Women in Research Ireland (WIRI) was established at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on 8 March 2017, marking International Women’s day (IWD). Inspired by her great-grandaunt, Mary O'Toole, who established the Women's City Club of Washington D.C. in 1919, Sadhbh Byrne organized a panel discussion, having recognized an appetite for conversation around women, minorities and other unheard voices in research and academia. Next, on May 3, Byrne launched “Women should be both seen and heard - a brown bag lunchtime seminar series”. The inaugural speaker was Professor Aoife McLysaght, head of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at TCD. It was held at the Workbench Space in Bank of Ireland on TCD campus. Attending this event were Susan Fetics and Martha Gulman. Fetics and Gulman were inspired to join Byrne and build WIRI to be a community with free monthly events. Fetics presented “Get the Word Out! How to Educate the Public about Your Research” at WIRI’s second event in June 2017. The event was recorded and live streamed on WIRI’s Facebook page for those unable to attend due to work constraints, family obligations or health issues. In total, there were 10 seminars in this monthly lunchtime series, discussing topics such as: mentoring, women in politics, feminism and how to build a more sustainable city. In 2018, WIRI became a registered charity in Ireland (RCN 20200957) under the directorship of Amet and Gulman.
