International Women’s Day

In 1930, Dr Farrell returned to her native Longford to take up the post of Dispensary Doctor and Medical Officer. She dedicated her life to relieving the suffering of others, and in particular the poor and marginalised in society.

She was a research assistant for the investigation of Plant Virus Diseases at UCD from 1929, and gained international fame within a few years for discovering complex viruses in the potato. In 1961, she was the first woman to be awarded the Boyle medal by the Royal Dublin Society. She died in 1984 after a long and successful career.

She was a lecturer in Phytochemistry at UCD, and was appointed professor in 1979. Throughout her career she held many positions including membership of the Royal Irish Academy, serving as Vice-President three times. In 1989, Dervilla was elected the first Woman President of the Royal Dublin Society, after 258 years of male presidents.

Breege has maintained a strong link with the brand since her retirement. She sits on a number of boards, and is currently working with UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School on developing an MSc Retail Management. She also mentors a group of women in business as part of the Going for Growth initiative with Enterprise Ireland and KPMG.

The firm has enjoyed many successes, including winning the World Building of the Year Awards in 2008 for the Bocconi University building in Japan, and the inaugural RIBA International Prize in 2016 for the Universidad de Ingeniería y Technología, and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2020 among other awards. Both women have taught at the UCD School of Architecture for many years.

After her retirement from this role, she remained in the EU until 2018 as a special advisor to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Catherine was last year appointed Chair of the latest Citizen’s Assembly on Gender Equality, which will examine gender equality issues in Ireland today and make a series of recommendations to government to improve our society.

Orna holds degrees in Electronic Engineering from University College Dublin (BE) and University College Cork (MEngSc); and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mary’s work in the area of infectious diseases has had a huge impact nationally, and she is credited with reversing the downward trend in the uptake of the HPV vaccine from 50% to 71% in one year. Professor Horgan was also the first female elected to the position of President of RCPI since its establishment in 1654.

"Very important for women at all levels in the legal profession in Ireland and internationally” was how Siofra O'Leary's appointment to the role of President of the ECHR was described. A graduate of University College Dublin (BCL 1989) and the European University Institute in Italy, O'Leary spent years lecturing on EU law at a number of universities prior to her appointment as an ECHR judge in 2015. She took up her new role in November 2022, succeeding Robert Spano from Iceland. O'Leary has also previously held roles, including acting as a référendaire and chef de cabinet, at the Court of Justice for the European Union in Luxembourg.

In 2023, Majella became the first ever female president of the UCD Engineering Graduates Association, an organisation founded in 1980 to provide a networking forum for UCD engineering alumni.

In 2018, she was presented with the Ordre National du Mérite by French ambassador Mr. Stéphane Crouzat in recognition of her continuous work for the promotion of France-Ireland cultural relations. Gráinne regularly appears on both television and radio broadcasts on the arts. She is also paying it forward by supporting UCD students as an active Alumni Mentor and Creative Fellow.

While she held this role, she became a central voice in the lead up to the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment, campaigning for the removal of the amendment. She continues to be a champion for women’s rights, and a leading advocate for maternity services in Ireland.

Alison credits her success in business in part to the support around her in her early career, and mentors a number of young people starting out. She also talks to young people in schools and colleges to give them the inside track on starting out in business. Through her position as Chair of Women for Election, Alison uses her business acumen to further the mission of achieving gender parity at all levels of Irish Government.

She then joined Prof. Finian Martin’s group at the Conway Institute and completed her PhD studies in 2002, moving to the University of Oxford the same year. Professor Lambe’s research programme focuses on developing innovative vaccines against emerging and outbreak pathogens. Outside of her most recent work on the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine, her group have progressed novel vaccine development against lethal haemorrhagic viral diseases such as Ebolavirus, Lassa fever virus and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus. This experience proved to be a dry-run for her recent work developing a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. As well as her role in the initial design of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, she is leading a clinical programme testing the responses post-vaccination.

Part of the University's EDI programme is to oversee the work by the Gender Equality Action Group,  which include supporting schools within the university to apply for and win the Athena SWAN Award. In Oct 2019, eight schools in total won the Athena SWAN bronze award for their commitment to gender equality.

She continues to work with survivors of institutional abuse in Ireland, particularly survivors of the Magdalene Laundries, by providing pro bono legal support, and advocating for them in the media in Ireland and overseas. Maeve is also an active UCD Alumni Mentor, providing mentorship and advice to students hoping to pursue a career in Human Rights Law.

He was a founding member of the Yes Equality and director of Marriage Equality groups that were instrumental in winning the referendum for equal marriage rights for LGBT people in Ireland in 2015. He has also been a mentor in Women on Air, a community of like-minded women and men who want to see more women on the airwaves. He currently holds the position of policy manager for the EMEA region with Google.

Following her degree in UCD, she attended CIT and earned an MSc in Marketing. Sinéad currently works in PR, with agency Wilson Hartnell in Sport Sponsorship and Marketing. She has been heavily involved in the promotion of the 20x20 “If she can’t see it, she can’t be it” campaign promoting women in sport. Sinéad plays Australian Rules football in Melbourne.

They won a silver medal in that competition, and returned home to a heroes welcome from the Irish public. Katie has captained the national team more than 165 times, and led them to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It’s the first time that an irish women’s hockey team has qualified for the Olympic Games.