1 Athena SWAN Bronze University Award Renewal Application Name of institution: Loughborough University (LU) Year: 2014 Contact for application: Prof Steve Rothberg, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise) Email: [email protected]Telephone: 01509 223440 Date of previous award: 2009 with extension to April 2014 granted in April 2013. In line with advice received from ECU, we have prepared this renewal application as a renewal of the original award granted in 2009 rather than an extension from 2013. Glossary of terms for application and associated Action Plan: Please see page 33 List of STEMM departments (highlighting those that currently hold Bronze, Silver or Gold department awards): The University restructured in 2011 into ten Schools, with seven in STEMM subject areas: 1. Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering 2. Civil and Building Engineering 3. Loughborough Design School (to submit April 2014) 4. Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering 5. Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering 6. Science (comprising Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics) 7. Sports, Exercise and Health Sciences (Silver Award 2013) Total number of university Schools: Currently, ten. In 2015, the University’s eleventh School will open and operate from our new campus on Olympic Park in London. Percentage of STEMM Schools as a proportion of all university Schools: 70%. The STEMM schools host 66% of Loughborough’s academic staff. 1 Letter of endorsement from a Vice-Chancellor – maximum 500 words The VC’s letter of endorsement follows.
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Athena SWAN Bronze University Award Renewal Application Name of institution: Loughborough University (LU) Year: 2014 Contact for application: Prof Steve Rothberg, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise) Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01509 223440 Date of previous award: 2009 with extension to April 2014 granted in April 2013. In line with advice received from ECU, we have prepared this renewal application as a renewal of the original award granted in 2009 rather than an extension from 2013. Glossary of terms for application and associated Action Plan: Please see page 33 List of STEMM departments (highlighting those that currently hold Bronze, Silver or Gold department awards): The University restructured in 2011 into ten Schools, with seven in STEMM subject areas: 1. Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering 2. Civil and Building Engineering 3. Loughborough Design School (to submit April 2014) 4. Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering 5. Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering 6. Science (comprising Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics,
Mathematics) 7. Sports, Exercise and Health Sciences (Silver Award 2013) Total number of university Schools: Currently, ten. In 2015, the University’s eleventh School will open and operate from our new campus on Olympic Park in London. Percentage of STEMM Schools as a proportion of all university Schools: 70%. The STEMM schools host 66% of Loughborough’s academic staff. 1 Letter of endorsement from a Vice-Chancellor – maximum 500 words The VC’s letter of endorsement follows.
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2 The self-assessment process – maximum 1000 words 2 (a) Description of the self-assessment team In 2009, a SAT was brought together for the preparation of the institutional Bronze submission under the leadership of Prof Steve Rothberg, then Dean of Engineering. At that stage, the intention was to develop an existing ‘Women in Science’ group to take forward the Athena SWAN agenda across the institution as the ‘Women in SET’ group. For a number of reasons we have moved away from this structure. First and foremost, the ‘Women in Science’ group had until that point been an informal group and we were not successful in developing its role to become more formal. Furthermore, the University restructured during academic year 10/11. A new institutional SAT has developed over the last 18 months to include the Champions for every STEMM School (Table 1). Now as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rothberg continues to act as University Champion. The SAT also includes our Athena SWAN Project Officer and Project Assistant who have been appointed to support the Institutional and Departmental submissions. The SAT is a diverse and supportive group dominated by staff from Schools (Action 1.1).
Name SAT Role University Role Additional Information
Prof Steve Rothberg
Chair and Institutional Champion.
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise) and formerly Dean of Engineering.
24 years at LU. Led first Bronze institutional submission, now judge for Athena. Two school age daughters. Dual career household.
Dr Katryna Kalawsky
Lead on Bronze resubmission
University Athena Swan Project Officer, Research Associate and Warden of a (UG) hall of residence.
12 years at LU. Former UG, PGR, Research Assistant and Research Staff and Student Development Officer
Mrs Liz Quimby-Fountain
Administrative support / provides staff data
University Athena SWAN Project Assistant
Worked within HR in E&D team for 4 years at LU. Works part time. Has one school age son.
Ms Abida Akram
Co-lead on Bronze resubmission
University E&D Adviser Works flexi-time to manage disabilities. 25 years in E&D in different sectors, including last 4 at LU.
Dr Kathryn North
Graduate School & Research Office
Research Staff and Student Development Officer
Based in the Graduate School and Research Office since 2007. Two young children. Works part-time.
Mrs Kokila Mistry
Provides staff data HR Management Officer Works part time. Two sons of school age. In HR for 6 years, at LU for 13.
Mr Tom Orrill
Provides student data Senior Planning Officer 8 years’ experience at LU in management information. (maternity cover for Sophie Crouchman.
Dr Sarah Barnard
Representing research staff.
Research Associate and Joint Chair of LU Research Staff Association (LURSA).
11 years as research staff at LU. 2 young children. Dual career household. Has worked on a number of projects on women in STEMM.
Dr Fehmidah Munir
Champion for School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences (SSEHS)
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Has two young children (<11 years old), comes from a predominantly Pakistani culture. Worked on ECU project to examine impact of the Athena SWAN Charter in UK HEIs.
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Name SAT Role University Role Additional Information
Prof Serpil Acar
Champion for Loughborough Design School (LDS)
Professor of Design for Injury Prevention
Academic at LU for 23 years. Two children. Husband is also a University professor.
Dr Camilla Gilmore
Champion for Mathematics Education Centre (MEC) in School of Science.
Senior Research Fellow in MEC, funded by Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship
Two young children. Works part-time.
Dr Marta Mazzocco
Champion for Mathematical Sciences (School of Science)
Reader in Mathematics. 5 years at LU. One child. Married to an academic at Aston University.
Prof Carys Siemieniuch
Champion for School of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering (SEESE)
Professor of Enterprise Systems Engineering and UG Course Director
25+ years at LU. Supported women in STEMM via Wise and as a mentor.
Dr Tom Carslake
Champion for School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering (AACME)
Operations Manager for AACME
5 years at LU. Married and has three children aged 8 and younger.
Prof Abigail Bristow
Champion for School of Civil and Building Engineering (CBE)
Professor of Transport Studies and Chair of School Welfare and Communications Committee
Dual career household. Caring responsibility for elderly and increasingly infirm parent.
Dr Mark Everitt
Juno Champion for Physics Department (School of Science)
Senior Lecturer in Physics
Came to LU in 2006. Started on a fixed-term (0.25FTE) contract which gradually increased to become full-time open-ended in 2013.
Jane McCormack
Champion for School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (MME)
Operations Manager for MME
Worked in HE for 19 years of which almost 10 years have been spent at LU. Married with 2 sons.
Dr Liz Hooper
Champion for School of Business and Economics (SBE)
Lecturer in Business Economics
Joined LU in 2012. Two grown-up children. Passionate advocate for increasing proportion of women in leadership roles.
Table 1: Members of the Self-Assessment Team (SAT)
The SAT is now a well-established and influential body that continues to make recommendations through the Chair to the University Human Resources Committee (HRC), Academic Leadership Team (ALT), which comprises VC, Deputy VC, Pro VCs and Deans of the 11 Schools, and School Senior Management Teams (SMTs) to change institutional practice (Actions 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3).
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2 (b) Account of the self-assessment process The last 12 months, in particular, have seen a step change in engagement with Athena SWAN across the institution. An active programme of engagement and consultation is managed by the SAT to ensure that the Athena principles are embedded at levels from the VC’s senior team to the individual staff in academic schools (Action 2.1). Specifically related to this submission, there has been wide consultation at institutional level (Action 2.2, Action 2.3), e.g. Council (July 2013), Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee (JNCC, September 2013), HRC (June 2013, February 2014), at School level through SMT’s which then cascade to staff meetings, and also via our Athena SWAN webpage which was launched in December 2013 (Actions 2.1 and 2.2). Furthermore, members of the SAT have presented to the ALT (May 2012, June 2013, July 2013) and School SMT’s (June 2012, January 2013, February 2013, January 2014). Articles have been published in two issues of the University’s staff news magazine ‘news@lboro’ (Summer 2013, Spring 2014), and information and events communicated with the whole University via its electronic notice board (December 2013, January 2014), Events page (January 2014), home page (November 2013, January 2014) and the VC’s all-staff newsletter (June 2013, January 2014). Following data analysis and in the light of feedback from the Athena judging panel in 2013, the SAT has instigated specific initiatives such as a study of maternity returner experiences (see Section 7), annual reporting of staff and student gender data (Actions 2.4 and 2.5) and the launch of the University’s Athena webpages, Facebook group and LinkedIn group (Action 2.1) The SAT has been meeting bi-monthly and monthly in the approach to submission. Key information is also shared between meetings via a weekly Athena e-bulletin. As noted in our terms of reference, the SAT reviews student and staff data, monitors progress against action plans, shares best practice including support for individual submissions and dissemination of good practice once a submission is complete. For example, in June 2013, the Champion and Co-Champions of the SSEHS submission shared their Athena experiences and disseminated guidance on the School’s successful silver submission. This exercise proved very insightful and other Schools committed to gender equality benefited from lessons learned as well as receiving access to supporting materials such as template surveys. To obtain external inputs to our Athena processes, SAT members are encouraged to attend external events (e.g. Athena SWAN’s ‘Going for Silver’ seminar at the Institute of Physics - December 2012), join Athena judging panels or contribute to complementary initiatives (e.g. Steve Rothberg is a member of the Royal Society Diversity Programme Steering Group) (Action 2.6). The SAT is responsible for inviting external speakers for the University’s own Athena SWAN events programme. In June 2012 we organised our ‘Going for Silver’ session at which Professor Allison Rodger (University of Warwick) shared her experience of applying for Athena awards from the perspective of a Champion and an Athena judge. In January 2014, we hosted HEA’s STEMM workshop that explored practices in peer support. That event welcomed those from Coventry University, the University of Bath as well as internal speakers such as the PVC(T), Dr Emma Haycraft and the University’s E&D Advisor who discussed Athena SWAN and the challenges faced by women in academia. This renewal submission has been a key driver in the enhancement of E&D reporting for the whole institution, particularly by the HRC which recently made Athena SWAN a standing agenda item (Actions 2.1 and 2.7).
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2 (c) Future of the self-assessment team The SAT is now a permanent feature in the University’s E&D processes and Athena is formally part of the HRC terms of reference. As a minimum the SAT will meet on a bi-monthly basis to monitor, evaluate and support the progress of the institutional and School action plans as well as offering support to Schools now working towards awards and renewals. The SAT will retain its responsibility for influencing policies and behaviours wherever improvements regarding gender equality are required, as well running the events programme centred on an annual prestige lecture, details of which are provided later in this submission (see Section 5). [906 words excluding figures, tables and headings] 3 Description of the institution – maximum 1000 words Our staff and students make up a community of over 18000 people, including over 3200 employees. Our activity is concentrated on a 437 acre campus - one of the largest in the UK – with excellent provision for sporting and recreational activities. One-third of the workforce comprise academic and research staff, the remainder are administrative, clerical, technical and manual staff. Our community is now organised into ten Schools; seven STEMM Schools (as listed at the beginning of this submission) together with the School of Arts, English and Drama, the School of Business and Economics and the School of Social, Political and Geographical Sciences. Whilst our subject mix has a significant impact on the overall gender balance of the institution, women are well represented at senior level; two out of the three Pro VCs are female and two out of seven STEMM school Deans are female. Furthermore, since 2004, the percentage of female staff at professorial level has more than doubled. In 2009, we celebrated 100 years since the formation of the original Technical Institute that has grown into today’s University. What we now refer to as STEMM activities, covering engineering, the physical, human and sports sciences, mathematics and design, have been central throughout the life of the institution and STEMM is the dominant feature of our subject profile, accounting for over 65% of academic activity. In September 2015, LU opens its new campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. Loughborough is also renowned for its achievements in sports science, sports technology and sports performance. In 2012 we hosted the preparation camp for Team GB ahead of the Olympic Games and over 90 Olympic and Paralympic athletes had Loughborough connections of some kind. Several of our own past and current female STEMM students took part in the Olympic and Paralympic games including Amy Smith (Swimming – BSc Sport Science), Vicky Holland (Triathlon – BSc Human Biology), Hannah Stodel (Sailing – BSc Sport and Exercise Science) and Judith Hamer (Wheelchair basketball – Science and Engineering Foundation Programme). Loughborough is well known for the quality of its teaching, verified by outstanding results in every National Student Survey and by heading the list of English universities in the Times Higher ‘Best Student Experience’ rankings for 6 years between 2007-12. We are a research intensive University delivering research-led taught programmes that also feature significant engagement with industry. All Schools have a strong research base and contribute to an international reputation that is especially strong within the STEMM Schools. In the 2008 RAE, every department (as we were then) was found to be undertaking research that is internationally recognised, with 18% of the University’s research considered to be ‘world leading’. Loughborough’s special trademark has always been its substantial partnerships with industry, government and the professions, which bring benefits to all our core activities: teaching, research and enterprise. Our major partnerships with Rolls-Royce, CAT and Ford
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and the 1700-strong workforce employed on our campus in tenant organisations exemplify this. Female percentage of FTE academic and research staff Since 2009, the Athena process has prompted us to look in considerable detail at data to inform on-going recruitment efforts. We find the pipeline summary for recruitment in STEMM, as shown in Table 2, particularly useful. Female undergraduate recruitment is around 26%; a figure driven primarily by our subject mix. There is no significant evidence of attrition between application (e.g. 2012/13 26.9%), acceptances (25.3%) and the taking up of places on courses (25.9%). Similarly, our PGT recruitment shows no evidence of attrition with a higher percentage of female students (2012/13 33.5% PGT vs. 25.9% UG). Female percentage in our PGR population is well ahead of that for our undergraduate population, the dominant group from which we recruit PGRs, and this translates into a good percentage of female research staff. In the early career (RT6/7) academic positions, the percentage falls from that for PGRs and research staff in the all too familiar manner and we will continue to work on this (Action 3.1).
Table 2: Pipeline for academic and research staff recruitment in STEMM
We have provided our first set of student population benchmarks in Table 3 based on HESA student populations. Difficulty in directly mapping subjects means these must be treated cautiously but they will inform our thinking and be further refined (Action 2.5).
STEMM Subjects 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 National Benchmark* (2012/13)
Undergraduate Population (FT Only) 28.2% 27.9% 27.2% 30.9%
Postgraduate Taught Population (FT & PT) 27.9% 28.8% 28.7% 37.5%
Postgraduate Research Population (FT & PT) 30.6% 28.2% 31.6% 32.9%
Table 3: Loughborough student recruitment and national benchmark data (% female) *benchmarks based on HESA student populations weighted by LU subject profile
The last 4 years’ staff data are shown below graphically for both the whole institution (Figures 1a & 2a) and STEMM Schools (Figures 1b & 2b) and in tabular form (Table 4). At each grade, total staff (rounded) and female staff percentage (1 decimal place) are shown.
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Figure 1a:
Whole Institution: Numbers and proportion (%) of female and male staff on academic grades
Figure 1b: STEMM Schools: Numbers and proportion (%) of female and male staff on academic grades
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Figure 2a: Whole Institution: Numbers and proportion (%) of female and male staff on research grades
Figure 2b: STEMM Schools: Numbers and proportion (%) of female and male staff on research grades
Research total 114 204 35.8% 112 209 34.9% 100 198 33.6% 91 175 34.2%
Table 4: Male and female staff on academic and research grades over the last 4 years for both
the institution as a whole and for the STEMM Schools
For academic staff, the female early career academic recruitment (RT 6&7 combined) has remained relatively stable over the last four years and is now 36.7% for the whole University and 27.3% in the STEMM schools, broadly in line with the student populations in our subject areas. Percentage of female SLs has also increased slightly over this period, with the larger increases having occurred in the window 2007-10: 19.8% to 24.3% for the whole institution and 15.8% to 22.1% for STEMM Schools.
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At personal title levels, overall staff numbers have been quite static through this period. Nonetheless, we are encouraged to see increased female percentages at reader level. Smaller increases at professorial level do not do justice to our achievements over the last 7 years: nearly 19% of Loughborough professors are now female compared to 16% in 2010 and 12% in 2007. In the STEMM Schools, female professors have nearly tripled from a lowly 6 in 2007 to 17 in 2013 - from 6% to 12% of the professorial group. Put in other terms, through the combination of leavers (mainly retirements), internal promotions and external appointments, the growth in the number of STEMM Professors between 2007 and 2013 has been almost 30% female. While the data are still clearly dominated by legacy, trends are shifting undeniably towards a fairer gender balance. Figures 3a-3g show academic staff numbers in individual STEMM Schools.
Figure 3a: Academic staff in AACME
Figure 3b: Academic staff in CBE
Figure 3c: Academic staff in EESE Figure 3d: Academic staff in LDS
12 16 15
17
57 55 58 57
0
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2010 2011 2012 2013
F - Academics M - Academics
11 9 9 9
57 57 58
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2010 2011 2012 2013
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3 3 3
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37 37
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7 8 9
14 28 29 29
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2010 2011 2012 2013
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Figure 3e: Academic staff in Science
Figure 3f: Academic staff in SSEHS
Figure 3g: Academic staff in MME
Essential context is provided by benchmarking data (Table 5) which suggest that the proportion of females at LU compares favourably in several schools e.g. AACME, Mathematics but less well in others e.g. CBE, EESE. Some of our Schools do not map easily to the available data e.g. LDS and SSEHS. We are using benchmarking here for the first time and we plan to respond to these data and will refine benchmarks (Action 2.5).
