Athena Swan progress for the Schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering

13 Apr 2022

The ongoing commitment to gender equality in the Faculty of Science and Engineering has been recognised by Advance HE with the School of Natural Sciences receiving a Silver Athena Swan award.

The final result for the School of Engineering is pending while further information is submitted, with positive feedback received from Advanced HE so far on the application and confirmation that a Silver award is within reach.  

The Athena Swan Charter recognises commitment to gender equality in the advancement and promotion of staff and students in higher education and research. 

The University has maintained an Athena Swan Bronze Award since 2008 and most of the Departments in the Faculty have received Bronze or Silver awards over previous years. To better join up and share best practices for the benefit of our staff and student communities, the two Schools – which were formed in 2019 as part of the Faculty restructure – submitted their applications this year as new School-wide units.  

The application process required the Schools to self-assess how they are performing in their commitment to gender equality. The self-assessment teams (SATs) were led by the School Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) Leads – Dr Partha Mandal (School of Engineering) and Professor Giles Johnson (School of Natural Sciences) – and involved staff from all groups and levels as well as student representatives. 

The self-assessment process informed the development of the Schools’ Athena Swan action plans. The actions are largely shared across the two Schools and the Faculty as a whole, ensuring parity of experience for all our staff and students and enabling joined-up working and greater energy in order to deliver against the ambitious plans. 

The School and Faculty level Leadership Teams and EDIA Committees will continuously monitor progress against the action plans. The plans form an important part of the Faculty’s EDIA objectives as they will help us to work towards greater gender equality and equality for all. Our leaders are fully committed to progressing a long-term cultural change to benefit all staff and students. 

Dr Mark Hughes, Associate Dean for EDIA in FSE said:

“This recognition of our gender equality work to date is fantastic. What is really important is that the new action plans are being embedded into the normal business of our two Schools. These actions are wide ranging, from student assessment to career development, through the culture in our Schools. We have committed that the actions will have an impact beyond gender and will benefit our wider community of staff and students.”