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Athena SWAN Bronze and Silver Department awardapplication

Name of institution: University of OxfordDate of application: November 2011

Department: Earth Sciences

Contact for application: Professor Philip England

Email: philip.england@earth.ox.ac.uk Telephone: 01865 272018

Departmental website address: www.earth.ox.ac.uk

Date of university Bronze and/or Silver SWAN award: 2010

Level of award applied for: Silver

Athena SWAN Bronze and Silver Department awards recognise that inaddition to university-wide policies the department is working to promotegender equality and to address challenges particular to the discipline.

Not all institutions use the term ‘department’ and there are many equivalentacademic groupings with different names, sizes and compositions. Thedefinition of a ‘department’ for SWAN purposes can be found on the AthenaSWAN website. If in doubt, contact the Athena SWAN Charter Coordinatorwell in advance to check eligibility.

It is essential that the contact person for the application is based in thedepartment.

At the end of each section state the number of words used.

Click here for additional guidance on completing this template.

1. Letter of endorsement from the Head of Department – maximum500 words

An accompanying letter of endorsement from the Head of Department shouldexplain how the SWAN action plan and activities in the department contributeto the overall department strategy and academic mission.

The letter is an opportunity for the Head of Department to confirm theirsupport for the application and to endorse and commend any women andSET activities that have made a significant contribution to the achievement ofthe departmental mission.

University of OxfordDepartment of Earth SciencesSouth Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK

Head of Departmenf; professor J.H. Woodhouse FRS

24th November 2011

Athena swAN Apprication: Lefter of endorsement.

As Head of the Oxford Department of Earth Sciences, I am pleased to write this letterof endorsement for our application for an Athena SWAN silver award. I support theapplication in the strongest possible terms and willwork to ensure that the AthenaSWAN principles and the action plan, that is part of the application, are vigoroustypursued.

The Department of Earth Sciences is a world class institution having its focus on thescientific understanding of the Earth and other planets. lt embraces-a large range oftgPics, including the evolution of the solarsystem and the fonnation of th6 Eartn', tnephysics and chemistry and dynamics of planetary interiors, earth surface pro@sses,tectonic processes such as mountain building, the study of earthquakes and volcaniceruptions, the origin and behaviour of the oceans and aimosphere, the origin anohistory of life, the study of ore deposits, hydrocarbon reseruoirs and the science ofnatural resour@s. In research and in teaching ouremphasis is on the understanding ofthe fundamental principles of geological processes. we employ and developtechniques in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology inO we carry out iieldworkin which earth processes can be appreciated at first hand-.-

We work to promote gender equality in all areas of our activity. In recruiting students,we undertake a range of outreach activities aimed at attracting high achiev6rs of bothsexes to embak on a degree course in Earth Sciences. tn recruiting researches andacademic staff we specifically seek to identifo female candidates and make sure thatcandidates are aware of the generous University family support provision. In theDeryrtmglt we engender an ethos that flexible ivoking is ihe norm (where notprecluded by operational considerations), for example [o accommodate childcarecommitments or other carer responsibilities.

The Department has a culture of gender equality and, for the most part, our statisticscomPare favourablywith the relevant nationalaverages. However, there is no doubtthat in undertaking the process of serf assessment for this application, we havebecome aware of areas in which we could do better, and have addressed these in our

Tel: Direct Line: +44 (0)rs65-272021 pA: Ms G. clay'ton +44 (0)rs65-282r46Fax: +44 (0)1865-272072 E-Mail: John.woodhouse@earth.ox.ac.uk we6: www.earth.ox.ac.uk

action plan. We will carefully monitor progress on these issues through an ongoingAthena SWAN panel on which I will sit as Head of Department.

We consider ourcelves fortunate to have recruited some truly outstanding youngscientists to the faculty and research staffover a number of years. Both ourfemale andmale colleagues, that juggle work and family commitments, serve as outstanding rolemodels for other scientisb and aspiring scientists. This, I believe, will stand us in goodstead for keeping Athena SWAN issues in the forefront of our minds in coming years.

Let me here take the opportunity to thank the chair and the memberc of theDepartmenfs Athena SWAN self-assessment panel. They have taken on and workedwith unfamiliar issues. They have engaged the wider Department in the discussion andhave set in train developments which will serve the Department well in the future.

,j t-t rul ,1v-,,U* u'".t.,John Woodhouse

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2. The self-assessment process – maximum 1000 words

Describe the Self-Assessment Process. This should include:

a. A description of the self assessment team: members’ roles (both withinthe department and as part of the team) and their experiences of work-life balance;

b. an account of the self assessment process: details of the selfassessment team meetings, including any consultation with staff orindividuals outside of the university, and how these have fed into thesubmission;

c. Plans for the future of the self assessment team, such as how often theteam will continue to meet, any reporting mechanisms and in particularhow the self assessment team intends to monitor implementation of theaction plan.

The department’s self-assessment team consisted of members of academic and non-academic staff, and a non-member of the department employed by the University in apersonnel role.

The team was recruited by personal invitation from the Lead Academic, ProfessorPhilip England, who had, when he was Head of Department, begun the process. Thegroup represents the full range of staff roles within the department and originallyincluded one member of academic staff who, in the end, was unable to participatebecause she went on maternity leave during the period of assessment.

Heather Bouman is a University Lecturer studying ocean microbiology andbiogeochemistry. She has been in the department for four years following previousemployment in Chile and in her home country of Canada. She leads a small activeresearch group of graduate students and two post-doctoral fellows, and has beenrecently appointed as Undergraduate Advisor.

Emma Brown is the Deputy Administrator (Academic) of the Department. She takesoverall administrative charge of all aspects of the undergraduate and post-graduatestudent provision. This role includes publicising the department to potential studentsand help with their recruitment and selection. Emma lives some distance from thedepartment and works from home one day a week to lessen the burden of travel.

Dr John Elliot is a Postdoctoral Research Associate. He started his DPhil in thedepartment in 2005, and took up his current position in 2009. He was postgraduaterepresentative to departmental committees between 2006 and 2009 and is thepostdoctoral representative from 2009 to present. He is 29 and engaged to a D.Philstudent in the same department.

Philip England, Professor of Geology, was, at the time this process started, Head ofDepartment. He is married, with a son and two daughters, all adults. He joined theDepartment in 1986, from Harvard University, where he and his wife both benefitted

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enormously from the generous and completely un-bureaucratic responses of theiremployers to the problems of raising a young family.

Gill Halstead is the Departmental Administrator. She joined the Department in 2002.She was a member of both of the smaller working groups. She finds herself in the“sandwich” generation, with four adult children and caring responsibilities for elderlyparents. She works full time.

Gideon Henderson is a University Lecturer in the Department, running a researchgroup of about 15 people based on the study of geochemistry and climate. He is alsothe Associate Head of Department for Research, and serves on the Department'sManagement Committee. He is married with two children aged 6 and 8, and tookpaternity leave when both children were born.

Conall Mac Niocaill, is a Departmental Lecturer. He joined the university as a Post-doctoral fellow in 1996, before taking up his current role in 1998. He is married, with3 year old twins, and took paternity leave when they were born. His wife works in ascientific role for an international company in London.

Tamsin Mather is an RCUK Academic Fellow, who will become a tenured UniversityLecturer in 2012 at the end of her fellowship. She joined the University as a RoyalSociety Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow in 2006. She was part of the teamaddressing issues relating to staff. Her partner is an academic and she has twochildren aged 4 and 1.

Fatima Mokadem is a member of analytical support staff. She joined the departmentin April 2009 as a Geochemistry Lab Manager. She is married to an academic andhas one child, aged 12. She works full time.

Kyra Smith was Administrator for the Geophysics Group when the applicationprocedure began, providing personal support to geophysics academics and support forfinances and personnel issues across the Geophysics aspects of the department. Sheleft for another position before submission of this document.

Mark Taylor is a DPhil student and researcher. He works part-time as the AthenaSwan Research Assistant for Oxford’s Mathematical, Physical and Life SciencesDivision. He is in a dual career household, with an experimental physicist partner.

John Woodhouse is Head of Department and holds a Personal Chair. He is ageophysicist working to assess the internal structure of the deep Earth and has been atthe department for more than twenty years. He is married to an Oxford academic.

We were assisted and advised byTrudy Coe, University Disability and Equality AdvisorVanessa Howe, Senior Personnel Officer

Before any meetings took place, Kyra Smith, Gill Halstead and Sue Ling collatedstudent and staff data held centrally in the university. These data were presented atthe group’s first meeting in May 2011. We identified that more data were required,from the central university and from other national bodies, to investigate whether

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there were key attrition points. The team then split into two smaller groups, to workseparately on students and staff. Each of these groups met to assess their data in moredetail, combined with data we hold on graduate destinations in our alumni database,and organised further investigation with relevant groups. Mark Taylor ran in-depthinterviews and focus groups with groups of undergraduates and postgraduates, andwith postdoctoral researchers, in order to investigate further the dynamics involved ineach of these groups. Subsequently, post-doctoral researchers met with GideonHenderson, in his role as Associate Head of Department for Research to explorefurther the issues raised in the interviews. At the end of this process, the staff andstudent groups met to consider material from these focus groups and to developAction Plans. Finally, the entire self-assessment team met to synthesise their sectionsof the application.

To promote the department’s SWAN activities, a team will continue to meet termly,although the composition of the team may vary from that during the application. Itwill be supported by a newly appointed departmental Personnel Administrator, whowill coordinate meetings and ensure that progress is made towards the goals of theAction Plan. This group will actively seek input from across the department toconsider revisions to the Action Plan, for inclusion in the renewal application in 2014.

[1000 words]

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3. A picture of the department – maximum 2000 words [1825 words]a. Provide a pen-picture of the department to set the context for the

application, outlining in particular any significant and relevant features.

The Department of Earth Sciences is the smallest laboratory-science departmentwithin the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division of the University ofOxford. We have a long-standing reputation for world-class teaching and research,having received a grade of “excellent” in all teaching assessments since they began,and we have been top-rated in all national research assessments since those began.The department currently has 24 academic staff, 30 postdoctoral researchers andacademic-related staff, and 22 technical and administrative staff. Each year we admitapproximately 30 undergraduate students for the 4-year MEarthSc course (there is anoption to take a 3-year BA in Geology, but this option is rarely taken, see below).The number of postgraduate students has been close to 50 for the past few years. Therelatively small size of the department means there is particularly close interactionbetween students and staff: we view our student experience as one of anapprenticeship in science, rather than a formal teacher-pupil relationship.

[160 words]

b. Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearlylabelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary ontheir significance and how they have affected action planning.

Student data

i. Numbers of males and females on access or foundation courses –comment on the data and describe any initiatives taken to attractwomen to the courses.

The department participates in a wide range of outreach activities to attract non-traditional groups of students into the discipline of Earth Sciences: (1) We participatein the MPLS division’s UNIQ summer schools, which provide a week’s residentialcourse to Year-12 students studying at state schools, particularly those who do nothave a record of sending students to Oxford. In 2011 we initiated a UNIQ schoolsolely in Earth Sciences, which was attended by 15 secondary school students (9female and 6 male), who spent a week studying a broad range of Earth Science topicsin the department; (2) we provide talks and exhibits to Science Festivals (e.g. TheCheltenham Science Festival; Science Soap-box at the South Bank, London; TheRoyal Society Summer Exhibition); (3) Members of the department participate in theUniversity’s regional Open days in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leicester, Manchester,Cardiff and London every year, in addition to hosting open days in Oxford everysummer; (4) We give talks to schoolchildren in schools and via the UniversityMuseum of Natural History, where several members of the department are volunteers;(5) We participate in the University’s Women in Science Open days, with severalmembers of the department having given talks; (6) we have a particular emphasis onusing new media, with a number of staff members contributing to blogs on scienceand science careers including: The Guardian online careers service; Women inScience website; The Independent website; the BBC News website, and Metronewspaper. In 2011 one faculty member participated in a two-week interactive

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science engagement exercise, “I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here”, with theWellcome Trust and won the competition.

[272 words]

ii. Undergraduate male and female numbers – full and part-time –comment on the female:male ratio compared with the national picturefor the discipline. Describe any initiatives taken to address anyimbalance and the impact to date. Comment upon any plans for thefuture.

Across the last three years, we have had an average of 43% women on ourundergraduate course, as shown in Table 1. Figure 1 illustrates the makeup of thestudent body over a longer period, and compares the Oxford average over the pastfour years with the national average over the past three years1.

Table 1: Total undergraduate population Female Male

2008-09 46 59

2009-10 49 59

2010-11 50 72

Table 1: Number of women and men in our undergraduate programme in the threeacademic years between 2008 and 2011.

This is not a completely independent estimate given that the course lasts for fouryears, so we also present the data going back to 2005-06 in Figure 1. Between 2008and 2011 the department had a slightly higher proportion of female undergraduatestudents than the national average: 43% compared with 39% nationally. Thepercentage of female undergraduates in department exactly matches the percentage offemale applicants over the same period (147 of 338). Our outreach activities areclearly beginning to have an effect in that annual number of applicants has increaseddramatically over the past few years (from 69 for entry in 2008 to 146 for entry in2011). A particular challenge for the department is the imbalance in females takingSTEM subjects in schools: we require A-level maths for entry, and only 40% of the2011 A-level entrants for maths were female2. From 2012 we also require students tohave taken one of chemistry or physics, for which the relevant 2011 A-levelpercentages of females are 47% and 21% respectively. These requirements are notplaced on applicants on nominally similar courses (Geology, Earth Sciences, etc.) inother Universities, and we therefore believe that our percentage of undergraduatefemales reflects an admissions process that is unbiased with respect to gender.Nevertheless, we are not complacent, and will continue to closely monitor applicationand success rates in the future.

1National data is sourced from Heidi, from the Higher Education Statistics Authority.

The comparison group is courses F6**, coming under the label “Geology”.2 A-level data are taken from the Joint Council on Qualifications A-level statistics:http://www.jcq.org.uk/national_results/alevels/ - accessed November 23rd 2011

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Figure 1: proportions of female:male students in our total undergraduate population in a givenacademic year.

[319 words]

iii. Postgraduate male and female numbers completing taughtcourses – full and part-time – comment on the female:male ratiocompared with the national picture for the discipline. Describe anyinitiatives taken to address any imbalance and the effect to date.Comment upon any plans for the future.

The department does not run taught postgraduate courses. Our undergraduate degreeprogramme runs for 4-years and provides a Masters in Earth Sciences at the end of the4 years. There is an exit point at the end of three years where the students can choosetake a BA in Geology. Over the past three years only 5 students have taken thisoption (2 male and 3 female). Therefore, if one wishes to analyse the 4th-Year courseseparately, the statistics are almost identical to those of the undergraduate body as awhole. The completion rate for the 4th-Year course is 100%.

[100 words]

iv. Postgraduate male and female numbers on research degrees – fulland part-time – comment on the female:male ratio compared with thenational picture for the discipline. Describe any initiatives taken toaddress any imbalance and the effect to date. Comment upon anyplans for the future.

Across the last three years, an average of 49% of our D.Phil students have beenwomen (Table 2 and Figure 2). This is significantly higher than the percentage ofwomen on our undergraduate course, and our proportion of female graduate studentsis higher than the national average in comparable subjects of 42% (Figure 2.).

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Table 2: Postgraduate students Female Male

2008-09 23 22

2009-10 24 23

2010-11 23 28

Table 2: Number of women and men in our postgraduate programme in the threeacademic years between 2008 and 2011.

There is some year-on-year variation in the numbers admitted to the D.Phil. degree(Figure 4), because of the small numbers we admit per year (~12 to 15). The presentnumber of graduate students admitted annually marks an increase, due to increasedsuccess at obtaining funding, from pre-2007, when we typically admitted 7-9 studentsper year.

We have a well-developed culture of encouraging female undergraduates to stay inscience, which operates in an informal manner. As an example, during our self-assessment we discovered that half of all graduate demonstrators on undergraduatefield courses over the past three years have been female. This does not reflect aformal departmental policy; rather all the academic staff believe that we shouldprovide suitable role models so that all undergraduates can be inspired to continue inthe field.

Applicants for graduate studentships in the department are assessed by a panelconsisting of the Director of Graduate Studies and four other members of academicstaff. The post of Director of Graduate Studies is held for several years – the currentholder is male. A dominant consideration for the appointment of ordinary members tothis panel is that there should be a gender balance, and this is adhered to, except whenthis would lead to over-commitment of staff, or where it would skew the technicalexpertise of the panel.

Figure 2: proportions of female:male students in our total postgraduate population in a givenacademic year

[312 words]

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v. Ratio of course applications to offers and acceptances by genderfor undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduateresearch degrees – comment on the differences between male andfemale application and success rates and describe any initiatives takento address any imbalance and their effect to date. Comment upon anyplans for the future.

As noted earlier the proportion of women in our undergraduate population exactlymatches their proportion among our applicants (43%). In Figures 3 and 4 we showthe proportions of women at applicant, offer, and eventual place level at bothundergraduate and postgraduate level for the last three years. There is no significantdifference in any of these ratios at any stage.

Figure 3: Proportions of females at application, offer and acceptance for our undergraduatecourse from 2008-2011.

Figure 4 shows the proportions of women at applicant, offer, and eventual place levelat postgraduate level for the last three years. There is no significant difference in anyof these ratios at any stage.

Figure 4: Proportions of females at application, offer and acceptance for our postgraduatecourse from 2008-2011.

[128 words]

vi. Degree classification by gender – comment on any differences indegree attainment between males and females and describe whatactions are being taken to address any imbalance.

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Given the relatively small numbers that graduate every year there is considerableyear-to-year variation in the proportions of both females and males gaining thevarious degree classes. We therefore collated data going back 10 years in order tohave a robust dataset to analyse. In Figures 5 & 6 we show the distributions of degreeclass for undergraduate women and men over the past ten years. We include the datafor both the BA in Geology (n=15) and the M.ESc. in Earth Sciences (n= 232) on thesame figures.

Figure 5: Proportions of females obtaining different degree classifications from ourundergraduate course from 2002-2011 (n=111).

Figure 6: Proportions of males obtaining different degree classifications from ourundergraduate course from 2002-2011 (n=136).

Over this ten year period, 31% of women and 32% of men achieved first classdegrees. In this same period 94% of women and 90% of men achieved a 2:1 or betterhonours degree. These proportions are effectively identical, and there is no evidencethat there is any difference in the level of degree attainment between women and men.Nevertheless, the gender balance in finals is something we monitor and will continueto do so.

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[196 words]

Staff data

vii. Female:male ratio of academic staff and research staff –researcher, lecturer, senior lecturer, reader, professor (or equivalent).Comment on any differences in numbers between males and femalesand say what action is being taken to address any underrepresentationat particular grades/levels

There are two main categories of academic post at Oxford: Professor and Lecturer.(The position of “Reader” has existed historically, but is being phased out; there areno Readers within Earth Sciences). Oxford has no ranks, such as “senior” or“principal” within the rank of Lecturer; the starting salary for a Lecturer here(currently £42,733) equates to Senior Lecturer elsewhere. In addition to theseacademic roles, a significant proportion of our research staff are postdoctoralresearchers on fixed-term contracts.

Staff levels across the last three years are reported in Table 3 below. While theproportions of women at professor level are significantly lower than other levels,proportions of women at lecturer level are higher than at researcher level; there is nota clear decline at each stage. Promotion to the professor level is by application – thecurrent age profile of our female academics suggests that this number will increasesignificantly in the coming years. One female member of the department has justbeen awarded the title of Professor in the most recent Recognition of Distinctionexercise but this change is not reflected in the table below (see section 4.ii).

Table 3 Researcher Lecturer Professor

Female Male Female Male Female Male

2008-09 7 24 4 6 1 12

2009-10 8 24 4 6 1 12

2010-11 7 19 4 7 1 12

Table 3: Breakdown of the numbers of women and men at various academic gradeswithin the department between 2008 and 2011.

One male professor retired at the end of the 2010-11 academic year.

[222 words]

viii. Turnover by grade and gender – comment on any differencesbetween men and women in turnover and say what is being done toaddress this. Where the number of staff leaving is small, comment onthe reasons why particular individuals left.

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Turnover for the last three years is reported in Table 4. In general, turnover amongstfaculty in the department is low, with one member of staff at lecturer or professorlevel leaving in the last three years; he emigrated to New Zealand and took a post atthe University of Wellington, from where he remains in close contact with thedepartment. The turnover of male post-doctoral researchers is slightly higher thanfemale researchers, at an average of 25% compared with 19%, but these values are notdistinguishable, given the small numbers of staff in place.

Table 4 In post Leavers in year

Female Male Female Male

2008-09 Professor 1 12 0 0

Lecturer 4 6 0 0

Researcher 6 21 1 5

2009-10 Professor 1 12 0 0

Lecturer 4 6 0 1

Researcher 7 25 2 6

2010-11 Professor 1 12 0 1 retirement

Lecturer 4 7 0 0

Researcher 8 25 1 7

Table 4: Breakdown of the turnover of women and men at various academic gradeswithin the department between 2008 and 2011.

[116 words]

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Supporting and advancing women’s careers – maximum 5000 words[4976 words]

4. Key career transition points

a. Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearlylabelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary ontheir significance and how they have affected action planning.

i. Job application and success rates by gender and grade – commenton any differences in recruitment between men and women at any leveland say what action is being taken to address this.

In the last three years, the department has recruited thirteen postdoctoral researchers;there were 402 applicants for these posts, of whom 53 were shortlisted. Proportionsof men and women at each point are shown in Figure 7. With the average takenacross all posts, female applicants were slightly more likely to be interviewed, but lesslikely to be appointed; however, these differences are not significant at the 5% level.

Figure 7. The proportions of women and men applying for; being shortlisted; andoffered advertised postdoctoral positions in the department between 2008 and 2011.

The department has only recruited two lecturers in the last three years; we thereforego further back, considering data since 2007, for a total of five lecturers. There were233 applications for these posts, of whom 26 were shortlisted. Proportions of womenat each stage are shown in Chart 8. A significantly higher proportion of women wereshortlisted for interview than applied; two out of the five appointees were women.The department will seek to fill some six new academic posts in the coming two yearsand will provide full information about gender equality issues within the departmentand university during advertising and recruitment in an effort to ensure that strongfemale applicants apply.

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Figure 8. The proportions of women and men applying for; being shortlisted; andoffered advertised lectureships in the department between 2007 and 2011.

[230 words]

ii. Applications for promotion and success rates by gender andgrade – comment on whether these differ for men and women and ifthey do explain what action may be taken. Where the number ofwomen is small applicants may comment on specific examples ofwhere women have been through the promotion process. Explain howpotential candidates are identified.

Due to the academic staff structure explained in section 3.vii, Oxford has not runacademic staff promotions such as take place in other universities since the early1990s. There is an occasional “Recognition of Distinction” exercise, during whichacademics may apply for the title of Professor; this exercise is described in moredetail in the 2010 University Athena application. During the most recent exercise(2010-11, the only one in the last three years) there were two applicants from EarthSciences of whom one – a woman – was awarded the title.

[89 words]

For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in thedepartment, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances,what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additionalsteps may be needed.

i. Recruitment of staff – comment on how the department’s recruitmentprocesses ensure that female candidates are attracted to apply, andhow the department ensures its short listing, selection processes andcriteria comply with the university’s equal opportunities policies

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The department follows all the processes in place for ensuring non-discrimination atall points in the recruitment process. The department intends to use the University’sBronze Athena Swan award logo on all advertisements to attract as many femaleapplicants as possible. There is always at least one woman on interview panels, andwe ensure that applicants meet with present members of the department with similarfamily arrangements to ensure transfer of information about family life in Oxford (e.g.child-care, schooling, flexible working arrangements).

[83 words]

ii. Support for staff at key career transition points – having identifiedkey areas of attrition of female staff in the department, comment on anyinterventions, programmes and activities that support women at thecrucial stages, such as personal development training, opportunities fornetworking, mentoring programmes and leadership training. Identifywhich have been found to work best at the different career stages.

At the undergraduate level some 43% of our students are female and 49% at post-graduate level. These proportions are both above the national average. We alsoanalysed the destinations of our graduate students as part of our self-assessmentprocess. We found that of the 76 students who had graduated with an M.ESc.between 2008 and 2011 some 29 went on to do PhDs. Of these, 18 were male (out ofa total of 40 male graduates), and 11 were female (out of a total of 36 femalegraduates): 45% of eligible males and 31% of eligible females. It is not clear to us atthe moment whether the difference is due to females not applying for PhD’s (we onlyhave data on whether they applied to Oxford and not on applications to otherinstitutes) or whether they have applied and not been successful. We will monitor thisby way of an annual leaving survey that will not only record graduate destinations,but also information as to whether they had applied for graduate studies elsewhere,and the outcomes of those applications.

From the data we have gathered it is clear that the major step in the gender balancewithin our department is at the transition from doctoral to postdoctoral level: over thelast three years, 49% of our graduate students have been women, and 23% of ourpostdoctoral research staff have been women. (Support for graduate students isdescribed in section 5.iii.). Of the 20 students who completed their D.Phil’s in ourdepartment in 2008-11, 5 out of 7 females (71%) went on to post-doctoral positions,whereas 9 out of 13 males (69%) went on to post-doctoral positions in Earth Sciences,indicating that it is not graduate students from our department who are responsible forthis decline. This point of attrition is certainly a more general feature of the scientificcareer structure. Against this backdrop, we actively seek to encourage our graduatingD.Phil. students (male and female) into post-doctoral positions, and to recruit post-doctoral researchers of both genders with the quality of our research environment andof the personnel support within the department. To this end we have introducedseveral initiatives to encourage graduate students to continue in scientific careers:

1) We mentor all applications for independent research fellowships, providingdetailed feedback on proposals, and offer practice talks and interviews toapplicants.

2) All graduate students are encouraged to avail themselves of professional andpersonal training opportunities provided at divisional level, and research

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council level, which include networking, media training, and the“Springboard” program for women, and the “Navigator” program for men.

3) Our departmental Alumni officer is developing a series of seminars from pastmembers of the department to introduce undergraduate and graduate studentsto careers in science, and she will specifically incorporate diversity and genderissues within that framework.

4) All graduate students are being given a mentor, in addition to their supervisor,to whom they can turn for advice, support and feedback.

5) We run a departmental training programme for graduate studentsencompassing writing skills, presentation skills, undergraduate tutoring anddemonstrating.

A second main “point of attrition” is the one between lecturer and professor grade.Within our department the number of female academic staff has increased from 1 in2004 to 5 in 2011. Given the relatively young age of our female faculty we expectthat the numbers reaching Professor level will increase significantly in the comingyears. The department will encourage and support them in applying for thisdistinction. The department also has a strong track record in nominating andencouraging women at all career stages to apply for relevant awards. Within thereview period these include: Philip Leverhulme Prize: (Rickaby 2008; Mather 2010);UNESCO/L’Oréal UK and Ireland Women in Science Award (Mather 2008);European Geosciences Union Young Scientist award (Rickaby 2008); the ChallengerSociety for Marine Science Fellowship Award (Johnson 2008); The Rosenstiel Award(Rickaby 2009); American Geophysical Union James Macelwane Medal (Rickaby2010); Max Hey medal of the Mineralogical Society (Humphreys 2011).

The department supports its staff’s career development in a number of ways. TheUniversity has adopted a Code of Practice for the Employment and CareerDevelopment of Research Staff; the department has embedded this into our practices.All new faculty are provided with faculty mentors to provide help and practical adviceto them as they start their academic careers. Mentors also assist them through thetenure process, providing written reports for mid-term reviews, as well as the finaltenure application. Two of our female faculty are also participating in theUniversity’s Ad Feminam mentoring scheme: a programme that explores the role offocused mentoring in addressing the under-representation of women in academic andadministrative leadership positions at Oxford. Mentoring in this context is intended toencourage women to explore their leadership potential within academic life, or withinan administrative career, for example as leaders of departments and divisions or inuniversity governance.

Our self-assessment for the Athena Swan application recognised that post-doctoralstaff felt that this was something they would also benefit from, so the department isinstigating a scheme of providing mentors to all post-doctoral staff, in addition to thesupport they get from their supervisors. The department encourages its staff toparticipate in centrally-run training schemes, including “Springboard”, which is aprogramme aimed at encouraging women to set and achieve career goals. OxfordUniversity has recently received funding from the EPSRC to support womenreturning from maternity leave, to provide research support and teaching buyouts; sofar, one woman from Earth Sciences has applied and has been successful.[927 words]

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5. Career development

a. For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in thedepartment, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances,what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additionalsteps may be needed.

i. Promotion and career development – comment on the appraisal andcareer development process, and promotion criteria and whether thesetake into consideration responsibilities for teaching, research,administration, pastoral work and outreach work; is quality of workemphasised over quantity of work?

All faculty members are formally invited to an appraisal annually with the head ofdepartment (or their surrogate in cases where any conflict might arise). The majorfocus of such appraisal is to look forward to the future career development of theindividual. The goal is to ensure capacity for individual career growth, and to providea discussion point about future aspirations of the individuals within and beyond theDepartment.

The University runs an occasional “Recognition of Distinction” exercise, duringwhich academics may apply for the title of Professor; this exercise is described inmore detail in the 2010 University Athena application. Promotion is explicitly basedon performance across the full academic job description, including research, teaching,management, and pastoral/outreach work. It is fully recognized that time spent onone such activity must result in less time available for other of these activities and thatthere is a need for balance and flexibility between the diverse roles of a successfulacademic. We, as a department, are aware that females are often less likely to applyfor such promotions and so we are actively encouraging this. During the most recentexercise (2010-11, the only one in the last three years) there were two applicants fromEarth Sciences of whom one – a woman – was awarded the title of Professor.

In all these evaluations the quality of work is emphasised over the quantity. Thisemphasis is to some extent set by external processes, such as the Research ExcellenceFramework (REF) where only a limited number of research outputs need besubmitted. More significantly, it is driven by the general ethos of the department andUniversity in which research and teaching excellence is the clear goal, with nopressure exerted to produce large quantities of publications.

[292 words]

ii. Induction and training – describe the support provided to new staff atall levels, as well as details of any gender equality training. To whatextent are good employment practices in the institution, such asopportunities for networking, the flexible working policy, andprofessional and personal development opportunities promoted to stafffrom the outset?

All staff attend an induction day, at which they are introduced to the key members ofthe administrative and academic staff, and briefed on how the department runs and on

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the safety policy, and they are issued with a staff handbook. Where appropriate,training possibilities within the department, and across the university, are outlined.Springboard and Navigator courses are offered for women and men respectively. Thearrival of new staff is announced, with their room and phone numbers, via email to allmembers of the department, and they are introduced to other staff members atmorning coffee. In the case of new researchers we prominently display a posterdescribing their background and research profile in the coffee room.

Graduate students have a separate, but very similar, induction day. They are given anintroduction to the department from the director of Graduate Studies, and theAdministrator, given an overview of departmental policies, offered advice on trainingopportunities both within the department and across the University, and introduced tothe department’s library and computing facilities. A newcomers’ party is held in thedepartment every October on a Thursday afternoon, so that all members of thedepartment can attend.

Networking between staff is facilitated by: (a) the social spaces provided in thedepartment; (b) departmental level social and academic events; (c) daily coffee timesfor all staff; and (d) a weekly social event hosted by graduate students for all stafffollowing the weekly departmental seminars. Full details of these opportunities areprovided to all new members of the department.

All new academic staff are provided with a mentor, whose role it is to assist the newstaff member in settling into the Department, to explain departmental processes, andto outline what avenues of professional development there are within the departmentand the University. The mentor also appraises, and offers informal advice upon, theirteaching performance and provides a mid-probation and end-probation report on theiroverall contribution to the department.

All technical staff have an academic advocate, whose role is to advise them ontraining opportunities within the university, and to act a point of contact if there areissues regarding workload, changes in work patterns, or prioritisation of workschedules.

During our self-assessment several of our post-doctoral researchers expressed interestin such a scheme for research staff, so we are introducing a system of mentors forresearchers from 2012, as a point of contact if they have problems that they wish todiscuss or advice is needed. This is in addition to the support that they get from theirprimary supervisor. We will develop a system of mid-term reviews for postdoctoralstaff to include discussion with Associate Head of Department for Research.

[449 words]

iii. Support for female students – describe the support (formal andinformal) provided for female students to enable them to make thetransition to a sustainable academic career, particularly frompostgraduate to researcher, such as mentoring, seminars and pastoralsupport and the right to request a female personal tutor. Comment onwhether these activities are run by female staff and how this work isformally recognised by the department.

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Support for female students at undergraduate and graduate level at Oxford is providedat departmental and College level. Each college has in place an established welfaresystem, with tutors of both sexes and a women’s officer. All undergraduate studentshave a tutor responsible for their academic progress and pastoral care. Seven collegescurrently admit Earth Sciences students: all of these colleges have at least twomembers of our academic staff as members. This means that all of our students haveaccess to at least two tutors for their academic development. Most students,additionally, have a tutor in college in a non-related field to whom they can turn forimpartial advice. Within the department, we are introducing a policy that allpostgraduate students will have a named mentor, in addition to their formalsupervisors, to whom they can turn for advice. They will be permitted to request afemale mentor, and such requests will normally be granted, subject to the distributionof workloads amongst faculty, as we do not wish to overburden our female faculty.All graduate students are encouraged to be aware of gender issues, and to take part inevents on gender issues, such as those run by the Oxford Women’s Network.

Graduate students also obtain much support through informal structures: all aremembers of research groupings of various sizes, and we try to mix groupings whenallocating office space. We also provide training at departmental level in scientificwriting, tutorial teaching, small class demonstrating, field safety and first aid. Wealso run occasional field courses for postgraduates and postdoctoral fellows, whichprovide an informal setting for them to learn, and to mix with members of otherresearch groups within the department.

The progress of all graduate students is formally assessed at end of their first andsecond years, when their research work is assessed by a small panel consisting ofmembers of staff unconnected to the project. Additionally all graduate studentsregularly present their own work, and discuss the current literature, in informalsettings such as within their own research groups, and in departmental “brown-bag”seminars. All students are expected to attend and present work at both national andinternational conferences, and actively encouraged to publish their work as a first-authorship publication.

[374 words]

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6. Organisation and culture

a. Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearlylabelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary ontheir significance and how they have affected action planning.

i. Male and female representation on committees – provide abreakdown by committee and explain any differences between maleand female representation. Explain how potential members areidentified.

Numbers of individuals on committees are laid out in Table 5. There are four keycommittees. The Joint Consultative Committee for Undergraduates (JCCU) and theJoint Consultative Committee for graduates (JCCG) are the committees forundergraduate and graduate student feedback, and their numbers reflect both studentsand staff attending. Each year-group nominates one male and one femalerepresentative to the JCCU. The current faculty representative on JCCU is female,and the current faculty representative on JCCG is male; as a result of the currentdistribution of the roles of Undergraduate Advisor and Director of Graduate Studies.Academic Committee, which handles all matters relating to the academic programme,has a membership consisting of 5 men and 2 women, as a result of the currentdistribution of the roles of Head of Department, Chair of Academic and FacultyCommittees, Undergraduate Advisor, Admissions Organiser, Chair of Finalexaminations, Director of Graduate Studies, and Deputy Administrator (Academic).The department ensures that at least 2 of these roles are held by women and takespositive action to ensure female representation when appointing to sub-committees,always bearing in mind that issues of gender balance must be tensioned against therisks of overburdening our female staff with administrative duties. The DepartmentalCommittee is an advisory body to the Head of Department and its membershipconsists of the entire faculty, the administrator, and senior research staff.

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Table 5 Committee Female Male

2008-09 JCCU 8 6

JCCG 5 5

Academic Committee 3 9

Departmental Committee 7 22

2009-10 JCCU 9 4

JCCG 5 4

Academic Committee 3 7

Departmental Committee 7 22

2010-11 JCCU 9 4

JCCG 6 4

Academic Committee 4 4

Departmental Committee 7 23

Table 5: Breakdown of the numbers of women and men on the 4 main committeeswithin the department.

[247 words]

ii. Female:male ratio of academic and research staff on fixed-termcontracts and open-ended (permanent) contracts – comment onany differences between male and female staff representation on fixed-term contracts and say what is being done to address them.

Numbers of staff with fixed-term and permanent contracts are in Table 6. Researchstaff are appointed to fixed-term contracts; at present, all members of staff at lectureror professor grade are on permanent contracts.

Table 6 Fixed – term Permanent

Female Male Female Male

2008-09 7 18 5 24

2009-10 8 18 5 25

2010-11 7 19 5 19

Table 6: The breakdown of staff on fixed-term and permanent contract within thedepartment between 2008 and 2011.

[52 words]

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b. For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in thedepartment, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances,what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additionalsteps may be needed.

i. Representation on decision-making committees – comment onevidence of gender equality in the mechanism for selectingrepresentatives. What evidence is there that women are encouraged tosit on a range of influential committees inside and outside thedepartment? How is the issue of ‘committee overload’ addressedwhere there are small numbers of female staff?

