UCD achieves KeepWell Mark accreditation

19 January 2026

_{IBEC CEO Danny McCoy and UCD President Professor Orla Feely}

University College Dublin (UCD) has been awarded the (opens in a new window)KeepWell Mark™, solidifying its status as a leader not just in education but in employee experience.

For an organisation the size of UCD, Ireland’s largest university with a diverse community of faculty and professional staff, creating a unified culture of wellbeing is a complex challenge.

By achieving the KeepWell Mark accreditation, UCD has demonstrated that robust, evidence-based wellbeing strategies can thrive at scale.

This achievement is particularly significant given the close ties between the university and the business community.

UCD President Professor Orla Feely, who also serves as a board member of Ibec, championed the initiative, highlighting the critical link between organisational performance and the health of its people.

Leadership from the Top

The accreditation process involves a rigorous assessment of workplace wellbeing policies and practices.

For UCD, the journey was driven by a desire to benchmark their existing efforts against the best in class.

"I am proud of our community for achieving the KeepWell Mark,” said UCD President Professor Orla Feely, adding that this accreditation was a validation of the university's values.

“At UCD, our people are the engine of our teaching, research and engagement, and it is very important to us that they feel supported, valued and healthy.

"As an Ibec board member, I have seen the transformative impact of this framework across Irish industry. Applying the KeepWell standards within UCD allows us to structure our wellbeing supports effectively, ensuring that we are not just reacting to needs, but proactively building a resilient, thriving workplace."

Commending UCD on the achievement, Ibec CEO Danny McCo said: "The resilience of our economy is fundamentally built on the resilience of our people. When a major institution like UCD prioritises wellbeing through the KeepWell Mark, it sends a clear signal that employee wellbeing is a strategic economic asset.”

"By embedding a culture of care across the university, UCD is not just supporting its employees; it is building the sustainable, high-performance foundation that our future economy requires. This is leadership in action - demonstrating that a thriving workforce is the bedrock of a resilient society."

_{UCD Culture & Engagement Senior Manager Mark Simpson, IBEC CEO Danny McCoy, UCD President Professor Orla Feely, UCD Culture & Engagement Director Rory Carey}

Pillars of Excellence

The independent assessment conducted by the KeepWell Mark evaluators highlighted several key areas where UCD is performing at a world-class level. Notably, the university achieved the highest standard of 'Excellence' in two critical pillars:

Inclusion and Belonging: The assessors praised UCD’s comprehensive approach to fostering a culture of respect. Key strengths included the dedicated EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) Unit, the strategic EDI Action Plan, and the university's Athena Swan Institutional Silver Award, which recognises their significant impact in addressing gender equality.

Talent Support and Development: UCD was recognised for its robust commitment to professional growth. The report highlighted the Performance 4 Growth (P4G) framework, which ensures regular, meaningful performance discussions, and the RISE Leadership Programme, which is actively building the next generation of academic and professional leaders.

Mark Simpson, Senior Manager of Engagement and Internal Communications at UCD, who led the accreditation project, sees these results as a validation of UCD’s holistic approach:

“For large employers such as UCD, being able to benchmark our wellbeing policies, practices and initiatives against best-in-class standards is very valuable in ensuring we are proactively supporting evolving employee needs.

In addition, recognition at achievement and excellence levels for four of the eight pillars in our first accreditation round, recognises the hard work and dedication of many colleagues to deliver on the university’s strategic objective to be a highly inclusive community and an excellent place to work, with a strong sense of belonging for all in UCD.”

Why Accreditation Matters for Large Organisations

For large entities like UCD, wellbeing initiatives can often become siloed - excellent in one area but absent in another. The KeepWell Mark provides a common lexicon and a unified framework that cuts across these silos.

The accreditation process has provided UCD with:

• A Unified Standard: Ensuring that a staff member in administration receives the same level of wellbeing support as a faculty member in the sciences.
• Data-Driven Direction: Moving beyond anecdotal feedback to use the assessment data to plan the future of their people strategy.
• Employer Branding: Signalling to top global talent that UCD is an employer of choice that prioritises the holistic health of its staff.

A Roadmap for the Future

Achieving the accreditation is a milestone, not the finish line. Armed with the insights from the assessor's report - such as the recommendation to develop a standalone Wellbeing Strategy to further unify efforts - UCD is now developing its next phase of supports, ensuring that as the university grows, its culture of care grows with it.

By: Staff Writers

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie