maynooth University; University College Cork; University College Dublin; University of Limerick; Sligo Institute of Technology (see http://www.irmo.ie and http://www.irmo.ie/egmo.html) to participate to EGMO (the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, see https://www.egmo.org/countries/country6/).
• January 2021: Romina Gaburro has been engaging with the other committee members of the Irish Mathematical Society (IMS) to improve the participation of Irish based mathematicians to the EWM and promote the role of women in mathematics in Ireland. The IMS oversaw the selection of the Irish recipients of the Kovalevskaya grant to attend the International Congress of Mathematicians 2022. This included the selection of female candidates, with the aim of promoting gender balance within the Irish mathematical community.
• Ongoing: the Athena Swan (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) charter was launched in the Republic of Ireland in early 2015. Initiated in the U.K., its extension to Ireland was made possible through funding from theHigher Education Authority (HEA) and is currently a key pillar of Ireland’s national strategy for gender equality. Ireland based universities and institutes of technology participate in Athena Swan Ireland. Their progress is linked to their eligibility for funding from Ireland’s major research agencies. Below is the list of mathematics and statistics departments in Irish universities and institutes of technologies awarded an Athena Swan award during the period 2022-2024:

  o TU Dublin, School of Mathematical Sciences. Bronze, 2022;
  o Dublin City University, School of Mathematical Sciences. Bronze, 2022;
  o University College Cork, School of Mathematical Sciences. Bronze, 2022;
  o University College Dublin, School of Mathematics and Statistics. Bronze, 2023; o Maynooth University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Bronze, 2023. o University of Limerick, Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Silver, 2023.

• Ongoing since 2020: related to the last point above, the mathematical sciences in Ireland have been collectively working at a national level towards the common goal of collecting and analysing data on gender imbalance in the mathematical sciences across the country. In 2020, Dr Niall Madden (University of Galway) led the successful proposal entitled “Supporting Athena SWAN in the Mathematical Sciences: Benchmarking and Networking” in response to the Higher Education Authority Gender Enhancement Equality Fund (HEA GEEF) call. The project, in partnership with Dublin City University, the University of Limerick, University College Cork, and University College Dublin, has been producing, for the first time, a set of benchmark data for Mathematical Sciences departments in Irish Higher Education Institutions, primarily for use in Athena SWAN departmental applications while also initiating an Irish Mathematical Sciences Athena SWAN network.
• September 2022: the 2020 HEA GEEF proposal was the precursor to the formation of the Irish Committee for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Mathematics (ICEDIM). The formation of ICEDIM, the first one of its kind in Ireland, was endorsed by the IMS committee which approved the formation ICEDIM as a committee of the IMS (https://irishmathsoc.org/icedim/). The committee, chaired by Romina Gaburro,works towards encouraging women and under-represented groups to study mathematics; it supports women and under-represented groups in their careers and it gives prominence and visibility to women mathematicians and mathematicians from under-represented groups (see https://irishmathsoc.org/icedim/ for its terms of reference and for a list of the ICEDIM’s activities). Among its activities, ICEDIM runs a monthly Zoom seminar series (see https://irishmathsoc.org/icedim/?file=seminars) to promote the visibility of women mathematicians and mathematicians from under- represented groups; it also organises the ICEDIM Women in Mathematics Day (seehttps://www.ul.ie/scieng/schools-and-departments/department-mathematics-and- statistics/icedim-women-in-mathematics, registered under the May 12 initiative at https://may12.womeninmaths.org/node/1143).

• 2024: Other activities organised in Ireland to promote the visibility of women in mathematics include the exhibition “Celebrating UCD’s female mathematicians in Dublin”, registered under the May 12 initiative athttps://may12.womeninmaths.org/2024- list?field_address_country_code=IE&field_type_event_target_id=2.
• January 2024: the former President of the IMS, Prof. Pauline Mellon (University College Dublin) joined Romina Gaburro as EWM country coordinator for Ireland.
• 8th of March 2024: the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and MACSI (the Mathematics Application Consortium for Science and Industry) at the University of Limerick celebrated the International Women’s Day 2024 where academics and scholars, including both Postgraduate and Undergraduate students, gathered together in a joyful and informal coffee and chats.