Upcoming Events
TUS Pride Week 2025: March 18th – 21st
by LGBT+ & Allies Staff Network
In conjunction with the Students Union’s schedule of events for students, the LGBT+ & Allies Staff Network will bring a suite of events for staff to celebrate, support and show solidarity with the LGBT+ community during TUS Pride Week 2025. This year’s planned events include a flagship talk with Vanessa Lacey of Gendercare, taking place in 3A04 Moylish Campus, and online workshops with Certified Proud and Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI).
Flag Raising – Tuesday 18th March (11:15am)
TUS President Vincent Cunnane will raise the Progress Pride flag at 11:15am on our Moylish campus. VP People, Culture & EDI will raise the flag on our Midlands campus in Athlone. Please attend and show your support.
Talk with Vanessa Lacey (Gendercare) – Tuesday 18th March (1pm-2pm)
3A04 Moylish Campus
TUS is delighted to welcome the esteemed Dr Vanessa Lacey back to the Moylish campus to open our week of student and staff workshops and talks for TUS Pride 2025. Students and staff are welcome to attend this in person event in 3A04 in Moylish.
Vanessa is an established researcher in here in Ireland and abroad, having completed her PhD in the experiences of grief and loss experienced by adult trans women and their families. She has served as a board member of the European Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare (EPATH). She currently serves as a member of the World Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare (WPATH), of EPATH, of the American Psychological Association and of the Psychological Society of Ireland. Through her work with Gendercare, she has designed programmes with the HSE to further the development and understanding of transgender healthcare and gender identity in healthcare services across Ireland. We warmly welcome Vanessa for TUS Pride 2025 to further staff and student insight on the experiences faced by transgender people in Ireland and to allow us to learn from the knowledge that she has obtained in her work.
Certified Proud Workshop on Allyship – Wednesday 19th March (12pm-1pm)
Certified Proud will be joining our Pride celebrations with an online workshop for students and staff. Certified Proud co-founder Donya Anvari will host an interactive workshop with the aim to empower people to become allies to the LGBTQ+ community. Donya holds a career to date working in non-profit spaces such as Focus Ireland and the Irish Red Cross, channelling her passion for EDI in every venture she undertakes. Alongside Eve Kerton, she founded Certified Proud in 2020, an accreditation membership body that strives towards LGBTQ+ equality throughout businesses in the UK and Ireland. Certified Proud embodies the principle of making every space safe and secure for the LGBTQ+ community.
Please use this Teams link to join us for this workshop.
‘Trans 101’ – Talk for Staff with Transgender Equality Network Ireland – Thursday 20th March (1pm-2pm)
TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) will be joining our Pride celebrations with a staff-only online workshop. TENI member Hannah Solley will host training for staff on the experiences of young trans people in Ireland and explore the support needs of trans youth and the roles and responsibilities of schools and youth organisations in a practical manner. Hannah has worked to support parents, children and young people throughout her career. Prior to becoming the Family Support and Education Lead with TENI in 2019, she has proudly held anti-bullying and mental health awareness positions in organisations such as Sticks & Stones and the Candle Community Trust. As well as this, Hannah serves on the Young Ireland Advisory Council and has participated in developing the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2023-2028.
Please use this Teams link to join us for this talk.
Past Events
Equitas – EDI in Practice in Higher Education Conference
23rd – 24th May 2024
The Equitas conference took place in the Millennium Theatre in TUS Moylish Campus on the 23rd and 24th of May 2024, attracting more than 140 attendees from over 30 Irish, British and European institutions. Four key themes were explored in keynote talks and parallel sessions during the conference:
- Intersectionality in practice
- Embedding EDI in Higher Education: Supporting Culture Change by Moving Beyond the Echo Chamber
- EDI in a Data-driven World
- Supporting Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workforce from an EDI perspective
Roxanne Hobbs delivered an inspiring opening keynote talk on Thursday 23rd May entitled “Courageous Leadership”, which helped to set the tone for the courageous and vulnerable conversations which took places across the two days thereafter.
TUS Lecturer Dr Lisa O Rourke Scott delivered a plenary talk on “Why mental health matters.”
Professor Nicola Rollock delivered a highly engaging keynote address entitled “Toward an Intersectional Lens: Racial Justice in Higher Education” which generated healthy, robust discussion in the Q&A session afterwards.
“Certain Individual Women” is an award-winning project that responds to inherent gender inequality in Irish law and society. Fishamble Theatre presented a reading of the play with trained actors with director Jim Culleton and Julie Morrissey then participating in a fireside chat. Other highlights included a panel discussion with the authors of the soon-to-be-published EDI Landscape in Higher Education, a HEA-funded publication, and an Art exhibition titled “Intersecting Identities” led by students from Limerick School of Art and Design.