Oxford operates a 5-year probation system, and so we ensure a reduced administrativeload during this time. Minimal administrative duties are given for the first threeyears, and then only low levels for the two years after that. All faculty members areautomatically members of the Departmental Committee, the main committee foradvising the Head of Department. Membership of other committees is by rotation,and we try to ensure that there is suitable gender representation on all committees,while bearing in mind the need not to overburden our female members of staff withcommittee duties. An active effort is made to avoid gender bias for external seminarspeakers, seminar organizers and all interview panels.

[114 words]

ii. Workload model – describe the systems in place to ensure thatworkload allocations, including pastoral and administrativeresponsibilities (including the responsibility for work on women andscience) are taken into account at appraisal and in promotion criteria.Comment on the rotation of responsibilities e.g. responsibilities with aheavy workload and those that are seen as good for an individual’scareer.

The workload model at Oxford involves college and departmental responsibilities.Half of our faculty are members of undergraduate colleges, where they are expectedto do 6 hours of tutoring per week during term unless there are extenuatingcircumstances. That substantial load is monitored by the Colleges. The remainder ofour faculty are either members of graduate colleges, where there is no tutorial-teaching requirement, or are professorial fellows at undergraduate colleges, whichcarries no tutorial requirement. In practice all members of the faculty contribute totutorial teaching within the department. From time to time, all faculty may be askedto take on additional College duties (e.g. Deputy Principal, Senior Tutor, Director ofGraduates, etc.), and they are given some relief from Departmental administrativeduties for that period, following consultation between the Head of College and theHead of Department.

At departmental level all faculty members contribute to teaching, research, examiningand administration each year. The Head of Department allocates the administrativeloads to members of department, with membership of committees rotated on a regular

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basis to avoid overload. Teaching and examining duties are allocated by theAcademic Committee, following consultation with all members of faculty, and afterfactoring in past teaching, administrative, and examining loads. The University has inplace a sabbatical system, where faculty can ask for relief from teaching, examiningand administration for one term for every six they have served. In principle thismeans sabbatical leave can be granted every seventh term or seventh year. Cover forcourses and administrative duties during these sabbaticals is normally provided bycolleagues. This means that there is a culture of flexible loads and flexible working.

The department tries to develop and maintain an environment where all members ofstaff are equally valued. We deliberately avoid having a single workload model,because we wish to maintain the maximum flexibility for people to develop their ownworking methods and timetables, and to find their own work-life balance.Maintaining flexibility is also important for the department, as it enables us to coverfor colleagues who are on sabbatical leave, on research ships, or away on fieldwork.It also means that tasks can be allocated to the most appropriate people as and whenthey arise. Having this flexibility also enables staff to vary the balance betweenresearch, teaching, and administration through their careers, or as new opportunitiesarise. Overall workloads are monitored by the Head of Department, and arecirculated throughout the department via the Departmental Committee so that they aretransparent. The Head of Department also, takes into consideration stage of career,research activity, personal/family responsibilities and health issues when allocatingtasks and roles. No request for a relief from, or change of, duties has been refused inthe past 5 years. Our analysis has shown that men and women have equal teachingresponsibilities, and that overall responsibilities are equally distributed – men andwomen are equally likely to teach on field courses, as they are to give lectures.

[494 words]

iii. Timing of departmental meetings and social gatherings – provideevidence of consideration for those with family responsibilities, forexample what the department considers to be core hours and whetherthere is a more flexible system in place.

Weekly departmental seminars have been moved from 4:30-5:30 to 4:00-5:00 in orderto accommodate people’s family responsibilities. There is a pause at the end of thelecture before questions so that people who need to leave can do so. Formaldepartmental meetings generally take place over the lunch hour (lunch is provided)except for one faculty meeting per term which takes place at 3:30pm on a Tuesday(this was moved forward from 4pm three years ago to accommodate those with familyresponsibilities). There is a flexible system in place, as shown in section 7.iii -individuals in the department are broadly free to conduct their research on their owntimetable.

[110 words]

Culture –demonstrate how the department is female-friendly andinclusive. ‘Culture’ refers to the language, behaviours and otherinformal interactions that characterise the atmosphere of thedepartment, and includes all staff and students.

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The small size of our department makes it an informal friendly place. We activelywork to maintain a culture that is inclusive and friendly to all. Recent initiativesinclude:

(1) As part of the development and move to our new building in 2010 weincorporated a rooftop researcher’s common room and outdoor terrace that isopen to all faculty and researchers (including 4th year undergraduates) to meetand interact. This is available 24 hours a day with tea and coffee makingfacilities, a microwave oven, and a fridge in which people can store packedlunches etc

(2) We moved departmental seminar times forward to 4pm so that people withfamily responsibilities can attend and still leave by 5pm.

(3) The termly faculty meeting was moved back to 3:30pm from 4pm three yearsago to facilitate those with childcare commitments.

(4) We instigated twice termly faculty lunches in late 2011, open to postdoctoralresearchers to discuss departmental events, research, and future developments.There are meant to be open forums for discussion, with lunch provided.

(5) All social events within the department start at times when they can beattended by those with carer responsibilities.

(6) In addition to the above meetings, the Head of Department has an open doorpolicy, which encourages all staff to discuss matters informally.

(7) Women at all levels are encouraged to raise their visibility externally(conferences, prizes etc) and any success is celebrated at staff meetings, inemails to all members of the department and via the news feed on our website.

(8) We are instituting a bi-weekly newsletter that will be circulated to all membersof the department.

[273 words]

iv. Outreach activities – comment on the level of participation by femaleand male staff in outreach activities with schools and colleges andother centres. Describe who the programmes are aimed at, and howthis activity is formally recognised as part of the workload model and inappraisal and promotion processes.

The department participates in a wide range of outreach activities and there is a strongcommitment from all levels of the department to widely disseminating the results ofour research, as well as enhancing public understanding of the field of Earth Sciences.A number of outreach events are specifically targeted at schools, in order to increaseour pool of applicants. However, a large proportion of our outreach to schools is notspecifically aimed at encouraging students to apply to Oxford, but is intended to getstudents interested in Science in general and we offer talks specifically targeted atyear groups 5-8 in local schools. This is, of course, helped by the fact that many ofour research topics (Earthquakes, volcanoes, fossils, Climate etc.) attract muchinterest from children and the media. We have a close relationship with the OxfordMuseum of Natural History, with one faculty member cross-appointed with themuseum. The museum has an extensive programme of activities for students andchildren, and several members of staff are volunteers. We also contribute to Sciencedays at the Museum; for example we had a stall at this year’s Wow!How? event withhands-on exhibits.

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We participate in the University’s open days, and in the Women in Science Opendays, with several members of the department having given talks. One facultymember (Mather) was chosen to feature in the Natural and Environmental ResearchCouncil’s (NERC) careers DVD that is distributed to schools across the country.More broadly we also contribute to public science festivals: in the past three yearsmembers have contributed talks to the Cheltenham Science Festival; The Soap-boxScience event in the South Bank, London; The Royal Society Summer Exhibition; theDerbyshire Science Festival amongst others. The department hosts an EnvironmentalSustainability Knowledge Transfer Centre which aims to connect businesses,universities, and other research organisations and government agencies, to improvethe flow of information of environmental technologies. We also host knowledgeexchange workshops with a number of local authorities (Warwickshire,Worcestershire & Gloucestershire) on flood risks.

On a global scale members of the department have given presentations to forums suchas the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Economic Forum inDavos. Two of our female faculty (Bouman & Johnson) have been involved ininternational training courses in marine sciences (a male-dominated field of science).Bouman is also involved in a capacity-building training program at the BermudaInstitute for Ocean Sciences. They find that women from developing countries inparticular value having female academics as lecturers as this is something they do notencounter often in their home country.

We have a particular emphasis on using new media, with a number of staff memberscontributing to blogs on science and science careers including: The Guardian onlinecareers service; Women in Science website; The Independent website; the BBC Newswebsite, and Metro newspaper. Our graduate students run a twitter account called“volcanotweet” which is widely picked up across the web. In 2011 one male facultymember participated in a two-week interactive science engagement exercise, “I’m AScientist, Get Me Out Of Here”, with the Wellcome Trust and won the competition.

These outreach events are distributed across the faculty, with the department making aparticular effort to match the expertise of the speaker to the requirements of the event.All outreach is recorded, and can be used in applications for promotion.

[560 words]

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7. Flexibility and managing career breaks

a. Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearlylabelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary ontheir significance and how they have affected action planning.

i. Maternity return rate – comment on whether maternity return rate inthe department has improved or deteriorated and any plans for furtherimprovement. If the department is unable to provide a maternity returnrate, please explain why.

In the last three years, three members of staff have taken maternity leave, of whomtwo have returned and the third, who is currently on maternity leave, is planning toreturn.

[31 words]

ii. Paternity, adoption and parental leave uptake – comment on theuptake of paternity leave by grade and parental and adoption leave bygender and grade. Has this improved or deteriorated and what plansare there to improve further.

In the last three years, one professor, one lecturer, and one researcher have takenpaternity leave. The department is improving its paternity provision further: theprovision that NERC provided to its fellows, when insufficient in the past, wassupplemented by the department. The department has resolved that in future, if anymember of staff is not offered appropriate paternity provision by their fundingagency, the department will cover any additional costs of paternity leave.

[74 words]

iii. Numbers of applications and success rates for flexible working bygender and grade – comment on any disparities. Where the numberof women in the department is small applicants may wish to commenton specific examples.

The department has a culture of flexible working: in general the emphasis is oncompleting the work, rather than running to a clock. There are only a small numberof staff (mostly support staff: e.g. receptionist, building manager) who are expected tokeep regular hours. Therefore, the number of staff formally recorded as workingflexibly is low (Table 7).

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Table 7 Full – time Flexible

Female Male Female Male

2008-09 11 39 1 3

2009-10 11 39 2 3

2010-11 12 38 1 3

Table 7: Numbers of women and men in the department between 2008 and 2011 andthe number recorded as formally working flexibly.

No application for flexible working has ever been turned down. We do not, as adepartment, wish to have in place a bureaucratic system for formally recording allinstances of flexible working. In practice, the department has high levels of informalflexible working, and this is emphasised to all new staff at their induction. Instancesof flexible working can be found in all levels of staffing across the department: theDeputy Administrator, Academic has a particularly arduous commute and works athome one day per week; the Departmental Research Facilitator has formally reducedhis working hours to 4 days per week to accommodate childcare; the Associate Headof Department for Research commented that he has always felt comfortable workingnon-standard hours to accommodate family needs, or to bring his children into thework environment. He also has a policy of not working at weekends and is openabout this policy to his research group, making it clear that he does not expect them tobe working 24/7 either. An informal poll of members of faculty with young childrenrevealed that they had all brought their children into the department during workhours when they had problems with childcare etc.

[280 words]

b. For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in thedepartment, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances,what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additionalsteps may be needed.

i. Flexible working – comment on the numbers of staff working flexiblyand their grades and gender, whether there is a formal or informalsystem, the support and training provided for managers in promotingand managing flexible working arrangements, and how the departmentraises awareness of the options available.

The department has relied to date on leadership by example with senior academicsvisibly working flexibly but, following discussion with the post-doctoral group it wasfelt by the Staff group that the Faculty handbook did not cover this adequately andthat a Family Factsheet should be drafted as part of the Athena Swan initiative wherethe department’s policy was more explicitly explained. When finalized the factsheetwill be given to all extant and newly recruited staff on arrival.

[79 words]

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ii. Cover for maternity and adoption leave and support on return –explain what the department does, beyond the university maternitypolicy package, to support female staff before they go on maternityleave, arrangements for covering work during absence, and to helpthem achieve a suitable work-life balance on their return.

During maternity or adoption leave, teaching responsibilities at both the departmentand college level are covered by colleagues. As a department we have a culture offlexible working and cover for colleagues when on sabbatical, and this also meansthat the same mechanism applies to maternity leave. All three of the faculty who havetaken maternity leave in the past three years have had their teaching covered by othermembers of staff.

One issue that is of concern is the need for childcare. The University operates achildcare scheme, but this has a very high demand and has long waiting lists. Anumber of staff have had to purchase places at private nurseries before they wereoffered places through the University scheme. The Department is investigatingdemand for, and considering purchasing, one or two priority places in one of theUniversity nurseries.

As department we try to provide an environment that facilitates our staff to achieve agood work-life balance. This means that children are welcomed at departmentalsocial events; staff can bring children in, or work at home as events dictate (sicknessof child, problems with childcare, nursery training days etc). The Researcher’sCommon Room within our building was explicitly modified during the design of ournew building in order that it should be safe for children.

[218 words]

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8. Any other comments – maximum 500 words

Please comment here on any other elements which are relevant to theapplication, e.g. other SET-specific initiatives of special interest that have notbeen covered in the previous sections. Include any other relevant data (e.g.results from staff surveys), provide a commentary on it and indicate how it isplanned to address any gender disparities identified.

A highly beneficial aspect of working on this Athena SWAN application has been thelevel of self-reflection it has generated within the department. Although we believethat the department was already a nurturing and friendly place in which to work, thefocus groups we have conducted amongst students and staff have been highlyinstructive in identifying areas for additional improvement. A key aspect has been therecognition that, because the Department has almost doubled in size over the past 5years, we need to reinforce the previous lines of communication (which had largelybeen informal) with a better-structured formal exposition of our policies and ethos.We are working on internal web pages, revised staff handbooks, and factsheets thatwill help to inform those in the department about the systems that provide training andsupport to individuals, and about the extensive flexibility within the department tocater for individual needs. The need to improve such communication is clearlyidentified in our Action Plan arising from this consultation.

[166 words]

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9. Action plan

Provide an action plan as an appendix. An action plan template is available onthe Athena SWAN website.

The Action Plan should be a table or a spreadsheet comprising actions toaddress the priorities identified by the analysis of relevant data presented inthis application, success/outcome measures, the post holder responsible foreach action and a timeline for completion. The Plan should cover currentinitiatives and your aspirations for the next three years.

The action plan does not need to cover all areas at Bronze; however theexpectation is that the department will have the organisational structure tomove forward, including collecting the necessary data.

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9. Action Plan:Description of action Action taken already Further action required Responsibility Time scale Evaluation

General #1:Appointment of PersonnelAdministrator with responsibilityfor developing, implementing andmaintaining recommendations, asappropriate, ensuring progress ismonitored for re-submission toAthena Swan.

Approval sought forrecruitment, post advertisedw/e 18.11.11

Recruitment andappointment

Administrator In post from Feb20th 2012

On-going reviewof action pointsand progress

General #2:Development and fortnightlyissue of email newsletterconcerning appointments,departures, awards, success,available College affiliations

Identification of needthrough research with postdoctoral staff who identifiedcommunication issues.

Consultation with thoseproviding information.

PersonnelAdministrator /Postdoctoralrepresentative

Early 2012 Fortnightly emaildistribution

Student Related #1:We will initiate a leavers’ surveyto record undergraduatedestinations, but also informationas to whether they had appliedfor postgraduate study here andelsewhere, and the outcomes ofthose applications.

Identification of need fromself-assessment: 45% ofmale undergraduatescontinue to PhD’s while 31%of females do.

To be carried out in June2012 and annuallythereafter

Alumni Officer From June 2012 On-going reviewof action pointsand progress

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Student Related #2:Develop our UndergraduateCareers program.

Our departmental Alumniofficer is introducing a seriesof seminars from pastmembers of the departmentto introduce undergraduateand graduate students tocareers in science, and shewill specifically incorporatediversity and gender issueswithin that framework.

Monitor gender balanceof invited speakers, anddiversity of fields(academic, industry etc).

Alumni Officer From early 2012 A balancedportfolio of talks.

Recruitment & Careerdevelopment #1Continue to develop andcommunicate to applicants thefemale friendly practices of thedepartment.

We currently provideinformation on theUniversity’s EqualOpportunity policies.

Review of advertising andrecruitment practicebearing in mind thedepartment alreadyadheres to Universitygender and EO policies,with the initial specificaim of including familyfact sheets in recruitmentpacks for allappointments

All appointmentcommittees

2011-2014 Continuedmonitoring ofgender balance ateach stage of theapplication andappointmentprocess.

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Recruitment & Careerdevelopment #2Development of inductionprogramme to include meetingwith Personnel Administrator andPI on day 1Appointment of mentor (nomineeof AHoD) as a point of contact ifthey have problems that theywish to discuss or advice isneeded

Induction programme is inplace but relies heavily onFaculty handbook andreference to Universityrather than Departmentalpolicies.

Issue of family factsheetand placing of relevantdepartmental familyfriendly information onintranet; working withpostdoctoral staff ongeneral factsheet for PD'swith information aboutcollegiate system,teaching and payment,supervising 4th year andgraduate students

Post doctoralRepresentative/PersonnelAdministrator

by Spring 2012 Follow upinterviews withnew appointeesto confirm receiptof information

Recruitment & Careerdevelopment #3Development of mid-termprobationary reviews forpostdoctoral staff to includediscussion with Associate Head ofDepartment for Research ormentor.

Identification of need fromdiscussions withpostdoctoral staff

Incorporation of this newresponsibility to beintroduced into theworkload model, withother responsibilitiesdistributed accordingly(tbc)

AHoD/PersonnelAdministrator

by Spring 2012 Confirmation ofmid-termmeetings

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Recruitment & Careerdevelopment #4Attendance at Joint ConsultativeCommittee ( Post Doctoral) byAssociate Head of Department forResearch; Attendance at Facultylunches ( 2 per term) by post docs

First meeting attended byAHoD held on 7.8.11;Invitation to post doctoralstaff made following FacultyMeeting agreement, 8.11.11The first such meeting tookplace on 15 November 2011.

Improve the way in whichthe JCC(PD) functions andreports thus increasingattendance bypostdoctoral staff

Associate Headof Departmentfor Research/Post doctoralRepresentative/PersonnelAdministrator

MT 2011 Attendancefigures

Recruitment & Careerdevelopment #5Exit interviews

Identification of need fromdiscussions withpostdoctoral staff

appropriate members ofstaff ( mentors?) to befound to conduct exitinterviews

AHoD/PersonnelAdministrator

by Spring 2012 Consideration ofinformationarising at ASCommitteemeetings

Work-life balance #1:Development and issue of EarthSciences family factsheet.

Draft available forconsultation at first meetingof post-submission AthenaSwan Committee

Confirm contentIssue to all currentmembers of staff inMarch 2012.

AS Committee/PersonnelAdministrator

Include as partof inductionpack for all newmembers ofstaff. Link fromwebsite and jobapplicationpacks.

On-going reviewof action pointsand progress

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Work-life balance #2Childcare: Consult on purchase ofpriority nursery places.

Identification of need? Consultation on theextent to which priorityplaces would alleviatechildcare issues for staff.Identification of possiblefunds and investigation offair ways to assign places.

Administrator/PersonnelAdministrator

Spring 2012 andongoing

Evaluation willdepend on thelevel of need forplaces and -- ifpriority places arepurchased -- theefficacy of theprovision

Work-life balance #3Review of timing of FridaySeminars to enable attendanceby those with parentalresponsibilities for collectionfrom nurseries/school

Seminars have already beenmoved from 4.30pm to 4pm

Consult with staff todetermine the optimaltimeslot. The discussionwill also encompass thetiming of the termlyFaculty meeting.

Faculty Early 2012 Attendance bythose with familyresponsibilities

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For Silver Department awards only

10. Case study: impacting on individuals – maximum 1000 words

Describe how the department’s SWAN activities have benefitted twoindividuals working in the department. One of these case studies should be amember of the self assessment team, the other someone else in thedepartment. More information on case studies is available in the guidance.

Case Study 1.Dr Tamsin Mather was appointed to an RCUK fellowship in 2006, has recentlymoved to a permanent contract (2011), and will become a University Lecturer in2012. Since arriving in Oxford’s Earth Sciences department she has had 2 periods of6 months of maternity leave in 2007 and 2010. Flexible working hours have been keyto her abilities to perform her research and teaching duties while raising two children.She has benefited from the culture of the department, which encourages an integratedapproach to work and family commitments: for example, being able to bring thechildren in, and the ease of making alternative arrangements for teaching andadministrative duties during childcare emergencies. She especially benefited from thedepartment’s decision to move the weekly department seminar to 4-5 pm (from 4.30-5.30 pm), which has allowed her to attend, while still being able to collect herchildren on time. The department has been very supportive of her recent applicationsfor major national awards: she won a Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2010 (£70k) and aL’Oreal/UNESCO for Women in Science Fellowship for UK and Ireland in 2008(£15k). In the case of the L’Oreal/UNESCO award, the department waived theoverheads allowing her to use the award to fund 6 months of a research assistant’ssalary. This bought her valuable time to win a further research grant to keep the long-term post-doc in question funded and bridged a gap left by her not having time towrite research grants while on maternity leave. The department has also been verysupportive of her in terms of PhD student funding and she has been awarded 4studentships from the departmental research council allocation since arriving inOxford, with a further 5 funded through other routes. The activities of post-docs andPhD students supervised by her has been key for her in terms of maintaining herproductivity during her periods of maternity leave.

Case Study 2.Dr Helen Johnson has worked in the department since 2007. She is a Royal SocietyUniversity Research Fellow and University Lecturer in Climate and Ocean Modelling.Since arriving in Oxford Earth Sciences she has had 1 period of maternity leave of 9months in 2010/11 and returned to work in September 2011. Since returning to workflexible working hours have been key to her abilities to perform her research andteaching duties while settling her child into nursery. She has also benefited from theculture of the department which encourages an integrated approach to work andfamily commitments, for example, the support of colleagues and the administrativeteam when bringing her child into work and their facilitation of alternativearrangements for teaching and administrative duties when these clash with childcareresponsibilities or emergencies and she needs to work from home. The department isalso making every effort to be flexible regarding other duties when opportunities toattend international conferences arise, recognising the difficulties inherent incoordinating time away with childcare without additional constraints to deal with.

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She currently has difficulties attending the weekly Friday seminar due to childcareresponsibilities and supports the department’s commitment to consult on its timing.Helen received the Challenger Society for Marine Science Fellowship Award in 2008.

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