School of Health Sciences becomes ninth school in the University to achieve Athena Swan Bronze Award All three schools in NUI Galway’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences now hold Bronze awards  NUI Galway has reached a new level in advancing gender equality, with the School of Health Sciences securing the ninth Athena Swan Bronze Award for the University. The award recognised the commitment to advancing gender equality in health sciences for both staff and students, and in creating cultural change within the University.  NUI Galway Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Helen Maher, said: “All of us at NUI Galway are sharing in the congratulations for the School of Health Sciences. We are greatly encouraged by the progress our university has made on gender equality, particularly in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences – where all three schools have secured bronze awards”.  “This latest award demonstrates that our efforts and our commitment on this unfinished journey are embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in our culture and our collective responsibilities.”  The Athena Swan Bronze Award represents the commitment to equality in the School of Health Sciences and highlights the work which has been undertaken to identify gender equality issues, such as the underrepresentation of men and understaffing in some areas and the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. Professor Martin O’Donnell, Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway, said: “We would like to congratulate the School of Heath Sciences in attaining the Bronze medal award, particularly the work of the self-assessment team. All three Schools in our College have now attained Bronze Awards, which demonstrates an important but initial step in our commitment to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion in our College and wider community.”   Professor Caroline McIntosh, Head of the School of Health Sciences at NUI Galway, said: “I am very proud to have the School of Health Sciences awarded the Bronze Athena Swan award. I look forward to supporting the implementation of our action plan to foster an environment where all staff feel that they have ample prospects to reach their potential.  “Our action plan lays the foundation for embedding equality, inclusion, and support within our School. A particular challenge for our School is the extreme gender imbalance- our professions are predominantly female with low male representation, which is clearly reflected in our own academic and student profile. Through the implementation of our action plan we aim to work towards greater gender representation in our professions while also addressing the more well-known gender equality issues associated with a predominantly female School.” Ends

Minister for State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan T.D. has today opened the international Health Promotion Conference at NUI Galway. National and International experts are presenting on topics under the theme of this year’s event - “Health Inequality: Action for Change”. The annual Health Promotion Conference at NUI Galway is in its 26th year and is co-hosted by the Health Service Executive, the Department of Health, the Association for Health Promotion Ireland and the Institute of Public Health.  Minister Feighan addressed the conference, saying: “The annual conference provides a great opportunity for more cutting-edge health promotion research, as well as expanding links between knowledge and implementation and broadening connections between researchers, policy makers and practitioners. Ultimately in society, everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.” The aim of the conference is to address health inequalities associated with socio-economic factors in Ireland and internationally, and the impact these factors have on life expectancy rates, mortality, chronic conditions depending on education, employment, income level, living environment and ethnicity.  The conference will hear how these factors have been exposed and amplified by the pandemic. This will be specifically addressed by Sir Michael Marmot, keynote speaker from the Institute of Health Equity in University College London.  Professor Margaret Hodgins, Conference Co-Chair, Health Promotion Research Centre and Discipline of Health Promotion, NUI Galway, said: “This conference is bringing together the best of NUI Galway and national and international experts on health inequalities to look to highlight cutting-edge research and innovation initiatives as well as to expand links between research and action, and to broaden connections among a diverse community of researchers, policymakers and practitioners. It will provide the opportunity to discuss meaningful action for change and to learn from the experiences of international colleagues.”  The conference will focus on reframing lifestyle approaches to health improvement to ensure they are underpinned by an approach that recognises and addresses the wider determinants of health. This is consistent with the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme, launched by the HSE in 2021 to address health inequity, a place-based approach that aims to focus on local areas in which health and wellbeing risk factors are particularly concentrated.  International and national keynote addresses include  Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity and advisor to the WHO Director-General on social determinants of health.  Professor Jane South, Professor of Healthy Communities at Leeds Beckett University, UK and the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, will explore the importance of community-centred approaches as a way of reducing health inequity. Professor Jennie Popay, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Health at Lancaster University. Dr Helen McAvoy. Director of Policy, Institute of Public Health, Ireland. Greg Straton. Assistant Principal Officer, Health and Wellbeing Unit, Department of Health, Ireland. For further information on the conference and full programme details, visit: www.nuigalway.ie/hpconference  Ends

ICHEC (Irish Centre for High-End Computing) welcomes EU support for supercomputing  The Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) at NUI Galway has been selected by the EU as the home for a new supercomputer. Ireland is one of five successful countries, along with Germany, Hungary, Greece and Poland, chosen to operate the next generation of European High Performance Computing. The announcement of EU funding is the first step in a process which will be completed subject to national co-funding arrangements.  President of NUI Galway Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said: “The key benefit of a super-computing technology of this excellence is its capacity to model complexity and to radically expand our research opportunities. “Our core values at NUI Galway include openness and respect and computing infrastructure of this capacity will be a significant asset in that regard as it futureproofs our approach to research, respecting the evidence and making a major contribution to openly supporting the scientific research community in Ireland. It also fits with so many aspects of our research strategy, using data to support research and policy-making in the environment, marine, healthcare, and in supporting a good society.” Commenting on the successful bid Professor. J-C Desplat, ICHEC, said: “A new supercomputer, expected to be around 25 times more powerful than the current national supercomputer Kay, would provide a national competence development platform for both numerical modelling and for the next generation of data-centric techniques and platforms and, as such, accelerate the adoption of powerful new hybrid techniques embedding machine learning within mainstream computational science models and Grand Challenges.”  Professor Jim Livesey, Vice President Research and Innovation, NUI Galway, said: “The key feature of machine of this nature is its capacity to model complexity. As weather patterns change, as the future of distributed energy networks change, as we attempt to predict food supply needs of the future, we need a totally new kind of computing capacity to support our endeavours in these areas for the public good.” EuroHPC supercomputers will be available to serve a wide range of European users, including  the scientific community, industry and the public sector, powering new applications in a wide range of areas, from designing medicines and new materials to fighting climate change, they will advance science, boost the innovation potential of enterprises while ultimately improving the citizens’ quality of life. Ends