Professor Gerardine Doyle wins Diversity & Inclusion Leader/Emerging Leader Award National Diversity and Inclusion Awards
On Thursday, February 8, Professor Gerardine Doyle was awarded the 2024 Diversity and Inclusion Leader/Emerging Leader Award at the National Diversity & Inclusion Awards 2024 in Dublin. Eleven winners were recognised for their outstanding work with Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) across award categories covering Race & Ethnicity, Gender, LGBTQ+, Disability and more.
Organised by the Irish Centre for Diversity, over 550 guests attended the event that is the only dedicated celebration and recognition of advances in D&I in Ireland. The awards are supported by a host of leading names that are driving progress on D&I in the workplace – including AIB, An Post, Aon, Cpl, ESB, IDA Ireland, Laya healthcare, Matheson LLP, Musgrave, the National Lottery and PublicJobs.ie.
Professor Doyle was nominated by the Inclusive Business Club which is driven by the Executive MBA classes at UCD Smurfit School. An excerpt from the application reads, “Professor Doyle’s leadership is defined by a trailblazing spirit, setting new standards of excellence and inclusivity, advancing gender diversity and inclusion in the world of business education.”
The judging panel was impressed by the extremely high quality of over 150 submissions, which highlights the wealth of work going into transforming Irish workplaces and cultures into environments where everyone shares a sense of belonging and can thrive. On Professor Doyle’s nomination, the judges commented:
“The judges chose a winner whose own personal journey is a testament to the profound impact early encouragement in the pursuit of education can have. Inspired by her mother’s focus on education, Professor Doyle became highly-qualified in both science and business.”
“Recognising the disparity in educational opportunities for women, she embarked on a mission to address this issue, specifically in the university’s MBA program, where only 22% of participants were women. Professor Doyle delved into understanding the obstacles women faced; consulted with alumni, scrutinised the curriculum, and engaged with faculty. She identified a significant barrier: the programme’s intensive time blocks deterred many parents and caregivers. With determination, she advocated for revisions within the institution, ultimately increasing female applicants to 59%. Her educational advocacy transformed the gender profile on these programs and ultimately impacts the pipeline of future leaders in Ireland.”
On accepting the award, Professor Doyle said, “What an incredible honour to be the awardee of the Diversity and Inclusion Leader / Emerging Leader Award at the 2024 National Diversity and Inclusion Awards. To be nominated by our MBA students, who are leading our UCD Inclusive Business Club, was a special honour and it is a privilege to accept this award in recognition of our stellar achievements around all dimensions of diversity and inclusion within the UCD College of Business.”
“None of this would have been possible without the support and enthusiasm of the large village that is the UCD College of Business and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School community. Everyone came along this journey together, our faculty, professional staff, students, alumni, advisory board members and our University Management Team.”
“Within an already international and diverse community of students and scholars, we developed a very ambitious strategy and set clear targets around not only gender diversity but also race and ethnicity, to transformational effect. Thank you to everyone who understood the importance of this strategy and came along this journey together, as current and future leaders in our society. I extend warm congratulations to each awardee and finalist within each of the categories of the 2024 National Diversity and Inclusion Awards.”
The judging panel was chaired by Margot Slattery – Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at ISS, and the panel included Mamobo Ogoro – Founder and CEO, Gorm; Maria Walsh MEP; Siobhan Cafferty, Generation Change; Siobhán Sweeney – Senior Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Element Materials Technology; Adam Harris – CEO, As I Am; Gavin Hennessy – Diversity & Inclusion Lead, AXA Ireland; Jed Dowling – Festival Director, Dublin LGBTQ Pride CLG; Shane O’Brien – Senior Manager, EMEA Employee Experience, MongoDB; Simon Myciunka – CEO, Bauer Media Audio UK and Stephen Cluskey – CEO, Mobility Mojo – all key players moving the needle and keeping progress on D&I as a business priority.
NATIONAL DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AWARDS 2024 WINNERS
Advancing Disability Equality Award proudly sponsored by Aon
- Houses of the Oireachtas Service
- Highly Commended – Dalata Hotel Group
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Diversity & Inclusion Leader / Emerging Leader Award proudly sponsored by AIB
- Gerardine Doyle, University College Dublin
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Advancing Race / Ethnicity Equality Award proudly sponsored by An Post
- EY
- Highly Commended – Medtronic
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Outstanding Diversity Initiative Award proudly sponsored by Matheson LLP
- Nestlé UK & Ireland
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LGBTQ+ Inclusion Award proudly sponsored by National Lottery
- Brown Thomas Arnotts
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Advancing Gender Equality Award proudly sponsored by ESB
- PM Group
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Outstanding Employee Resource Group Award proudly sponsored by Laya healthcare
- Eli Lilly
- Highly Commended – ptsb
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Advancing Social Inclusion Award proudly sponsored by IDA Ireland
- Mr Price Branded Bargains
- Highly Commended – SOLAS
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Public Sector Organisation of the year Award proudly sponsored by PublicJobs.ie
- Central Bank of Ireland
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Employee of the Year Award proudly sponsored by Musgrave
- Christina Haney, DBFL Consulting Engineers
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Company of the Year Award proudly sponsored by Cpl
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
“Thank you to everyone and all the organisations that entered the National Diversity & Inclusion Awards,” said Caroline Cummins, Managing Director, Irish Centre for Diversity. “The awards celebrate and champion individuals and organisations that go above and beyond in their commitment to excellence in D&I, so very well-deserved congratulations to all the winners. Thank you to the award sponsors and judges – all key leaders in cementing D&I progress as a business priority.”
Everyone benefits when best practice on D&I is shared and the award Sponsors, Winners, Highly-Commendeds and Finalists will be sharing their insights and experience in a series of 11 webinars between 20 February and 20 March 2024. The sessions will highlight policies and initiatives that can be applied to other businesses and organisations of all sizes, from all sectors and at various stages of the D&I journey. Further details and registration available at www.irishcentrefordiversity.ie/events
About Irish Centre for Diversity
The Irish Centre for Diversity works in partnership with organisations across Ireland to help them embed Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in all they do. We want organisations to do more than just tick boxes; we want them to transform the workplace environment to one, which is equitable and inclusive. Our services include the highly prestigious Investors in Diversity, which is Ireland’s premier all-encompassing D&I accreditation offering a holistic framework for improving workplace cultures.