ECU’s Athena SWAN CharterAwards Ceremony April 2017University of Glasgow 4 December 2017

Equality Challenge Unit’s (ECU’s) Athena SWAN Charter was

established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment

to advancing the careers of women in science, technology,

engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).

In May 2015 the Charter was expanded to recognise work

undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and

law (AHSSBL), in professional and support roles, and for trans

staff and students. The Charter now recognises work

undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and

not just barriers to progression that affect women.

We are delighted to celebrate the 85 successful awards today.

It is the culmination of many months’ work for institutions

and departments, and for ECU as well. We held 42 assessment

panels in total, and would like to thank the 217 panellists

from across the sector for taking part.

Two research institutes, 11 higher education institutions

(HEIs) and 40 departments have gained Athena SWAN awards

this round, which was the first round where institutions and

departments in UK HEIs have had to apply under the

expanded criteria.

We would to thank the University of Glasgow for hosting this

awards ceremony.

Dr Ruth GilliganAthena SWAN Manager

Equality Challenge Unit

Introduction

59.4%overall success rate

85award winners

59bronze awards

22silver awards

4gold awards

Registration, refreshments, networking and photos

Open, Dr Ruth GilliganAthena Swan Manager, Equality Challenge Unit

Welcome, Professor Anne AndersonUniversity of Glasgow

David RuebainChief Executive, Equality Challenge Unit

Professor Helen BeebeeAthena SWAN Patron

Institutional award presentations

Professor Diane Kelly and Professor Joy MerrellSwansea University

Departmental award presentations

Professor Teresa McCormackSchool of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast

Professor Helen SangThe Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh

Dr Caroline DartInstitute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool

Lunch

Dr Carole Thomas John Innes Centre

Ashlee ChristoffersenResearcher, Equality Challenge Unit

Close, Dr Ruth Gilligan Athena SWAN Manager, Equality Challenge Unit

Depart

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11.50

12.15

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Programme

Speakers

Professor Anderson, MA, Ph.D., FRSE, OBE is Vice-principal at

the University of Glasgow and leads the college of social

sciences. She is gender champion for the University of

Glasgow and has been active in a number of university and

national initiatives around gender equality, including

membership of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) gender

governance group tasked with overseeing the SFC gender

action plan. She serves on the Scottish government advisory

group on women and work, is a Commonwealth Scholarship

Commissioner (CSC), having recently been elected as deputy

chair by her fellow commissioners for the CSC, a member of

the SFC research and knowledge exchange committee, a

board member of Visit Scotland and an advisor to the

Robertson Trust and the British Council (Scotland).

Professor Anne Anderson University of Glasgow

Speakers 7

Helen Beebee is Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Manchester. She was Director of the British

Philosophical Association (BPA) from 2007 to 2011, during

which time she established the BPA and Society for Women

in Philosophy UK’s joint Committee for Women in Philosophy,

which she co-chairs with Jenny Saul.

Diane’s research is on Microbial Cytochromes P450 related to

their biodiversity, as targets for antifungal agents in both

medicine and agriculture and the associated rise in fungal

resistance to current therapies. She is a member of the

BBSRC pool of experts, a Natural Products (NPRONET, NIBB)

board member and is an elected fellow to the Learned

Society of Wales.

Diane chaired the Swansea University Athena SWAN self-

assessment team for their successful Bronze award renewal in

2012, continuing as a member as Swansea University worked

towards their successful Silver award in 2017. Diane chairs the

medical school’s self-assessment team, gaining Bronze in

2014 and Silver in 2016. She is a founding member of the

university Athena SWAN strategy group, as well as chairing

and sitting on UK Athena SWAN assessment panels at

Equality Challenge Unit.

Professor Helen BeebeeAthena SWAN Patron

Professor Diane KellySwansea University

8 Speakers 9

Teresa McCormack is professor of cognitive development at the

school of psychology at Queen’s University Belfast. She has been

involved with Athena SWAN for many years, having led the

school’s successful Silver application in 2010, and its first

successful Gold application in 2013. She has previously been

acting director of the Queen’s gender initiative, and in that

capacity was instrumental in helping Queen’s secure the renewal

of its Silver institutional award. She is co-founder of ASPON, a

national network for psychology departments that are engaging

with the Athena SWAN initiative, and has given presentations on

her experience with Athena SWAN in a number of institutions.

Professor Teresa McCormackSchool of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast

After a successful clinical career as a nurse and health visitor,

Joy moved into higher education in 1989. Joy has a long

standing interest in women’s health issues dating back to her

PhD work in community well woman clinics, which has

broadened to encompass research focusing on the health of

minority ethnic groups and promoting active ageing. Joy is

the European co-ordinator of Sigma Theta Tau International

Honour Society of Nursing.

Joy chairs the college of human and health sciences’ Athena

SWAN self-assessment team, achieving Bronze (2013), Bronze

renewal (2015) and Silver awards (2017). Since 2015, she also

chairs the Swansea University self-assessment team, which

achieved an institutional Silver award in 2017. She serves as a

member of the university equal opportunities committee,

university council and sits on Athena SWAN assessment

panels at Equality Challenge Unit.

Professor Joy Merrell Swansea University

10 Speakers 11

Helen Sang received a degree in natural sciences and a PhD

in genetics from Cambridge University. She continued

developing a research career at Harvard and Edinburgh

universities and was then appointed principal investigator at

The Roslin Institute, now part of the University of Edinburgh.

Her main research focus at The Roslin Institute has been the

development of technologies for genetic modification of

chicken, which are applied in basic biomedical research and

biotechnology, as well as investigating the potential for

developing disease resistance in production chickens. She is

a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Society

of Edinburgh.

Professor Helen SangThe Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh

12

Caroline Dart is currently a reader and deputy head of

biochemistry at the University of Liverpool. She’s a cardiovascular

physiologist who completed her doctorate at the University of

Oxford before moving to the University of Leicester as a

postdoctoral researcher. While at Leicester she was awarded a

Royal Society university research fellowship, which allowed her to

establish her own research group. She moved to Liverpool in

2006 and took on the role of Athena SWAN lead for the Institute

of Integrative Biology in late 2012. She led the Institute to a Silver

award in 2013 and Gold in 2017.

Dr Caroline DartInstitute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool

13Speakers 13

After graduating from Manchester University Carole joined

the John Innes Centre (JIC) in 1982 to undertake a PhD

studying plant virus interactions. Since then she has

experienced life at JIC in a variety of roles including

postdoctoral scientist, research assistant and, currently, head

of JIC directorate. In addition to providing strategic support

to the JIC director, Carole leads on the ‘inclusivity and

diversity’ agenda at JIC and led both the 2014 Silver and the

2017 Gold Athena SWAN submissions. In addition, she is the

JIC senior equality and diversity champion and a trustee for

the Daphne Jackson Trust.

Dr Carole Thomas John Innes Centre

14

Ashlee has been a Researcher at Equality Challenge Unit (ECU)

since March 2014, and has led on a range of projects including

mining good practice examples from Athena SWAN submissions,

producing the research and data briefing ‘Intersectional

approaches to equality research and data’, and collecting case

studies on equality and diversity work from intersectional

perspectives.

Ashlee is currently undertaking PhD research on the

conceptualisation and operationalisation of intersectionality, at

the University of Edinburgh, and is a Research Fellow of the

Centre for Intersectional Justice in Berlin. Previously she was

Research Associate at the Institute for Intersectionality Research

and Policy in Vancouver, Canada.

Ashlee ChristoffersenResearcher, Equality Challenge Unit

Speakers 15

AwardsUniversities and Research Institutes

University of Oxford

= Joined: 2005

Good practice: The introduction of compulsory sexual consent workshops for first year undergraduates.

University of the West of England, Bristol

= Joined: 2012

Good practice: All jobs are advertised and open to job share by default.

Ulster University

= Joined: 2012

Good practice: £100k central fund that has been allocated to support Athena SWAN activities including the returning carers scheme.

University of Bath

= Joined: 2007

Good practice: Undergraduate scholarships targeted at women.

University of Bristol

= Joined: 2005

Good practice: Inclusion of a requirement for ‘active engagement with equality-related activities, such as Athena SWAN’ in all head of school job descriptions.

University of Dundee

= Joined: 2012

Good practice: The promotion of visible female role models including displaying photographs of all of the institution’s female professors.

University of East London

= Joined: 2010

Good practice: Establishment of an institution-wide women’s network.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

= Joined: 2013

Good practice: Career track scheme established to create a pathway to move fixed-term staff to permanent contracts.

Royal Holloway, University of London

= Joined: 2009

Good practice: The college operates an internal coaching and mentoring network with 19 internal accredited coaches, made up of both academic and professional and support staff.

Royal Veterinary College, University of London

= Joined: 2011

Good practice: A working group has been established to develop an academic workload model which will consider the full range of responsibilities for individuals, including part-time staff, from their individual career plan so that it can be linked to promotion.

The Pirbright Institute

= Joined: 2014

Good practice: Trans employees may select Mx as a title and choose between male/female/other for gender identification.

Gold Award

John Innes Centre

= Joined: 2014

Good practice: Successful lobbying of the Norwich Research Park and local land developers to build childcare facilities.

Silver Award

Swansea University

= Joined: 2007

Good practice: New campus recruitment project used as an opportunity to challenge gender segregation in the estates team.

Bronze Awards

Brunel University London

= Joined: 2005

Good practice: Paid shared parental leave beyond the statutory rate.

Kingston University

= Joined: 2012

Good practice: University nursery meets demand for places, and plans include running free, biweekly two hour stay and play sessions, a summer play scheme and the introduction of a crèche service.

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HA R T E R

Awards | Universities and Research Institutes 19

AwardsDepartments

Gold Awards

Queen’s University BelfastSchool of Psychology

Good practice: Internationalisation scheme, which was established in response to the finding that female PhD students were less likely than male students to be willing to move outside of Northern Ireland to progress their careers.

University of EdinburghThe Roslin Institute

Good practice: Coaching for success programme, developed in partnership and with good practice subsequently shared outside the institute.

University of LiverpoolInstitute of Integrative Biology

Good practice: The staff review and development group, to which staff are encouraged to informally submit their CV for advice on areas to improve.

Silver Awards

Durham UniversityDepartment of Physics

Good practice: Changes to undergraduate assessment methods to help support a wider variety of learning styles.

Imperial College LondonInstitute of Clinical Sciences and MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences

Good practice: The institute successfully lobbied for the Medical Research Council to amend their policy regarding qualifying periods for maternity and paternity leave entitlement.

Imperial College LondonMaterials

Good practice: The department noticed bias towards female staff in student online learning evaluations, which has been included in assessment of promotions. The department will now prioritise peer review and provide students with unconscious bias training.

Queen’s University BelfastSchool of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Good practice: Six month relief of teaching/admin duties on return from maternity and paternity leave, which is being expanded to sick leave.

HA R T E R

HA R T E R

HA R T E R

Awards | Departments 21

University of ManchesterSchool of Materials

Good practice: Research summer placement for talented students, which aims to encourage more women students into postdocs.

University of NottinghamSchool of Life Sciences

Good practice: A bridging-fund has ensured contract extensions for fixed-term staff post maternity leave.

University of NottinghamSchool of Physics and Astronomy

Good practice: Academic integrity document supplied to students to remind them of the school’s policy of zero-tolerance to behaviour that will make anyone feel marginalized, threatened or excluded.

University of OxfordNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

Good practice: Guidelines on part-time working, including expectations for rates of progression.

University of ReadingSchool of Mathematical, Physical, and Computational Sciences

Good practice: Esteem panel established that will oversee research awards, prizes and fellowships and promote applications and nominations.

University of SheffieldSchool of Health and Related Research (ScHARR)

Good practice: Pamela Enderby Prize for the best part-time student in the school.

University of SouthamptonBiological Sciences

Good practice: Development of a technical strategy document aimed at providing a clear plan for career progression for technical support staff.

University of SurreySchool of Bioscience and Medicine

Good practice: Providing training to staff to increase awareness that unconscious bias leads to the use of differential language in recommendation letters for students of different genders.

Bronze Awards

Durham UniversityArchaeology

Good practice: Buy-in of teaching cover to support staff during intense grant-writing periods.

Imperial College LondonDepartment of Computing

Good practice: Undertaking systematic reviews to identify potential job candidates, and making direct contact.

University College LondonDepartment of Chemical Engineering

Good practice: Comprehensive interview process to give candidates a feel for the department and paid visits for offer holders’ families to introduce them to London.

University of BathDepartment of Pharmacy and Pharmacology

Good practice: Introduction of annual grant action plans for all academic staff and grant pitch meetings allowing peer feedback as part of preparation process to peers offering constructive feedback, ahead of preparing submissions.

University of East AngliaSchool of Environmental Sciences

Good practice: Bridging fund for those with short-term interruption between contracts.

University of EdinburghSchool of Health in Social Science

Good practice: Demonstrated impact in access pathways for students including increased applications and acceptances through LEAPS and Scottish wider access programme and reaching people globally through the MOOC on child development and mental health.

University of EssexSchool of Health and Social Care

Good practice: Introduced Schwartz Rounds, which provide a forum for staff to discuss the social and emotional aspects of their work and help staff feel more supported and less stressed.

University of GlasgowInstitute of Health and Wellbeing

Good practice: Mentoring scheme pairing doctorate students and early career researchers.

University of GlasgowSchool of Geographical and Earth Sciences

Good practice: School-specific maternity and adoption leave guidance which provides an introduction to local arrangements.

University of LeedsSchool of Dentistry

Good practice: Robust support for staff leave including buying-in teaching support to increase research time following maternity leave.

University of LiverpoolInstitute of Ageing and Chronic Disease

Good practice: Maternity leave champions to offer support, particularly where a line manager has no direct experience of maternity leave.

22 Awards |Departments 23

University College LondonEar Institute

Good practice: Conference fund for teaching staff and professional service staff with caring responsibilities.

University of AberdeenInstitute for Education in Medical and Dental Sciences

Good practice: Mentor-mentee matches are made for a 12 month period through an online matching programme.

University of AberdeenSchool of Biological Sciences

Good practice: Plans to develop a ‘safe zone’ policy where students can approach designated members of staff for any reason in confidence.

University of AberdeenSchool of Education

Good practice: Funding women to undertake PhDs to support Research Excellence Framework (REF) submissions.

University of AberdeenSchool of Social Science

Good practice: One open seat at each Athena SWAN self-assessment team meeting.

University of BirminghamPsychology

Good practice: Support for staff taking maternity leave, including championing a change in university policy regarding the eligibility of staff on fixed-term contracts for maternity pay, and reducing the teaching and administrative duties of staff returning from leave.

University of BristolBristol Dental School

Good practice: In addition to understanding the need to promote gender equality, the school has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting ethnic diversity, including conducting qualitative research with black and minority ethnic (BME) students.

University of BristolSchool of Experimental Psychology

Good practice: Flexible working training for line managers, to ensure that flexible working options are considered for all posts.

Keele UniversitySchool of Law

Good practice: Work of head of school to recognise gendered issues in workload allocation. In future a systematic analysis of workload according to gender will take place at the time of annual appraisals and appropriate adjustments will be made by the head of school.

Keele UniversitySchool of Pharmacy

Good practice: Returners are provided with research backfill time to ensure that they remain active researchers, this includes, where necessary, employing temporary staff to cover teaching commitments.

Lancaster UniversitySchool of Computing and Communications

Good practice: Gender balance in seminar speakers for the distinguished seminar series.

Loughborough UniversityDesign School

Good practice: Support offered for those with caring responsibilities to allow staff to attend open days.

Newcastle UniversitySchool of Geography, Politics and Sociology

Good practice: Specific attention to giving staff a say in how estates and facilities are developed.

Queen Mary University of LondonSchool of Geography

Good practice: Support for staff teaching on fieldtrips, including accommodating staff on fieldtrips closer to home or contributing to childcare costs.

Ulster UniversitySchool of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Good practice: The school plans to introduce both a school ‘champion’ for paternity and parental leave (to promote the formal support arrangements available, and to act as a point of contact for those with queries) and for flexible working (to make sure there is ‘an ethos of proactive rather than reactive advice on flexible working opportunities and processes’).

Ulster UniversitySchool of Sport

Good practice: A women in sport pre-placement preparation event will be held each year. During placements, call-back days will include a female-only review of work experiences to facilitate female students’ awareness of, and preparedness for, gendered dynamics in the workplace.