29 33 32 31
105 104 102
105
0
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120
2010 2011 2012 2013
F - Academics M - Academics
37 31 31
32 44 42 44
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2010 2011 2012 2013
F - Academics M - Academics
7 8 8 8
64 61 61
65
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2010 2011 2012 2013
F - Academics M - Academics
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LU data (F%) Benchmarked against national data (F%) for
LU STEMM School All Prof Cost Centre All Prof
AACME 21.3 6.0
Chemical Engineering 22.7 14.3
Mechanical, aero and production engineering 13.4 5.8
Mineral, metallurgy and minerals engineering 23.2 10.7
CBE 14.5 12.0 Civil Engineering 17.6 5.0
Architecture, built environment and planning 29.5 15.8
LDS 28.6 25.0 Art & Design 48.6 33.9
General Engineering 18.7 6.9
EESE 8.3 6.0 Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
12.0 6.5
MME 12.3 4.0 Mechanical, aero and production engineering 13.4 5.8
Science: Chemistry 16.1 10.0 Chemistry 24.3 8.2
Science: Computer Science
14.8 0.0 IT and System Sciences and Computer Software Engineering
21.5 12.6
Science: Mathematics
27.8 15.4 Mathematics
23.1 7.5
Science: Physics 15.8 0.0 Physics 16.0 7.8
SSEHS 36.6 29.0 Biosciences 37.7 17.2
Psychology and Behavioural sciences 58.5 31.1
Table 5: Percentage female academic staff (RT &TS grades) in STEMM schools with
Athena SWAN benchmark (HESA) data 12/13
[1049 words excluding figures, tables and headings]
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Sections 4-7: Supporting and advancing women’s careers – 4500 words in total 4 Key career transition points 4 (i) Effectiveness of policies and activities that are supportive to women’s career progression in STEMM departments at key career transition points Equality data, including gender, is now analysed and reported in greater detail than ever before. Reporting is now fully integrated at School and institutional level.
4 (i) (a) Female : male ratio of academic staff on fixed-term contracts vs. open-ended (permanent) contracts
Table 6a: Numbers of academic and research staff on fixed and open-ended contracts Fixed-term contracts for academic staff are generally only associated with visiting staff or special retirement-related contracts. Greatest use of fixed-term contracts is amongst research staff as a result of the uncertain nature of funding. Table 6a shows clear evidence of the declining use of fixed-term contracts particularly amongst research staff in a period when research funding has been even more uncertain. These trends are especially evident across STEMM Schools. We note, however, the increased number of male academics on fixed-term contracts in 2013 which appears to be an exceptional consequence of a combination of maternity cover, backfill of external fellowship awards and REF recruitment; this will be monitored (Action 3.2). Table 6b presents these data in percentage terms, relative to the whole group (e.g. at April 2010, 65.5% of the whole cohort of female research staff were employed on fixed term contracts). Overall, the data suggest that female research staff are less likely to be on a fixed-term contract than their male counterparts. For academic staff, M and F percentages are very similar, especially given the small numbers on fixed term contracts. Most importantly, it can be seen that percentages hold steady over the 4 year period which means that the reduced use of fixed term contracts apparent in table 6a has been achieved without gender bias. The University has worked with the Trade Unions to reduce use of fixed-term contracts and data show the policy’s effectiveness. This was confirmed in the 2013 CROS which reported a higher proportion of Loughborough respondents on open-ended contracts compared to overall proportions for 1994 and Russell Groups.
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Apr 10 Apr 11 Apr 12 Apr 13
F% of total F
M% of total M
F% of total F
M% of total M
F% of total F
M% of total M
F% of total F
M% of total M
All Schools: fixed
Research 65.5% 81.6% 66.2% 79.7% 68.8% 79.1% 65.8% 80.1%
Academic 6.3% 6.4% 6.7% 5.3% 4.3% 4.9% 5.3% 7.4%
All Schools: open
Research 34.5% 18.4% 33.8% 20.3% 31.3% 20.9% 34.2% 19.9%
Table 6b: Percentages of academic and research staff on fixed term and open-ended
contracts
4 (i) (b) Female: male ratio of academic staff job application and appointment success rates Staff involved in recruitment attend mandatory Recruitment and Selection training. Advertised posts have a detailed job description and person specification as well as information on the University’s commitment to E&D including the Athena SWAN logo to encourage applications from women (Action 3.3). Internally, women are encouraged to apply through our PDR process. Table 7 shows 4 years’ applications data. The figure for F% under applications is the percentage where applicants declare their gender. The success rate figure has been adjusted to distribute those applicants who did not declare a gender in the same proportion as those who did. This, in fact, makes little difference to the success rate calculation and either (adjusted or unadjusted) could have been presented. Small numbers make for large variations in annual figures. Looking at the 4-year totals, 28% (21%) of applicants for academic positions in All Schools (STEMM Schools) are female. These figures mirror the corresponding population figures for academic staff (Table 4). It is encouraging that 33% (27%) of new appointments are female, pushing towards a fairer gender balance. The differences in success rates are small but significant in the context of the number of appointments made and we are delighted that our recruitment practices are being effective in attracting and appointing high quality female applicants in increasing numbers. We have also conducted our first ever analysis of the gender balance on interview panels. We sampled 22 STEMM academic appointments from 2013; 30% of panel members were female but 8/22 panels were all male. We identified important data collection issues to be resolved in ongoing monitoring (Action 3.3). Again at the insistence of the SAT, the Code of Practice on the Composition of Appointment Committees now states that “Both genders
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must be represented on appointment committees” (Action 3.3). This applies to our general recruitment and internal appointment to specific management roles (Action 3.3).
Applications Appointments Adjusted success rate
F M Unspec. F% F M F% of total F M
All Schools
2010 391 852 113 31.5% 23 35 39.7% 5.4% 3.8%
2011 340 1060 150 24.3% 20 52 27.8% 5.3% 4.4%
*2012 282 640 46 30.6% 17 37 31.5% 5.7% 5.5%
2013 334 955 6 25.9% 18 37 32.7% 5.4% 3.9%
Total 1347 3507 315 27.8% 78 161 32.6% 5.4% 4.3%
STEMM Schools
2010 189 575 76 24.7% 11 26 29.7% 5.3% 4.1%
2011 118 542 70 17.9% 8 31 20.5% 6.1% 5.2%
*2012 68 299 20 18.5% 6 21 22.2% 8.4% 6.7%
2013 150 558 2 21.1% 9 12 42.9% 6.0% 2.1%
Total 525 1974 168 21.0% 34 90 27.4% 6.1% 4.3%
Table 7: Application and appointment data for academic staff
*A change in IT system resulted in an incomplete data set
4 (i) (c) Female : male ratio of academic staff promotion rates In line with the 2009 Action Plan commitment concerning internal promotions to professor, we present a detailed analysis not just for promotion but for all types of performance reward. This is now embedded as ongoing monitoring. Tables 8a&8b show data for the academic (non-professorial) reward review process. Deans are required to identify proactively staff deserving of salary increments, lump sum and team awards (team awards may not be monetary) and SL promotion. Staff may approach Deans themselves. School SMTs then consider applicants to be put forward to full panel. The percentages shown in the 2 right hand columns describe the number of F or M staff against each award type as a percentage of the whole eligible group. For SL promotion, the eligible group comprises staff on grades 6/7. For other awards, staff on grades 6-8 are eligible. Small numbers make meaningful annual analysis difficult but amalgamating data for the last 4 years leaves females trailing males for salary enhancement (2.6% vs. 4.5% across all Schools) (Action 3.4) though success in SL promotion is quite equal. STEMM schools show a similar trend for salary enhancement but much greater success for female staff SL promotion.
Table 9 shows professorial salary review data (monitored since 2011 at the SAT’s insistence). In 2012, Deans were asked to take to steps to increase participation rates in their Schools (submission had previously been voluntary) because it was felt a voluntary arrangement might disproportionately discourage female staff. This action raised 2012 participation rates but not sufficiently so, in 2013, it was decided to consider all staff regardless of whether they had made a submission. This resulted in an increased number of submissions and awards. Considering data amalgamated across the 3 years, given at the bottom of Table 9, we see quite equal participation rates and slightly higher success rates for female staff.
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Number Participation rate (submission made / eligible)
Success rate (awarded / eligible)
Year / Schools F M F% M% F% M%
2011 / All Schools Eligible 34 177
Submission made 18 74 53% 42%
Awarded 14 42 41% 24%
2011 / STEMM only Eligible 17 129
Submission made 7 54 41% 42%
Awarded 5 32 29% 25%
2012 / All Schools Eligible 32 156
Submission made 20 95 63% 61%
Awarded 10 48 31% 31%
2012 / STEMM only Eligible 17 125
Submission made 6 51 35% 41%
Awarded 3 36 18% 29%
2013 / All Schools Eligible 46 202
Submission made 23 99 50% 49%
Awarded 13 43 28% 21%
2013 / STEMM only Eligible 20 136
Submission made 11 80 55% 59%
Awarded 8 37 40% 27%
Overall / All Schools 54% 50% 33% 25%
Overall / STEMM only
44% 47% 30% 27%
Table 9: Professorial salary review
Finally, we consider internal and external promotions to Professor in Table 10. Five year running totals have been used as numbers in any one year can be low. This analysis was prompted by the 2009 action plan commitment to examine patterns of internal promotion to Professor but has gone further than that commitment. Across the institution, the percentage of women amongst the total appointments to Professor is now running at a figure very close to the percentage of women in SL posts (i.e. the highest non-professorial grade) and well ahead of the percentage of women already in professorial posts. The rate of internal promotions looks particularly healthy compared against the percentage of women in SL posts. These figures suggest female staff are clearly prospering at Loughborough. The rate through external appointments is lower but close to the figure for women already in professorial posts. Looking at STEMM Schools only, we have almost reached convergence between the rate for internal promotions and the percentage of females at grade 8. We are greatly encouraged by these data which serve as a validation of the effectiveness of staff development processes and the fairness of promotion processes. The percentage of female professorial staff is also
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boosted by external appointments at a rate generally much higher than the percentage for existing female professorial staff. This identifies Loughborough’s STEMM Schools as attractive destinations for ambitious female academics.
5 year period ending Year X
%F (external appointments)
%F LU academic staff at Prof grade (Year X)
%F (appointment by internal promotion)
%F LU academic staff at SL grade (Year X)
%F Prof appointments total
All Schools
2008 17.1% 14.6% 22.0% 22.0% 19.7%
2009 22.2% 15.5% 21.7% 22.2% 22.0%
2010 15.4% 16.3% 25.5% 23.6% 21.1%
2011 14.3% 16.6% 27.3% 23.7% 21.7%
2012 16.7% 17.0% 34.0% 24.6% 26.7%
2013 15.4% 18.7% 28.3% 26.0% 21.9%
STEMM Schools
2008 21.4% 9.0% 10.3% 16.2% 15.8%
2009 23.3% 10.1% 11.8% 19.6% 17.2%
2010 16.1% 11.5% 12.8% 21.6% 14.3%
2011 17.2% 11.8% 10.5% 21.3% 13.4%
2012 12.5% 10.9% 20.0% 22.0% 17.4%
2013 18.2% 12.1% 20.6% 22.9% 19.6%
Table 10: Internal and external promotions to Professor
5 Career development 5 (i) The effectiveness of policies and activities that are supportive to women’s career development in STEMM departments. 5 (i) (a) Researcher career support and training Developing research careers featured in our 2009 action plan as an area for improvement following concern expressed in 2008 staff survey. We report significant progress. Research staff can attend any of the Staff Development workshops. Research staff undergo a mentored probation period and thereafter an annual PDR, in line with the process for all staff (Action 4.1). In the 2013 CROS evaluation, the majority of LU respondents agreed that they are encouraged to engage in personal and career development (74.5%), and that they are able to take ownership of their career development (84.9%). Training and development support for our 1200-strong group of PGRs, along with ECRs, is provided centrally by the Graduate School working closely with support services such as Careers and Employability Centre (CEC), Teaching Centre and the Library.
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The Graduate School’s offering to PGRs and research staff now includes:
A dedicated and mandatory induction programme.
Comprehensive training mapped to Vitae’s RDF, including the ‘Teaching Skills’ course and workshops such as ‘Introduction to the Job of Lecturer’, ‘Working with External Organisations’ and ‘Getting Articles Published’.
Annual Research Conference with an Athena SWAN information station.
Funds available for e.g. studentships, conference attendance, Graduate School Prizes and the Research Culture Fund (established in response to 2011 Postgraduate Research Experience Survey).
Continued support for the LU Research Staff Association (LURSA, established 2011) whose female co-chairs recently received £5000 AHRC funding to run a peer-to-peer skills programme.
2012 Future Research Leaders Programme with 10 participants (five female including four from STEMM Schools).
Implementation of the Concordat to support the Career Development of Researchers for which we renewed our HR Excellence in Research badge in 2012.
CEC support includes a dedicated Careers Advisor offering one-to-one advice alongside workshops including ‘Career Planning’, ‘Academic Job Applications’, ‘Industry/Commercial Sector Job Applications’ and ‘Marketing your Research Skills’. The Teaching Centre offers ‘Successful Teaching and Assessment for Researchers’ – a certificated programme which follows on from ‘Teaching Skills’ and provides a stepping stone to the Associate Teaching Course, an 18-month programme incorporating teaching observations and a reflective portfolio, leading to Associate of HEA status. Library support includes:
Access to one-to-one support from subject specialist Academic Librarians
11 workshops covering topics such as publication strategy and collaboration which are mapped to Vitae’s RDF.
5 workshops specifically for academic and research staff covering topics such as open access, impact and citations.
A dedicated research lifecycle module on the institutional virtual learning environment. Courses and workshops are regularly evaluated through participant feedback and refined in response. We are proactive in ensuring female participation but the support itself is not gender differentiated and feedback is not analysed by gender. Whilst we will reconsider this (Action 4.2), we already know from 2013 CROS that the majority of Loughborough respondents feel they are treated fairly that irrespective of gender when accessing training opportunities. Respondents also believe Loughborough is committed to E&D. Recently the University introduced a two year fixed-term research and teaching training position (Assistant Lecturer), designed to give recent PhD graduates an opportunity to develop their academic career whilst undertaking a recognised HEA training course (Action 3.1). In 2013, four appointments were made in STEMM Schools (50% female).
5 (i) (b) Mentoring and networking The 2009 action plan commitment to developing research careers has brought significant gain to mentoring. Our highly successful Research Staff Mentoring Scheme, co-ordinated by the CEC, Graduate School and Staff Development, is now in its 5th year and offers the opportunity to enhance personal or career development, either as mentee or mentor. Promoted by the Associate Deans (Research) in each School (Action 4.3), applications are sought from both mentors and mentees. Mentees are matched to mentors from outside their School and new mentors are provided with training. In STEMM, seven mentor-mentee
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partnerships are currently underway (86% mentees and 71% mentors are female). Since 2010, there have been 30 STEMM partnerships (83% mentees and 52% mentors female). Effectiveness is comprehensively reviewed at the end of each mentoring period. Some of the benefits highlighted by female mentees have included: “Having an independent person to talk things through with from a researcher perspective”, “increased my personal confidence and self-belief” and “we are not always the best judges of our abilities and performance and a sympathetic, outside mentor can be extraordinarily valuable”. Mentoring for probationary academic and research staff including the assignment of an experienced probation adviser is well-established at Loughborough, ensuring that first career steps have the right trajectory. Agreed work plans ensure that probationer, adviser and Dean are all clear on performance expected. Academic probationers produce a substantial teaching portfolio, which includes an extended reflective commentary, feedback from a range of sources and other supporting evidence. This discipline is maintained beyond probation through annual Personal Research Planning and on-going student feedback on teaching. As a consequence, staff progress quickly towards Senior Lecturer level, assisted by the availability of transparent promotion criteria. Since the 2009 submission, the University has regularly organised networking events, from LURSA’s ongoing events programme to Staff Development’s ILM accredited programmes to major institution-wide events such as our inaugural ‘Impact Festival’; held in January 2014. In this section, however, we concentrate on networking events specifically targeting female staff with examples of feedback received to evaluate each event’s effectiveness. In 2011, 40 participants from Universities including Loughborough, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Queen Mary heard motivating talks from Professor Shirley Pearce (Loughborough’s Vice Chancellor at the time) on her achievements, with additional female speakers from industry and academia. Evidencing the effectiveness of the day, participants commented “I never expected this event could be such fun, inspiring and eye-opening ... it does help me with my own career”, “I learnt that most people struggle with self-confidence in their careers and this doesn’t have to stop you succeeding” and “I learnt to take more responsibility for my career, … and be active in finding help for any question I might have”. Also in 2011, Loughborough hosted ‘Managing Your Academic Career for Women in SET’ for the Vitae Midlands Hub. The 15 female researchers and academic staff attending from across the region all gave the workshop Excellent or Good rating: “learnt to be more assertive in my own development” and “you just have to do it and be proactive...don’t wait for things to happen. Don’t make excuses”. In 2012, we ran a leadership workshop with the UK Resource Centre for women in STEMM. As the first of its kind, the workshop was specifically designed for women in or aspiring to leadership positions and was extremely well received by the 27 delegates: “… raised my awareness of not just the qualities a leader possesses, but the behaviours that are associated with effective leadership” and “The all-female group created an open, positive environment which enabled me to discuss some things I wouldn’t have felt comfortable to in a different setting”.
We ran our next leadership workshop in 2013, with the WiSE Campaign, looking at leadership behaviours and characteristics, strategic planning, and making bold decisions: “Excellent course, very clearly presented and good facilitation”, “Looking at leadership of [my] own career as well as leadership of others was useful.” In 2013/14, we nominated and funded 3 female academic and research staff to participate in the Leadership Foundation’s Aurora programme which encourages women to see
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themselves as future leaders. Additionally, Dr Sheryl Williams (EESE) was supported through the Stellar Programme (a BME leadership development programme): “The course has helped with my self-belief … I have made more effort in increasing my visibility in my School and the change has been noticed. I am now looking into progressing my career within the School … without the course I think I would have just been happy to stay where I was”. In February, Mathematical Sciences ran a pilot ‘Women in Maths’ workshop (12 students, 67% female, and 6 staff, 83% female). Female PGRs presented a mixture of personal experiences and insights on what a PhD means and how it enhances employability skills. Feedback from the attendees showed the event was a great success and a larger event for the whole School of Science is planned as part of our Athena events programme (Action 5.1).
5 (ii) The effectiveness of activities that raise the profile of women in STEMM departments. In 2013, we launched our Athena webpage (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/hr/a-z/equality--diversity---athena-swan.html) as a location to collect our profile-raising endeavours e.g. our Mother’s Day press release celebrating Loughborough’s inspirational STEMM mums.
5 (ii) (a) Conferences, seminars, lectures, exhibitions and other events. Encouragement to participate in such events is endemic in Loughborough’s culture. Nonetheless, we have organised diverse events specifically targeted at women to inspire confidence e.g.:
In 2011, Tana Utley, Chief Technology Officer at Caterpillar, spoke about her experiences of juggling career and family.
Our Students’ Union organised the ‘Women in Leadership’ conference in March 2014 with NUS National Women’s Officer as guest speaker.
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Embedded Intelligence (awarded 2014) has appointed WISE members to its board specifically to address gender issues within the Centre’s cohorts.
Women are well informed via several channels of communication and supported to take up the opportunities available to them, particularly during inductions and PDRs. Based on such experiences, we have now formally initiated an Athena SWAN events programme (Action 5.1) with a centrepiece annual prestige lecture named in memory of Claudia Parsons, one of our first female engineers (1919-1922) and the first woman to circumnavigate the earth by car. In January 2014, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, space scientist and BBC ‘Sky at Night’ presenter, delivered our inaugural Claudia Parsons Lecture attended by 200 guests (76% female) drawn from the University, the local community and industrial partners. Dr Aderin-Pocock also led a master class on communicating research effectively, with 90% female participation. The University is very active in STEMM outreach work:
Our longest running intervention is the WiSE Outlook course, a two day course for 20-25 year 9 girls who undertake a project, meet female students and visit a local company.
Dragonfly Day, at the end of Engineering Headstart, gives girls attending Headstart the opportunity to take part in an event aimed at younger female students and to act as role models themselves.
In a new project with GE Measurement and Control, seven schools will participate in a longer term project starting in year 9 and going through until year 13.
Our Open Days include a Women’s Engineering Student Society event where female visitors can talk to current female engineering students: “I had a great talk with two students in the Women in Science area”.
5 (ii) (b) Providing spokeswomen for internal and external media opportunities. Women are encouraged to access media training opportunities e.g. Royal Society (February 2012, March 2013), media training session at 2012 Annual Research Conference, internal ‘Training in Media Skills’ session (attendance 44% female, 2013).
Our Public Relations Office is proactive in approaching female staff for media calls. During 2013, 11 external media items covered the work of STEMM females. Further examples included female academics answering media enquiries:
Professor Eef Hogervorst: BBC's 'Trust Me I'm a Doctor', series on themes of weight loss, exercise and memory.
Professor Caroline Meyer: Sky News interview about eating disorders in athletes.
Dr Lucy Budd: online discussion about careers in transport sector, The Guardian
Dr Louise Reyner: BBC1 documentary 'Time of Your Life’ on the body clock and circadian rhythms.
5 (ii) (c) Nominations to public bodies, professional bodies and for external prizes. Academic staff are explicitly encouraged to engage with public and professional bodies and to compete for external prizes. Recent successes include:
Professor Tracy Bhamra: Appointed to REF2014 Panel
Professor Serpil Acar: Member of Programme Development Grants Committee, (International) Society of Women Engineers 2012
Dr Carol Robinson: elected to the Council of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications
Natalie Pearson: Early Career Award by the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine. We routinely publicise external recognition for staff in our magazine news@lboro. Recent examples include:
Dr Sophia Jowett, reader in Psychology, ranked as Europe’s most influential author in coaching science.
KIT Catalogue project, led by Professor Rachel Thomson, Director of the Materials Research School short-listed for 2012 Times Higher Education awards.
Students are similarly supported; five students recently received Royal Academy of Engineering Leadership Advanced Awards including Sarah Parsons (Product Design Engineering), Shakti Patel (Aeronautical Engineering) and Nicole Perrin (Chemical Engineering).
6 Organisation and culture 6 (i) The effectiveness of policies and activities that show a supportive organisation and culture in your STEMM departments. Communication of institutional policies and procedures, together with associated training, is embedded in a number of established mechanisms (Action 5.2). Equality issues feature strongly in our staff training programmes, beginning with the induction programme for new staff which includes details of HR policies and procedures. In 2009, we committed to a refresh of our E&D training provision to ensure that diversity issues were ‘main-streamed’ in all decision making. Since January 2013, 538 staff, including 283 female staff, have either attended one of 24 face-to-face E&D courses, or completed an online E&D course.
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The University conducted its second staff survey in 2012 and responses confirm the effectiveness of our policies. From questions exploring culture and values, 87% of respondents would recommend the University to a friend as a place to work (national benchmark 75%) and 92% agreed the University is a good place to work (national benchmark 90%). The Capita report described E&D as “an area of strength”, adding that “Most respondents feel the University acts fairly, regardless of ethnic background, gender, religion, sexual orientation or age with regard to recruitment and career progression/promotion. In addition, most respondents believe the University is committed to equality of opportunity.”
6 (i) (a) Female : male ratio of Heads of School/Faculty/Department across the whole institution and in STEMM departments. From 10 active Schools, LDS and AACME have female Deans. This is ahead of the professorial population (12%) across STEMM Schools.
6 (i) (b) Gender balance on the senior management team at university level. The ALT is the body uniting School Deans and the VC’s team. As shown in Table 11, current female representation on ALT is 26% comprising 2/11 Deans, 2/3 PVC’s and the Director of Planning. Table 11 also shows fair representation amongst other senior groups in a context where just less than 19% of academics are professorial.
2011 2012 2013
M F F% M F F% M F F%
ALT 13 5 28% 13 5 28% 14 5 26%
Vice-Chancellor’s Office 4 3 43% 4 3 43% 5 2 29%
Deans 9 1 10% 9 1 10% 9 2 18%
Associate Deans 23 6 21% 24 6 20% 25 7 22%
Heads of Professional Services Data not previously recorded 9 6 40%
Table 11: Gender balance amongst senior management groups
6 (i) (c) Gender balance on influential committees at university level.
Table 12: Gender balance on influential committees at university level
Senate membership ought to reflect the gender balance within the population of academic staff with a bias towards more senior staff as a result of the ex-officio memberships of senior managers and the likelihood of elected members being relatively senior. An estimate based on academic staff numbers at grade 8 and above would indicate a likely percentage of female senators in the low to mid-twenties. Current membership is 25%.
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Lay members raise the current percentage of female Council members to 37%. HR Committee has percentage female membership at 33%, up from 24% in 09/10, while, at Operations Committee, female representation stands at 25%. These figures are all strong in the context of our overall gender profile (Table 12). Invitations to nominate to University committees state explicitly that “the University actively welcomes nominations which reflect the diversity of the University …”. The SAT has been proactive in encouraging female applicants for vacancies (Action 5.3).
6 (i) (d) Evidence from equal pay audits/reviews. In 4(i)(c), we reported detailed analysis of Salary Reviews. We have also completed a first analysis of professorial pay by gender, as shown in Table 13.
