Name of university: University College London
Department: Mental Health Sciences Unit
Date of application: 25.4.13
Date of university Bronze and/or Silver Athena SWAN award: May 2009
Contact for application: Dr Helen Killaspy
Email: h.killaspy@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone: 0207 679 9710
Departmental website address: www.ucl.ac.uk/mentalhealthsciences/
Athena SWAN Silver Department awards recognise that in addition to university-wide policies the department is working to promote gender equality and to address challenges particular to the discipline.
Not all institutions use the term ‘department’ and there are many equivalent academic groupings with different names, sizes and compositions. The definition of a ‘department’ for SWAN purposes can be found on the Athena SWAN website. If in doubt, contact the Athena SWAN Officer well in advance to check eligibility.
It is essential that the contact person for the application is based in the department.
At the end of each section state the number of words used. Click here for additional guidance on completing the template.
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1.
Letter of endorsement from the head of department: maximum 500 words
An accompanying letter of endorsement from the head of department should explain how the
SWAN action plan and activities in the department contribute to the overall department strategy and academic mission.
The letter is an opportunity for the head of department to confirm their support for the application and to endorse and commend any women and STEMM activities that have made a significant contribution to the achievement of the departmental mission.
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UCL MENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES UNIT
FACULTY OF BRAIN SCIENCES
BLOOMSBURY CAMPUS
Athena SWAN submission for Silver award
26th April 2013
Letter of endorsement from Director of the Unit of Mental Health Sciences
Dear Ms Dickinson
I strongly support our Unit’s application for an Athena SWAN Silver Award. We have, for many years aimed to provide a culture that encourages women into academic psychiatry and supports them in their careers.
Our strategy appears to have been successful since the proportion of women in senior posts is considerably higher than the UK average. We have found that this brings a culture that benefits all staff in supporting flexible working, home working and mutual sharing of key tasks and responsibilities, allowing people to balance their commitments at work and home when facing varying priorities at different stages of life. Our annual survey found high levels of staff satisfaction and only one senior staff member (male) has left in the last ten years.
Our Unit has had an interest in the gender balance in our specialty for some years; the only survey to examine the proportion of women in academic psychiatry in the UK was carried out here (referred to in more detail in the application). I also believe that the strong role modelling by senior female academics in our Unit is a major factor in our recruitment of female MSc and PhD students and new academics.
Over the past 12 years we have supported 12 successful applications for prestigious MRC/Wellcome/NIHR training fellowships, of which six were women. Four have taken maternity leave during their fellowships.
Two of the six women have subsequently been appointed to senior substantive posts within our Unit and four are on-going. Of the six internal senior UCL promotions in our Unit in the past seven years (two Chairs and four Readers), all but one have been women. Of the last four new senior academic appointments, three have been women. The promotion of three females to Reader in 2009 has helped to ensure that the gender disparity at Professor level will improve in the coming years; one Reader (female) is currently being considered for promotion.
Despite these achievements, our female to male staff ratio is higher amongst junior staff. This is because most of our junior posts are non-clinical and attract psychology graduates (who are usually female) whereas our senior posts are funded for clinical academic psychiatrists (since we are an academic psychiatry Unit).
Thus my aim is to develop more non-clinical academic posts into which we can encourage our non-clinical staff. Our new mentoring scheme also aims to support our junior staff in their career progression.
I believe that women should have an equal say in the Unit’s vision and the way it is run. The fact that three of the four members of our Executive group are women (one is from the Institute of Neurology, to foster collaborations) is an indication both of their capability and our commitment to ensuring the explicit involvement of women in the decision making of the Unit.
Our application provides further details of the work we undertake to support and ensure gender equality and our plans to enhance this in the coming years.
Yours sincerely
Professor Michael King
Director of Mental Health Sciences Unit
(word count 497)
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2.
The self-assessment process: maximum 1000 words
Describe the self-assessment process. This should include: a) A description of the self assessment team: members’ roles (both within the department and as part of the team) and their experiences of work-life balance
Our unit is a strong advocate of UCL’s diversity and equality agenda and embraces these key values in its strategy. We are keen to enhance our track record on gender equality through participation in the Athena SWAN charter.
