- Proposals must be collaborative and involve at least three eligible higher education institutions. Wider participation of HEIs is encouraged, but applications must demonstrate the commitment and contribution of all institutions participating in the project. Collaboration with students or student representative bodies is permitted.
- All proposals must nominate a lead institution for administrative and financial purposes.
- Eligible institutions can lead or partner in proposals. Eligible institutions may make two submissions to lead, a maximum of one submission per priority area. Please note that an application at university level by UCD EDI will be submitted under the “Advancing race equality in higher education” priory area. Therefore the second application going forward must be made under the remaining categories.
- Relevant non-HEI organisations may be included in proposals as partners in addition to the three eligible HEIs.
- HEIs from outside of Ireland may be included in proposals as advisory partners in addition to the three eligible HEIs.
- Signing of the application by the heads of institutions (e.g. President, Provost etc.) reflects acceptance of the award and a commitment to provide the necessary support for the programme of activity. All applications must be signed by the heads of the collaborating institutions.
- Applications are welcomed from all staff members (academic, research, professional, management and support staff) of the relevant higher education institution.
- Projects must be completed within 18 months of HEIs receiving initial funding.
HEA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund
The HEA’s Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) was established to provide centralised support for institutions, sharing of good practice, and funding for innovative organisational and cultural change initiatives nationally to embed an institutional culture of equality, diversity and inclusion. From 2020 to 2023, the Centre ran the Gender Equality Enhancement Fund to facilitate cross-sectoral gender equality initiatives that respond to the recommendations of the HEA National Reviews of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions (2016 and 2022) and/or Gender Equality Taskforce’s recommended actions as a means to achieve national transformation. In 2024 this fund was expanded to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund to address the wider policy areas that the HEA and HEIs are addressing in work to advance equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education.
The primary objectives of the HEA EDI Enhancement Fund are:
- to encourage innovative approaches to addressing gender inequality, ending sexual violence and harassment (ESVH) and addressing racial and ethnic inequality across HEIs;
- to encourage cross-sectoral collaboration as a means to achieve national transformation
- to support the achievement of national policy objectives.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund 2025
UCD Closing date for UCD Expression of Interest: 12 noon on 2 May 2025
UCD Guidelines for Submission of Expressions of Interest 2025 - Further detailed information can be accessed here: LINK Guidance
“Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund 2025 - UCD Expression of Interest form can be downloadable here.
Applications for funding under the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund can be made in four priority areas and the total funding available for each area is indicated in brackets:
- Advancing gender equality in higher education (€250,000)
- Ending sexual violence and harassment in higher education (€100,000)
- Advancing race equality in higher education (€100,000)
- Advancing awareness and understanding of intersectionality and multi-dimensional approaches to equality, diversity and inclusion (€75,000)
A maximum of €75,000 will be awarded to successful applications.
Further Information:
As per the HEA requirements outlined above, there is a limit to the number of applications that can be submitted to the HEA from each HEI. UCD is therefore running an internal expression of interest process in the first instance to identify the applications that will go forward. The current limit is 2 applications per HEI - UCD EDI will submit one application at university level and one application at local School/Unit level for this round. All expressions of interest should be submitted to (opens in a new window)edi@ucd.ie, by 12 noon on 2 May 2025, completing the “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund 2025 - UCD Expression of Interest form (download here)”, which includes the following:
- Title of Proposal
- Summary of the proposal of no more than 800 words - please ensure that criteria 1-6 of the below criteria are covered in your proposal
- Funding required and breakdown of costs
- Other collaborative institutions (must be a minimum of three institutions in total)
A decision on the proposal that will go forward to the HEA will be made based on the following criteria in line with the HEA criteria by a panel chaired by Professor Aoife Ahern, Vice-President for EDI.
| Assessment Criteria |
Score |
| Alignment with national higher education frameworks set out above. |
10 marks |
| Alignment with the UCD Strategy 2025 - 2030, UCD Gender Equality Action Plan 2025 – 2029 and EDI Strategy 2021 - 2024 |
10 marks |
| Innovation and impact for higher education sector EDI work i.e. Plans for embedding the project learnings into future EDI work or plans for sustaining the project beyond the period funded by the EDI Enhancement Fund. |
10 marks |
| Quality of the Proposal ie. Project Design and Description, outline including: : |
30 marks |
| Benefit to HEI Stakeholders nationally |
20 marks |
| Funding - value for money and impact of programme |
20 marks |
| UCD Launch Date |
7 April 2025 |
| UCD Closing Date for UCD Expressions of Interest |
12 noon on 2 May 2025 |
| Outcome of Assessment Process by: |
9 May 2025 |
| UCD Closing date for Full Proposal of successful internal application (please use HEA application form which can be downloaded (opens in a new window)here - (proposals to be made to (opens in a new window)edi@ucd.ie) |
12 noon on 19 May 2025 |
| HEA Closing Date (proposal will be submitted made by EDI) |
12 noon on 30 May 2025 |
| Outcomes announced by HEA |
Q3 2025 |