24 Awards |Departments 25

University of ExeterBiosciences (Streatham Campus)

Good practice: All job advertisements are screened using gender decoder software.

University of GlasgowSchool of Humanities / Sgoil nan Daonnachdan

Good practice: Work-life balance working group.

University of GlasgowSchool of Interdisciplinary Studies

Good practice: A LinkedIn session and free photoshoot to enable students to have professional headshots taken.

University of HertfordshireSchool of Humanities

Good practice: The opportunity for undergraduate students interested in pursuing an academic career to job shadow academics.

University of LeedsFaculty of Biological Sciences

Good practice: Support for technicians to undertake PhD and MSc degrees in the faculty whilst carrying out their technical role.

University of LiverpoolSchool of Engineering

Good practice: Appointments are advertised with the possibility of flexible working included.

University of ManchesterSchool of Computer Science

Good practice: Computing at school girls’ events with female undergraduates acting as visible role models.

University of OxfordDepartment of Engineering Science

Good practice: Commitment to providing longer contracts, including the introduction of five 5-year grade 8 positions.

University of OxfordSchool of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography

Good practice: Grants to carers to support them to undertake fieldwork.

University of PortsmouthSchool of Architecture*

Good practice: Introduced an action to conduct a review of the curriculum to ensure gender inclusivity in structure and content.

*Pre-May 2015 award

University of CambridgeDepartment of Pharmacology

Good practice: Good female postgraduate engagement including termly meeting between head of department and postgraduate/postdoc community, thereby providing opportunities to hear about developments within the department, and to raise concerns or questions directly with head of department (in the context of PDRA staff survey results about low perceptions of fairness of development/progression practices).

University of CambridgeFaculty of Mathematics

Good practice: Corfield Lectureship established to develop the role of women in mathematics.

University of CambridgeInstitute of Astronomy

Good practice: Formation of the astro-postdoc committee (three members of which are self-assessment team members), which organises support events, such as how to manage stress.

University of CambridgePhysiology, Development and Neuroscience

Good practice: Seminars that take place outside core hours are recorded for those who cannot attend.

University of East AngliaSchool of Economics

Good practice: The department offers a £5,000 training budget per person that can be used as part of the keeping-in-touch process or on return to work, as part of a process of supporting return to work.

University of EdinburghEdinburgh Law School

Good practice: Overall support for promotion, including providing a buddy to work through the application process with.

University of EdinburghSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Good practice: Establishing a gender climate committee which recommends implementations of the British Philosophical Association guidelines on gender bias and informs the school action plan.

University of EdinburghSchool of Social and Political Science

Good practice: Self-assessment team chair presented a policy paper to the university people committee arguing for leadership role-sharing.

26 Awards |Departments 27

University of SheffieldDepartment of Biomedical Science

Good practice: Engagement in the faculty of science ‘think ahead’ programme, which has supported the progression of individuals within the department.

University of SouthamptonGeography and Environment

Good practice: The department utilised conversation cafes to have honest and constructive conversations with staff about their experiences and challenges. These cafes informed the development of key SMART actions.

University of St AndrewsSchool of Computer Science

Good practice: Introduction of a school-wide mentoring programme available to all staff, in consultation with the institutional centre for academic, professional and organisational development.

University of St AndrewsSchool of Management

Good practice: Leadership roles within the department are shared and gender balanced.

University of StrathclydeDepartment of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Good practice: Departmental newsletter for staff and students featuring standing item of ‘good news’ and congratulations from head of department, as well as Athena SWAN updates.

University of SurreyComputer Science

Good practice: Two week ‘hand-back’ period following head of department’s maternity leave to ensure smooth line-management hand over.

University of WarwickSociology

Good practice: Curriculum updates, including compulsory modules on social inequalities, and reviewing of reading lists.

University of WarwickWarwick Medical School

Good practice: The school held a wellbeing day event to showcase all of the health and wellbeing activities which are available across campus.

University of YorkDepartment of Health Sciences

Good practice: Support for redeployment, including proactive matching to opportunities, mock interviews, help with CV writing and £1,500 for any development needs.

University of YorkEnvironment Department

Good practice: Support for career progression for professional and support staff will be provided through a newly formed support staff forum.

28 Awards |Departments 29

Notes