SUCCESS @ TU Dublin Computer Science Wins 2019 Minerva Informatics Equality Award
The winner of the fourth edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award is TU Dublin Computer Science, Ireland, for their gender equality initiatives and policies to develop the careers of female Faculty.
The Minerva Award, organised by Informatics Europe and sponsored by Google, was presented at a special ceremony held in Rome, Italy, during the 15th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2019). Dr Deirdre Lillis, Head of Computer Science at TU Dublin and Dr Susan McKeever, Senior Lecturer at TU Dublin, received the prize on behalf of the Computer Science School and presented the scope and impact of their actions.
“TU Dublin Computer Science is delighted and honoured to receive the Informatics Europe 2019 Minerva Informatics Equality Award”, says Dr Deirdre Lillis. “We have worked hard over the past decade to improve gender balance and inclusion in our Faculty and the Minerva Award is an incentive to redouble our efforts and continue our work. As the Irish poet, Augusta Gregory, once said: ‘She is a girl and would not be afraid to walk the whole world with herself.’ This is true of many females in the ICT profession but it is time that journey is made easier by all who work in ICT, and not just the women. Accessible role models are critical to attracting the next generation of female Informatics students and we will continue to work to ensure the success of our staff over the coming years in an academic and ICT sector that remains challenging for females”.
Dr Dana Petcu (West University of Timișoara), Chair of the 2019 Minerva Award Committee explains: “The 2019 Minerva Informatics Equality Award Committee received a significant number of valuable applications. This year’s award is granted to an excellent programme called SUCCESS @ TU Dublin Computer Science that has started seven years ago. The programme addresses well-identified shortcomings at the institutional level to improve the number of women in Computer Science School. The longevity of the initiative and the evidence of change are good indicators of the appropriate design. The statistics are showing that the programme, named SUCCESS, has indeed real success. For example, the per cent of the females in the school executive team of the School of Computer Science is now 75%, and the senior academic leadership 50%, compared with the situation from 10 years ago when these percentages were zero. Supporting females in SUCCESS is not only counting the number of females in different groups: the programme authors developed and answered questions present at almost all academic environments within the area struggling in recruiting and keeping female faculty members. The key of success are the actions with an overall focus on four strands covering all the aspects of female' career: the recruitment phase, the career definition, the creation of a friendly work environment and the support for overpassing the difficulties encountered during the work.”
The Minerva Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 Euros. The grant is to be used for further work on promoting gender equality.
“Google is proud to support the Minerva Informatics Equality Award and congratulates the winners on their achievement”, declares Dr Beate List, Google Research Programs Manager. “We firmly believe that it is important to foster gender equality in the IT sector, and the SUCCESS @ TU Dublin Computer Science project has done a magnificent job in increasing the number of female academic staff and supporting them to achieve their career goals in a supportive work environment”.
About the Minerva Informatics Equality Award
The Minerva Informatics Equality Award, organised by Informatics Europe and sponsored by Google, recognizes best practices in Departments or Faculties of European Universities and Research Labs that encourage and support the careers of women in Informatics research and education. On a three-year cycle, the award focuses each year on a different stage of the career pipeline: developing the careers of female faculty, supporting the transition for PhD and postdoctoral researchers into faculty positions, and encouraging female students to enrol in Computer Science/Informatics programmes and retaining them. The winners are selected by a prominent team of international experts in an evaluation process that run each year from May to August.
For more information, visit Minerva Informatics Equality Award and Women in Informatics Research and Education.
About Informatics Europe
Informatics Europe represents the academic and research community in Informatics (or Computer Science) in Europe. Bringing together university departments and research laboratories, it creates a strong voice to safeguard and shape quality research and education in Informatics. With around 140 member institutions across 31 countries, Informatics Europe promotes common positions and acts on common priorities.
Visit www.informatics-europe.org to learn more.