The next SWIG Ireland organised event has been announced. “Athena SWAN – Limits and Possibilities: How far can Athena SWAN take us towards gender equality in Irish higher education?” This event will be held from 4-6 pm on Wednesday 13 December, 2017at the Museum Room Theatre, Trinity College Dublin.

Dr. Claire McGing and Professor Pat O’Connor will be the key speakers. Dr. Claire McGing is currently the Athena Swan Project Officer at Maynooth University and a Lecturer in the Department of Geography at Maynooth University. She regularly publishes on gender representation in Irish politics, not only in academic journals but also in mainstream publications like The Irish Times. Dr. McGing’s paper is entitled “A Professional and Personal Reflection on the Athena SWAN Process” and will introduce the Athena SWAN award and illustrate her own personal and professional experiences of applying for the award itself. 

Professor Pat O’Connor is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Limerick and a Visiting Professor at the Geary Institute at University College Dublin. She has written extensively about the role of gender in higher education management in leading publications and has authored or co-authored no fewer than 8 books over her illustrious career. Her paper is entitled “Creating Gender Equality at Organisational Level: What Makes the Difference?” In it, she will argue that leadership is the key element in creating gender equality, which may or may not coincide with interventions such as Athena SWAN. 

The discussion will be moderated by SWIG Ireland Committee Member Kate Flood, a historical ecologist and geographer at National University of Ireland – Galway and Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography. After the two talks, Kate will facilitate a discussion with our two esteemed panellists followed by a general question and answer session.

​As this will be SWIG Ireland’s first event as a membership-based group, we would like to welcome our new and prospective members to join for us a beverage at a venue TBD, but within walking distance of Trinity. 

SWIG Ireland is launching it's formal membership and we invite you to join. 

Membership in S.W.I.G. is welcome to anyone who identifies as part of the geography family, which we define as associated with the range of fields and practices within geography. S.W.I.G. welcomes members in all stages of their respective careers and members not currently employed by or directly affiliated with an academy.
Membership of S.W.I.G. is open to and will not discriminate for any reason.

Only members are eligible to stand for election to the S.W.I.G. committee.

SWIG members are invited to make an annual contribution to the group. There are three options for this fee, and members are invited to choose the contribution amount which is most feasible for them. The three options are €2, €5 and €10. These fee amounts will be fixed for the period 2017-2021.

Members who face difficulties in making a contribution may choose not to do so. Such members will not be excluded from the group or penalized in any way.  
Members who may wish to make a larger contribution than those named above are also invited to do so.

We invite those interested in joining to fill out the following form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclunwLGIclllK_MymzNGgF04Kz92SnWEvHDtOWY9XW6ktC_g/viewform?usp=sf_link
Membership fees can be paid in person or by bank transfer, any difficulties please contact aoife.a.kavanagh@mu.ie

Prof Gillian Rose spoke to the GSI Postgrad and Early Career Network recently here is a copy of her blogpost about her recent chat with us at Maynooth University. The original can be found at
https://visualmethodculture.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/academic-selves-and-academic-careers/ 
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I visited the wonderful Department of Geography at Maynooth University a couple of weeks ago, and I was kindly invited by the Supporting Women in Geography Irelandgroup there to a discussion session about developing a career as an academic. I was sent a bunch of questions beforehand, which clearly articulated some of the key issues for this group: how to manage multiple demands to do different kinds of academic work, how to manage caring responsibilities with academic work, how to get on…
I don’t usually post about this sort of thing, though I do retweet about women’s experiences of academic life, on occasion. But the invitation and the questions gave me an opportunity to pull together a few thoughts around these topics, and also to reflect on how lucky I’ve been in my career: I’ve (almost) always had supportive line managers, I’ve never been asked to teach to the exclusion of research, I’ve never to have had to move from one fixed-term contract to another. I have though taken extended maternity leave and worked part-time for several years. So here, for what they’re worth, are seven things I think are important to make the time to think about and act on, to manage in pressured times. I’m sure there are more. But here goes: