King’s College London Athena SWAN submission – 2008
Submission Report - Summary
1. Background and existing relevant initiatives
The College undertook a range of quantitative and qualitative research
activities in order to inform its Gender Equality Scheme (GES). As part of this
the issues experienced by women academics were prioritised. The following
initiatives are being promoted under the banner of the King’s Women’s
Advancement Initiative (WAI):
 Membership of the Athena SWAN Charter;
 Development of an innovative Pilot Mentoring Scheme for women
academics at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), which if successful will be
rolled out more widely and evaluated with a randomised controlled trial;
 A programme of research to explore career progression barriers
experienced by women academics and evaluate a range of interventions
to respond to these.
A broad range of other initiatives are occurring across the College which are
relevant to women working in science, engineering and technology (SET)
disciplines, some of these include:
 The King’s College Women’s Network has been operating for 3 years and
hosts four meetings a year on topics of interest and relevance to women
staff.
 A dedicated Childcare Adviser provides support for staff and students on
childcare provision.
 Graduate School training opportunities are open to all postgraduate
research students and research staff, with women-only opportunities
provided as appropriate
 The College promotion procedures now more fully recognise innovations
in teaching as relevant criteria for promotion as well as research
achievements.
2. The assessment process
The College’s Athena SWAN Steering Group comprised women academics
working in a range of SET disciplines and at different stages in their career
progression, male Heads of Department, representatives from Human
Resources (HR) and the Equality and Diversity Department and a senior
administrator. The group met twice between January and April 2008 to
consider a range of date and information (including headcount data for
academic and research staff and postgraduate students and academic
promotions data), which informed the first draft of the submission which was
then approved by the Principal.
A second draft then went out for broad consultation during May. The
submission was also made available via the College website and promoted in
the weekly E-zine.
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A final draft of the submission was approved by the Principal’s Central Team.
3. Key findings and new actions derived as a consequence of the
submission process
3.1 Information used to contextualise the data analysis
Headcount data were analysed separately for Clinical Academic and NonClinical Academic staff in the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and the IoP since
these staff have different career paths.
Data kept by HR on the posts held by staff members before they applied for
promotion were analysed to help identify the most common career paths for
academic staff at the College. This information was used to contextualise the
headcount data, providing an indication of the relevant eligible pool (or the
most likely group of staff to apply) for particular senior academic positions.
3.2 Percentage of women in all SET Schools by job type, 2005-2007
An overview of the proportions of women in all SET Schools by job type was
considered and demonstrated that there is a decreasing proportion of women
at increasing levels of seniority.
3.3 Percentage of women by School and job type, 2007
Overall in SET disciplines the proportion of women in Non-Clinical academic
roles tended to decline with increasing seniority. This trend was most striking
in BHS and the IoP, less so in the School of Medicine and Dental Institute.
PSE deviated from this pattern as women were significantly underrepresented
at all grades, whereas in the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and
Midwifery (FNSNM) there were high proportions of women in all grades.
Considering Clinical Academics, women were fairly well represented in the
junior grades (Research and Lecturer) in all three Schools apart from
Medicine. Women were less well represented in senior grades (Senior
Lecturer, Reader and Professor) in all three Schools. This trend was most
noticeable in the School of Medicine and least noticeable at the IoP.
3.4 Summary of promotions data for women applying to senior
academic roles by School, 2005-2007
In most cases the numbers of women selected for promotion did not differ
significantly from the numbers you would expect based on their representation
in the eligible pool. This would suggest that the College’s promotion
processes are neutral and that promotion occurs based solely on merit. In
some Schools women academics were more likely to apply for promotion for
senior academic roles when compared with their male counterparts, although
the numbers are too small to draw firm conclusions. The overall shortfall of
women being promoted to senior academic posts in SET disciplines appeared
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to be attributed in the main to the low numbers of women present in PSE and
Medicine.
3.5 Comparison of percentage of women postgraduate research
students with percentage of women junior research staff by School
At a College level, the percentage of women Postgraduate Research
Students was compared with the percentage in Research Assistant/Associate
roles (considered the entry positions to academia) to identify whether women
are leaving academia in higher proportions than men at this transition point.
No significant differences were found between the proportions of women in
each group, suggesting women are not leaving at this point.
3.6 School specific findings
Data relating to headcount, promotions and Postgraduate Research students
was collated for each School to identify the issues which seemed to impact
most significantly on the representation of women in the workforce in that
School. Key actions are identified in bullet points.
3.6.1 School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (BHS)
In BHS the key transition point where the proportion of women declines most
notably is the progression from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer. However there
was a positive increase in the numbers of women in Senior Lecturer roles
between 2005 and 2007. If this were sustained it is likely to impact favourably
on the numbers of women at Reader and Professor levels in future years.
 See College-wide recommendation relating to promotions.
3.6.2 Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (FNSNM)
There were high proportions of women in all academic grades within this
School. A significant majority of academics in this School were at Lecturer
level with historically few individuals choosing to put themselves forward for
promotion. The majority of academics were qualified nurses who once they
choose the academic path have few opportunities to continue to update their
clinical skills.
The School recently undertook two related projects to improve career
progression:
i) Consideration of measures to encourage more members of staff to apply for
senior lectureship.
ii) Consideration of how to build clinical academic pathways in nursing and
midwifery.
It is perceived that these projects will have positive benefits for the career
progression of academics in the School.
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3.6.3 School of Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE)
In PSE the main issue for academic staff appeared to be the low proportions
of women Lecturers joining the departments, a UK trend in HEIs. The
following general measures to increase female participation are being
considered:
 Building on current Widening Participation and Marketing strategies to
recruit women undergraduate students1;
 Encouraging women undergraduate students in this area to pursue an
academic career by delivering an annual publicity campaign covering the
financial support available for postgraduate study;
 Positive action measures to encourage women academics external to the
College to apply for posts at King’s.
3.6.4 Dental Institute
The percentage of women Non-Clinical Professors has been increasing
gradually, although the low total number of staff in this group makes it difficult
to draw any strong conclusions.
On the Clinical side there had been a positive increase in the percentage of
women at junior grades (Researcher and Lecturer). The dentistry profession
offers Clinical Academics with primary responsibility for childcare the
opportunity to qualify part-time which is a positive development. However
qualification is still extremely challenging and may take longer for women who
it is expected will increasingly comprise the majority of this group.
 See College-wide recommendation relating to mentoring.
3.6.5 School of Medicine
On the Non-Clinical side the proportion of women at Lecturer level declined
slightly in 2007 and it will be important to monitor this. There has been a
positive improvement in the proportion of women Senior Lecturers in the last
two years. It is the proportion of women at Professor level which needs
further consideration.
On the Clinical side, it is noteworthy that the proportion of women in senior
grades (Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor) remained low. This is a national
area of concern, and a recent report by the Medical Schools Council suggests
that many women struggle reconciling the lengthy and intensive qualification
process with childcare responsibilities.
However, at King’s the percentage of women in the junior clinical grades had
increased over two years. It will be important to ensure that this growth
continues and that these women progress through to the senior clinical
grades.
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This will occur in all PSE Departments bar Mathematics where a good proportion of
undergraduates are women
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Non-clinical
 Consideration of the routes into Non-Clinical academic roles will be
undertaken, including whether there are possibilities for the high
proportions of women in Non-Clinical Research roles to make this
transition.
 See College-wide recommendation relating to promotion.
Clinical
 Consider how better to recruit women into the senior grades and ensure
they remain and progress up the career ladder
 Formation of an Athena SWAN subgroup in the School to consider the
issues above and the clinical requirements necessary to qualify in certain
medical specialisms, since the nature of these could influence their appeal
to women
 See College-wide recommendation relating to mentoring.
3.6.6 Institute of Psychiatry (IoP)
On the Non-Clinical side, the low proportion of women Professors was a
notable finding. On the Clinical side there had been improvements in the
proportion of women in the senior grades and it would be worth monitoring
this trend.
A good proportion of those who achieved promotion in this School were
women which was encouraging and women were also applying for promotion
in higher proportions than their representation in the eligible pool. It will be
important to seek to ensure that these improvements continue and feed
through to representation at senior levels.
3.7 Researchers
The advancement process for Research staff is more variable, occurring in a
range of contexts depending on the level of seniority. It is therefore more
complex to capture and analyse the data systematically.
The following actions will be taken:
 The College will take steps centrally to record and monitor staff applying
for Senior and Principal Research Fellow positions2 by gender and include
the findings in future submissions.
 Consideration will be given to the recording of staff who apply for
Research Fellow positions at a local level.
 A high proportion of Research staff are on fixed term contracts, which may
inhibit career progression and since women tend to be over-represented in
this group, it will be valuable to analyse data on Researchers by contract
type (fixed or permanent) and gender as part of the next submission.
In crude terms, the career structure for Researchers at King’s is as follows: Research Assistant,
Research Associate, Research Fellow, Senior Research Fellow and Principal Research Fellow
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3.8 Changing the culture and gender balance in decision making
Work was undertaken to examine the membership of the 11 principal
governance Committees at the College. Men were considerably
overrepresented in the membership of seven of these Committees. The
following was agreed as a way forward in order to address the issues:


More detailed work will be undertaken in order to understand the different
types of membership (nominated, appointed, ex-officio etc) and the
associated selection processes.
Specific actions will be identified to encourage increased representation of
women on Committees. Some of the options under consideration are
listed in the Progress Record Form.
3.9 College-wide recommendations
The following recommendations have College-wide relevance:
 To encourage more women academics to apply for promotion the College
will consider how promotion can be more effectively integrated with
appraisal, including emphasis on identifying staff potential as well as
existing achievements.
 To research and promote to junior women academics and researchers the
range of fellowships on offer via the Royal Society, Wellcome Trust and
other Research Councils.
 To consider how data covering recruitment to academic positions can be
collected and analysed routinely.
 To consider whether a reporting mechanism can be found to identify the
length of time staff spend in certain grades.
 To consider offering mentoring to women academics in other Schools,
once the Pilot Mentoring Scheme at the IoP has been established.
23 May 2008
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