Athena SWAN Bronze Award for two Schools

Friday, 19 May 2017

Two schools at the University have won Athena SWAN awards this year following submissions into the November round last year.

The School of Biological Sciences (SBS) and the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences (SPCLS) both received a Bronze Award.

The awards are given by the Equality Challenge Unit to encourage and recognise commitment to tackling gender inequality in higher education. Athena SWAN has traditionally covered science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) disciplines, but has been expanded to include arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law departments.

For SBS, this is the first Bronze Award, while SPCLS won the award in 2016 as well. This year, SPCLS had applied for an upgrade to a Silver Award, but was only able to retain its bronze award.

Patricia Riddell, Professor of Applied Neuroscience and the Athena SWAN lead for SPCLS, said: “I am proud that we have retained our bronze award. Getting a silver award would have been even better, but there is obviously work to be done and we will wait for a more detailed feedback from the Equality Challenge Unit”.

Julie Hawkins, Professor of Plant Systemics and Evolution and the Athena SWAN lead for SBS, said: “This is great news. The bronze award recognises the work we are doing to make our School more diverse and inclusive”.

The new awards mean that six of the University’s seven STEMM Schools hold an Athena SWAN award. The School of the Built Environment (SBE), School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences (SMPCS) and School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science (SAGES) all hold a Silver Award. SPCLS, SBS and School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy (SCFP) hold a Bronze Award.

At University level, we hold an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, and we are working towards submission for a Silver Award in 2019.