Years in post (N)
N<=3 3<N<=6 6<N<=9 9<N<=12 12<N<=15 15<N<=18 N>18
All schools
Female £64k £72k £68k # £86k
Male £64k £67k £69k £84k £77k £85k £84k
STEMM Schools
Female £61k £65k £64k #
Male £64k £67k £70k £86k £78k £81k £86k
#Data not shown to ensure anonymity (i.e. number of professors is <3)
Table 13: Mean professorial salaries To avoid legacy effects, we analysed data by years spent at the professorial level, using internal promotions to professor because our records for external professorial appointments do not include the number of years spent at professorial level elsewhere. There were no statistically significant differences (revealed by independent-samples t-tests) in mean salaries in each experience category, although this was limited by small sample sizes. We will develop our methods in this area and embed monitoring (Action 2.7).
6 (i) (e) Female : male ratio of staff in the RAE2008 and REF2014
School F submitted M submitted %F of total F eligible %M of total M eligible
AACME 16 61 94% 97%
CBE 8 58 100% 98%
LDS 17 35 77% 74%
EESE 2 38 50% 95%
MME 8 59 88% 88%
Science 23 100 96% 96%
SSEHS 25 48 96% 94%
All STEMM 89 366 90.8% 91.7%
All Schools 216 555 85.2% 88.8%
Table 14: REF Submissions
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RAE data have not changed since our 2009 submission: 18% of academic staff in STEMM departments were female and 18% were returned. Rather than repeat data, we present new data for REF2014 for which E&D issues received significant attention, particularly with regard to the selection of staff to be returned. Looking at Table 14, no significant differences were observed between the proportion of eligible females and males that were submitted.
6 (i) (f) Transparent workload models An extensive agreement is in place between the University and the Trade Union. Deans are obliged to make workload models available to staff and models must identify and balance the research, teaching and administration workload for staff.
6 (i) (g) Work-life balance University committee meetings and Staff Development training courses are generally scheduled with start and finish times that fit with the school day. In our 2012 Staff Survey, research staff reported relatively high satisfaction (75%) with work-life balance issues which was echoed in the 2013 CROS evaluation, but academic staff were more concerned on this point (51%) (Action 5.4). These concerns were driven by male staff – overall female satisfaction was 11% higher than for male counterparts.
6 (i) (h) Publicity materials, The University makes a concerted effort to represent an equal balance of gender and ethnicity in its publications. In materials for student recruitment and for wider audiences, we aim to promote positive images of women in STEMM. In 2013, 23% of University media items (32/110) have included significant input from women or focused on women’s achievements. Examples from the past few issues of our research magazine, The View:
‘Simple Solutions Changing Lives’ – Dr Hazel Jones from the Water, Engineering and Development Centre in CBE.
‘Educating the Educators’ – Dr Rhoda Trimingham from LDS
‘Start active, stay active’ - Professor Fiona Bull, Co-Director of the British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity in SSEHS.
‘A question of sport’ - Drs Trish Gorely and Rachel Sandford from the Institute of Youth Sport, establish why girls turn away from an active lifestyle.
7 Flexibility and managing career breaks 7 (i) The effectiveness of policies and activities that are supportive of flexibility and managing career breaks in your STEMM departments. The University’s policies on family leave, flexible working and childcare provision are easily accessible from the HR website.
7 (i) (a) Flexible working Employees with certain caring responsibilities may apply for flexible working patterns, such as part-time working (including job share). There is a legal right for parents caring for a child up to the age of sixteen, or with a child with a disability aged under eighteen years, to apply to work flexibly. Over the last 3 years, an average 14% of non-professorial female academic staff and 6% of non-professorial male academic staff have been working part-time. The University also has a flexi-time scheme specifically for secretarial, clerical, administrative and academic-related staff, which allows most employees to vary start and finish times to suit personal circumstances. For academic and research staff, conditions of service state that ‘hours of work, whilst not fixed, are such as are necessary for the efficient discharge of a Member’s duties as reasonably required by the Dean of School’. This builds a degree of flexibility into posts.
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Flexible working requests are routinely and informally accommodated in Schools but data are not currently collected and we were challenged by the 2013 judging panel on how we then know that such informal arrangements are effective. Noting the positive staff survey responses of female staff (see 6(i)(g)), the SAT has nonetheless accepted this challenge and received initial qualitative confirmations from School Operations Managers that flexible leaving requests are regularly accommodated. The SAT has now challenged the Operations Managers to provide clear evidence of effectiveness. As each School submits for their Athena award, staff surveys informing the submission will include questions specifically on effectiveness of arrangements (Action 6.1). However, the SAT also decided to begin to explore this broad issue now with a focus on maternity returners, as described below.
7 (i) (b) Parental leave Maternity leave data are shown in tables 15a&b for all schools and for STEMM Schools. Over the last five years, only two research staff and one academic across the whole institution were not in post six months after their return date. In the same period, 57 staff took paternity leave (average 7.5 days) and one member of staff (male) took adoption leave. Until now, the effectiveness of parental leave policies has not been evaluated. Consequently, the SAT initiated a consultation (focus group and one-to-one interviews), seeking volunteers from STEMM School maternity leavers since 2011 (n = 6/17). Overall, it was established that information provision and support were straightforward and sufficient. HR advisors were regarded as being “really helpful, informative and friendly” but some line managers lacked understanding of ‘Keeping in Touch’ days which allow employees on maternity (or adoption) leave to go into work (for up to 10 days) to undertake training and keep in touch without ceasing maternity leave.
All Schools 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total
Did not return
RE6 1
1 2
RT8 1 1
Still on leave
RE6
2 2 4
RE7
1 1 2
RT7 4 4
RT8
1 1 2
Returned
RE5
2
2
RE6 6 7 1 4 18
RE7 1 1 1 1 4
RT6 3 1
1 5
RT7 2 7
3 3 15
RT8 1
1 5 7
RT8 Reader
2
1 3
Grand Total 14 22 7 15 13 71
Table 15a: Maternity leave data, all schools
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STEMM Schools 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total
Did not return
RE6 1 1
RT8 1 1
Still on leave
RE6
1 1 2
RE7
1 1
RT7 3 3
RT8
1 1 2
Returned
RE5
1
1
RE6 5 6
4 15
RE7 1 1
1 3
RT6 2
2
RT7 2 3
2 1 8
RT8
1 2 3
RT8 Reader
2
1 3
Grand Total 10 13 4 9 8 44
Table 15b: Maternity leave data, STEMM Schools
In addition, some line managers of research staff were unclear about how to manage project funds when research staff take maternity leave: “One of the pressures for me [from my line manager] was who’s going to take over,” and “I felt like the worry was being put onto me”. Consequently, guidance from HR will now be improved for these line managers (Action 6.2), particularly with regard to the University’s maternity relief fund. There was general consensus that maternity returners need reasonable adjustments such as a suitable space to breastfeed / express milk (Action 6.3). Returners had the following concerns: “Coming back to work if still breastfeeding isn’t great.", “it would be nice to have a facility available [to breastfeed]”. In terms of flexible working arrangements, most participants reported that their requests had been received favourably. However, one participant was told by her line manager that it would not be possible. Of those who reduced hours, some had to remind colleagues constantly that their hours had reduced. Furthermore, many felt that they needed to prove themselves again once back at work, resulting in working outside contracted hours: “I’ve been at the University for five years .... it was like the previous four years did not count at all”.
7 (i) (c) Childcare General guidance on childcare provision is available to all staff through the HR website including details of the childcare voucher scheme that consultation participants found particularly beneficial: “[childcare vouchers are] good when you’ve got a regular outgoing for nursery fees and you can also use them for after school clubs. Everyone should use them” and “[childcare vouchers] work really well. [I] would recommend to others”. Our provision includes a registered day nursery on campus for pre-school children from the age of three
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months, with £40k/year of subsidy for employees. Additionally, the University subsidises school holiday play-schemes, spending £1,795 in 2013. [4734 words excluding figures, tables and headings]
8 Any other comments – maximum 500 words In 2012, Capita conducted the University’s second Staff Survey. A variety of reports were prepared including the E&D report which showed that female staff at the University had not reported any perceptions that were “significantly worse” than the overall University score. In contrast, male staff responded to 12 questions with scores that were “significantly worse” than the overall university score. Female staff did report a number of perceptions that were “significantly better” than the overall University score particularly in the areas of work-life balance, job satisfaction, culture and values (of the institution) and their role. The survey also revealed that only 43% Research staff and 63% Research and Teaching Staff had had their PDR in the last 12 months (Action 4.1).
In 2013, we introduced annual gender data monitoring for all Schools following the agreement of a standard monitoring dataset (Action 2.4). Significant efforts have been made to identify the right data, efficient means of collection and analysis, and appropriate benchmarking (Action 2.5). Athena processes and benchmarking data have played an important part in this development. The data are delivered to School SMTs to inform thinking on a range of matters related to staff and students, for example:
Pipeline for academic and research staff recruitment from applications and acceptances at UG, PGT and PGR levels through to research staff and early carer academic appointments
Full breakdown of Male and female staff on each academic and research grade
Application, shortlisting and appointment data for academic and research staff
Submission in RAE / REF
Degree classification by gender
Graduate recruitment by gender For context, Schools receive corresponding institutional data, Furthermore, where sample sizes might be too small to analyse meaningfully or confidentially at school level, the Schools receive institutional gender data such as:
Interview panel membership
Academic and research staff on fixed term contracts
Non-professorial and professorial reward review
Internal promotions and external appointments to professor
Professorial salaries
Leavers from academic and research grades
Maternity leave data,
Gender balance in senior positions and on key committees The SAT has now decided that these reports will be delivered to Schools annually in May to synchronise with a variety of other data requirements. Though we delivered the first sets of data only in December 2013, we will repeat the task in May 2014 and then roll the process out to all Schools in May 2015, before considering further roll out across the Professional Services with a possible further development to look at additional equality characteristics. [411 words]
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9 Action plan: As advised, the 2009-2012 Action Plan Progress Report is included
with this submission. The 2009-2012 Action Plan remains unedited apart from addition of a right hand column showing references to the new Action Plan and the removal of pointers to the 2012 submission to avoid confusion. Progress since our 2012 submission is documented in the new Action Plan which also shows our future intentions.
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Glossary of terms:
AACME Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
AHRC Arts and Humanities Research Council
ALT Academic Leadership Team
BME Black and Minority Ethnic
CBE Civil and Building Engineering
CDT Centre for Doctoral Training
CEC Careers & Employability Centre
CROS Careers in Research Online Survey
E&D Equality & Diversity
ECR Early Career Researchers
EESE Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering
EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
FM Facilities Management
HEA Higher Education Academy
ILM Institute of Leadership & Management
JNCC Joint Negotiating and Consultation Committee
LDS Loughborough Design School
LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
LU Loughborough University
LURSA Loughborough University’s Research Staff Association
MME Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
PDR Performance Development Review
PGR Postgraduate Research
PGT Postgraduate Teaching
PRO Public Relations Office
PRP Personal Research Planning
PVC(T)/(R)/(E) Pro Vice Chancellor (Teaching)/(Research)/(Enterprise)
RAE Research Assessment Exercise
RDF Researcher Development Framework
RE Research
REF Research Excellence Framework
RT Research & Teaching
SAT Self-Assessment Team
SBE School of Business and Economics
SET Science, Engineering and Technology
SL Senior Lecturer
SMT Senior Management Team
SSEHS School of Sports, Exercise and Health Sciences
Loughborough University: Bronze Athena SWAN renewal action plan up to 2017
1
Ref. Description of action
Action taken already and status at April 2014
Further action planned at April 2014 Responsibility Start
date End date Success Measure
1 SAT Membership
1.1
Manage SAT membership and support team
SAT membership has grown as Schools come on board. Membership has worked well for Bronze institutional renewal and first Silver departmental submissions.
SAT membership is dynamic and will respond to changing requirements.
SAT Chair Jan 2012 Ongoing SAT membership agreed
Project Officer and Project Assistant in post
Extend contract for continued Athena SWAN support. SAT Chair Dec
2013 June 2014 Continued support for submissions and action plans.
2 Consultation, Data and Development of Supporting Evidence
2.1
Ongoing awareness raising and engagement with the wider University
Athena SWAN webpages launched (Dec 2013) Creation of closed LU Athena Facebook page and LinkedIn group (March 2014) Athena logo on LU homepage Regular communication through ‘news@lboro’, E-notice board Events page and homepage
Maintain Athena website
Athena SWAN Project Officer
Dec 2013 Ongoing
Increased awareness of Athena SWAN and increased participation at events
Create electronic Athena presentation looping on campus plasma screens
May 2014 June 2014
Continue to publish articles via LU’s media channels of key achievements/activities
Jan 2012 Ongoing
2.2
Consult on institutional submission and activities generally
Presentations delivered to e.g. ALT (May 2012, June & July 2013); HRC (Jun 2013, Feb 2014); School SMTs (June 2012, Jan & Feb 2013, Jan 2014) for cascade to staff meetings. Submissions available on webpages for feedback
Fix final schedule for all E&D reporting to include Athena consultations
E&D Advisor
May 2014 June 2014
Better submissions, effective action plan implementation
Ongoing consultations n/a In line with submissions
Loughborough University: Bronze Athena SWAN renewal action plan up to 2017
2
Ref. Description of action
Action taken already and status at April 2014
Further action planned at April 2014 Responsibility Start
date End date Success Measure
2.3 Debrief outcomes of submissions to ALT
Presentation delivered by SSEHS in July 2013
Champions to present to ALT as each decision becomes known
School/Dept. champions n/a
Within 3 months of each decision
Presentations delivered. SAT logs lessons
2.4
Distribute agreed staff and student gender dataset to Schools
Dataset agreed, pilot complete with STEMM Schools (Dec 2013) and refinements agreed
Data to be distributed to School SMTs in May each year Athena SWAN
Project Officer / School SMTs
May 2014
May each year
Gender issues feature in School Annual Plans
Roll out to all Schools May 2015
Data distributed to all schools
2.5 Develop benchmarks to complement data in 2.4
Initial benchmarks developed and provided within pilot in 2.4. Necessary refinements identified.
Refine benchmarks Planning Office Dec 2013 May 2015
Context from valid benchmarks enhances School decision making
2.6
Acquire external opinion
Welcomed external Athena Champion to LU at ‘Going for Silver’ event (June 2012) SAT members attend Athena judging panels and join external groups
Continue to attend at Athena judging panels and external events. Ensure representation from Institutional SAT at all regional/national Athena SWAN meeting and events.
Institutional SAT members inc. School/Dept. champions
2009 Ongoing Well informed SAT
2.7
Further analysis
Comprehensive analysis of reward complete. Equal pay review of professorial salary analysed for the first time
Refine professorial equal pay review and establish as permanent monitoring
HR Advisor
May 2014 May 2015
Enhanced reports delivered to HR Committee and issues addressed
Extend equal pay review to other grades
May 2015 May 2016
Continue to conduct annual reward review & promotion reports
2013 Annually
Maternity returner experience analysed.
Repeat maternity returner survey (c. 2 year cycle)
Athena SWAN Project Officer Jan 2016 April 2016 Issues raised 2014 are
addressed
Loughborough University: Bronze Athena SWAN renewal action plan up to 2017
3
Ref. Description of action
Action taken already and status at April 2014
Further action planned at April 2014 Responsibility Start
date End date Success Measure
3 Key Career Transition Points, Appointments and Promotions
3.1 Focus on transition point between research grades and early career academic positions.
Data show gap is not narrowing.
Work with LURSA to understand issues HR Advisor Sept
2014 March 2015 Narrow gap across transition point between research grades and early career academic positions
Introduction of the Assistant Lecturer position.
Review effectiveness of new position. HR Advisor Sept
2015 Dec 2015
3.2 Monitor number of staff on fixed-term contracts
Spike in use of fixed term contracts seen in 2013 Reviews
April 2014 / April 2015
May 2014 / May 2015
Reduce fixed–term contract use
3.3
Promote fair recruitment practices
Mandatory Recruitment and Selection training Single gender recruitment panels ended. Athena logo on all STEMM job adverts.
System set up to formally record gender of those interview panels.
HR Advisor
June 2014 Dec 2014 Enhanced reports
delivered HR Committee and issues addressed Annual monitoring of gender on
academic interview panels. May 2015 Annually
3.4 Ensure managers are proactive in identifying staff for performance reward and promotion
First complete analysis of reward and promotion processes by gender Professorial Salary Review changed in 2013 to consider all staff not just those making a submission
Examine reasons why non-professorial female staff are less successful in securing salary enhancement through reward review.
School SMTs led by Deans
June 2014 Dec 2015 Equality in success
rates
4 Career Advice and Support
4.1
Increase use of PDR
Annual review is compulsory but staff survey 2012 revealed that only 43% Research staff and 63% Research and Teaching Staff had had reviews in the last 12 months.
Performance management is under full review and this will be absorbed into review
Relevant HR workstream (PVC led with academic staff)
March 2014 March 2015 Significant increase for
both job families.
Loughborough University: Bronze Athena SWAN renewal action plan up to 2017
4
Ref. Description of action
Action taken already and status at April 2014
Further action planned at April 2014 Responsibility Start
date End date Success Measure
4.2
Promote and review career development workshops and events
Graduate School webpages launched (April 2013) Consultation with HRC, LURSA, CEC, Staff Development and Graduate School (Nov 2013) Concordat working group established (Nov 2013)
Improved monitoring of workshops and events. Including gender variable in future CROS.
Graduate School Nov 2012 On-going
High demand for events Outstanding feedback from events and CROS
4.3 Promote researcher mentoring scheme
Scheme is now in its 5th year and feedback confirms effectiveness.
Major review Graduate School. Jan 2015 Dec 2015
Effectiveness of enhancements confirmed through feedback
5 Culture and Communications
5.1
Develop Athena events programme
Events held on ad-hoc basis for several years. Organised first annual prestige lecture (Jan 2014)
Continued organisation of annual prestige lecture SAT Chair Jan 2014 Annually
Better internal awareness of Athena SWAN, enhanced external reputation.
Each School contributes events to programme, typically one every 2 years
School / dept champions
April 2014 Ongoing
5.2
Promote Equality and Diversity training
Extensive programme of well-attended E&D courses
Maintain programme and update where necessary e.g. Respecting Diversity Course (May 2014)
E&D advisor
May 2014
Ongoing Excellent feedback Pilot of Unconscious Bias Training for all SAT members (April 2014).
Launch of Unconscious Bias Training for all staff (Oct 2014) Oct 2014
5.3 Encourage female candidates for key committee vacancies
Since 2011, Academic Registrar and E&D Advisor have strengthened E&D statements on calls.
Deans to be proactive in identifying female candidates for all key committee elections
Deans 2011 Ongoing Current healthy ratios maintained on key committees
Loughborough University: Bronze Athena SWAN renewal action plan up to 2017
5
Ref. Description of action
Action taken already and status at April 2014
Further action planned at April 2014 Responsibility Start
To be taken forward by HR workstream associated with new strategy
Relevant HR workstream (PVC-led with academic staff)
March 2014 March 2015 Next steps identified
6 Career breaks / flexible working
6.1 Examine effectiveness of informal flexible working arrangements
Light touch confirmation of effectiveness obtained Part-Time Staff Support Group set up to discuss work-life balance and other matters
Conduct more in-depth analysis through each departmental award submission Support Group to meet with HR
School champions April 2014
With each submission
Issues raised and resolved
6.2 Better guidance to line managers on parental leave
HR policies available but maternity returner feedback suggests awareness too low.
Enhance guidance and disseminate
E&D advisor cascaded through School champions
June 2014 Dec 2014
Better awareness evidenced in repeat analysis (see 2.7)
6.3 Workplace adjustments maternity returners
Conducted study of maternity returner experiences
Enhance access to suitable places to breastfeed / express milk / store milk on campus
School champions and Operations Managers
Jan 2015 Jan 2016 Higher satisfaction in repeat analysis (2.7)
7 Athena SWAN Award Activity
7.1
Support Schools and Departments applying for Athena SWAN Awards
Agreed submission schedule in place
Maths (Silver)
School champions supported by SAT 2013/14
Nov 2014
Successful submissions
CBE (Silver) April 2015
EESE (Bronze / Silver) April 2015
AACME (Silver) Nov 2015
Physics (JUNO) Nov 2015
MME (Silver) Nov 2015
7.2 Support Schools implementing action plans following awards
SSEHS Silver Award 2013
Implement / monitor action plans School champions supported by SAT 2014
April 2016 Successful renewals / gold awards LDS applied April 2014 April 2017
Loughborough University: Bronze 2009 Action Plan with progress report (as at Nov 2012)
1
To address gender inequalities requires commitment and action from everyone, at all levels of the organisation
Action Responsibility Date expected Progress (as at Nov. 2012) Ref to 2012-2017 Action Plan
Review of HR Implementation Plan to incorporate specific Women in SET issues.
Director of HR Summer 2009 Completed. Athena commitment explicit in Plan.
n/a
Concordat Working Group and the Staff Survey ‘Research Assistance’ Working Group will formally re-assess their action points from the perspective of the Athena SWAN principles generally and with particular focus on career development for female SET researchers.
PVC (Research) as Chair of the Groups
Autumn 2009 Completed. The plan for implementation of the Concordat was published in 2010, and we received the HR Excellence in Research badge.
n/a
Monitoring necessary for on-going renewal of the Bronze Award will be added into existing gender equality monitoring and reporting undertaken by the Equality and Diversity sub-committee of the Human Resources Committee and reported to the University Council. A paper outlining requirements will be submitted to the next meeting of the Equality and Diversity sub-committee.
Dean of Engineering (paper) and Chair of Equality and Diversity sub-committee (on-going monitoring)
October 2009 (next meeting of the sub-committee) for paper. Annually for on-going monitoring.
Completed. Report to committee dated Sept 2009.
n/a
Refresh the E & D training provision, including induction, ensuring that diversity issues are ‘main-streamed’ in all decision making.
Director of HR 9/09 Completed. n/a
Formation of the Women in SET committee building on the success of the Women in Science Committee.
Dean of Science (as Chair of the Committee)
6/09 (next meeting of the committee)
Not progressed. Issues now taken forward by Athena SWAN Working Group along with School Athena SWAN champions
Action 1.1
Loughborough University: Bronze 2009 Action Plan with progress report (as at Nov 2012)
2
To tackle the unequal representation of women in science requires changing cultures and attitudes across the organisation
Action Responsibility Date expected Progress (as at Nov. 2012) Ref to 2012-2017 Action Plan
Greater representation of female SET academics and researchers within University publications and, where possible, in the external media through more systematic efforts to publicise their work and achievements.
Faculty marketing officers
Summer 2010 Efforts on-going. Actions 2.1 & 5.1
Paper to Equality and Diversity sub-committee asking for consideration of participation rates in reward review by gender and for analysis of patterns of internal promotion to Professor (including average time spent at RT8 before promotion), based on findings emerging from this self-assessment.
Dean of Engineering October 2009 (next meeting of the sub-committee)
Completed Sept 09. n/a
Women in SET Committee to review gender equality data from Equality and Diversity sub-committee on an annual basis and to request specific further analysis where required.
Dean of Science (as Chair of the Committee)
June 2010 and annually thereafter
Not progressed. Data now routed through more formal channels.
Action 2.4
The absence of diversity at management and policy-making levels has broad implications which the organisation will examine
Action Responsibility Date expected Progress (as at Nov. 2012) Ref to 2012-2017 Action Plan
Encourage female staff to be nominated for Senate, from Faculties of Science and Engineering in particular.
Deans and Heads of SET departments
At each invitation to nominate
Completed. Led by Chair of Athena SWAN Working Group.
n/a
Loughborough University: Bronze 2009 Action Plan with progress report (as at Nov 2012)
3
The high loss rate of women in science is an urgent concern which the organisation will address
Action Responsibility Date expected Progress (as at Nov. 2012) Ref to 2012-2017 Action Plan
Support female researchers in submitting proposals to the Research Staff Development Open Competition
Research Staff Career Development Officer
7/09 and annually thereafter
Completed 6/16 projects awarded to female SET researchers before cut in Roberts funding.
n/a
Encourage externally-funded Fellowship applications and provide support and mentoring through the process. Be proactive in identifying female candidates.
Heads of SET departments (encourage applications), PVC(R) (review application rates)
December each year for review
Embedded in Research Office practice. Scope remains to be more proactive in identifying female candidates
n/a - completed 2013/2014
Heads training to include dealing with maternity (and other) returners.
Director of HR Autumn 2009 onwards Completed. n/a
The system of short-term contracts has particularly negative consequences for the retention and progression of women in science, which the organisation recognises
Action Responsibility Date expected Progress (as at Nov. 2012) Ref to 2012-2017 Action Plan
Discussion with UCU trade union. Director of HR On-going Since 2009, the University’s use of fixed term contracts has reduced by 10%.
Action 3.2
Loughborough University: Bronze 2009 Action Plan with progress report (as at Nov 2012)
4
There are both personal and structural obstacles to women making the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career in science, which require the active consideration of the organisation
Action Responsibility Date expected Progress (as at Nov. 2012) Ref to 2012-2017 Action Plan
Pilot a Career Mentoring Programme for research staff including a Women in SET group
Research Staff Career Development Adviser
Spring 2010 Ongoing. This programme has run for 3 years now (2010/11/12).
Action 4.2
Provide induction, probation, and appraisal for all RAs.
Director of HR Beginning summer 2009
The Engineering Schools, where most research staff are employed, introduced a new and consistent induction process in 2009.
Actions 3.4 & 4.1
Mentoring scheme for maternity returners. Women in SET committee Available from autumn 2009
No take-up to the Mentoring Scheme but ‘Keeping in Touch’ days now in regular use.