In 2011, the Unit Director, Professor Michael King, initiated the proposal to submit an application for a Silver award and encouraged staff to become involved. Though we were somewhat disappointed to be awarded Bronze in 2012, we are very grateful to Athena SWAN for waiving the review panel’s recommendation that we wait 2-3 years before resubmitting. We have taken on board the panel’s helpful comments and believe that this submission provides clear evidence of the work that our Unit undertakes to support gender equality and female staff progression. The first action we instigated in light of the panel’s comments was a review of the membership of our
Self-Assessment Team (SAT) which now provides a better representation of our academic staff based on gender, seniority, parental responsibilities and part-time working. Two male professors and one female PhD student (whose PhD was awarded in 2012) stepped down from the SAT and one female professor has joined, along with a male senior lecturer, a female MRC Fellow and a male PhD student. The SAT comprises five women and three men as follows:
Dr Helen Killaspy – SAT co-ordinator. Appointed in 1995-6 as a Research Fellow, she was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in 1998 and completed her specialist clinical training in psychiatry and her PhD alongside this post. In 2003 she was appointed as Senior Lecturer and
Honorary Consultant in Rehabilitation Psychiatry and promoted to Reader in 2010.
Professor Michael King - Director of the Unit and Honorary Consultant in Primary Care Psychiatry.
He is a strong supporter of Athena SWAN values as evidenced by his letter of endorsement and the positive culture for women within the Unit.
Professor Sonia Johnson – appointed Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist in 1997, she took maternity leave in 2007 and since her return was promoted to Reader and then Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry. She was active in the Women in Medicine group as a medical student and junior doctor and for several years organised an informal group for female academic psychiatrists in London. She works full-time but takes advantage of flexible working to manage childcare commitments.
Dr Liz Sampson - appointed Clinical Lecturer in 2002, she completed her MD and obtained an MRC training fellowship in health services research in 2004. She was promoted to Clinical Senior
Lecturer in March 2008. On return from maternity leave (October 2008-October 2009) she has returned to work part-time (3 days/week).
Dr Nick Bass - appointed Research Fellow in 2001 and promoted to Lecturer/Specialist Registrar in
2006. He was awarded a HEFCE/DoH Clinical Senior Lectureship in Old Age Psychiatry in a national competition in 2011. He brings to the SAT expertise in laboratory science (genetics of mental disorders and intellectual disability) and is about to take paternity leave.
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Dr Hind Khalifeh - appointed Clinical Training Fellow in 2007, she took maternity leave from Jan-
Aug 2009, returning to work full-time. She was awarded a 4 year MRC Population Health Scientist
Fellowship in 2009 (funding an Epidemiology MSc and PhD). She obtained her CCT in General
Adult Psychiatry in January 2012 and plans to submit her PhD in Nov 2013.
Mr Nicholas Green - appointed Research Associate in 2009 on a five year fixed contract, funded by a research programme grant from the National Institute of Health Research. Nick registered for a
PhD in 2010.
Ms Bernadette Courtney - Unit Administrator (full-time). Berni collated the staff and student data and assisted with the administration for this application and for many of the activities detailed on the Action Plan. b) an account of the self assessment process: details of the self assessment team meetings, including any consultation with staff or individuals outside of the university, and how these have fed into the submission
The self-assessment process began in 2011 with collation of the Unit’s staff and student data. The
Athena SWAN website and discussion with UCL’s diversity and equality department identified examples of good practice in gender diversity in other Departments. One of the early activities stemming from this was a staff survey, first carried out in 2012 and repeated in 2013, to review staff knowledge, experience and satisfaction with the support available within the Unit for career promotion, part-time and flexible working and career breaks. The gender data and survey findings were discussed at SAT meetings where areas of strength and issues requiring new, ongoing or further action were identified. c) Plans for the future of the self assessment team, such as how often the team will continue to meet, any reporting mechanisms and in particular how the self assessment team intends to monitor implementation of the action plan.
The SAT has met monthly whilst preparing this application and will continue to meet every 3 months to review the implementation of the Action Plan. Dr Killaspy will continue to feed back the work of the SAT and progress with the Action Plan to the Unit’s Senior Advisory Group at its monthly meeting - a standing agenda item. The work of the SAT is disseminated to the rest of the
Unit’s staff through supervision sessions, email communications and specific training and information events (detailed later in this application). The Unit has recently updated its Induction
Pack for new staff to include details of the Unit’s work on gender equality and the available structures for support in career progression. This has also been disseminated to all members of staff, along with a webpage on the work of the SAT. Ensuring all staff are aware of the SAT’s work is an important part of enabling gender equality in the Unit (see Action Plan 1.1). This year’s staff survey found that all senior staff (senior lecturers, readers and professors) in the Unit were aware of the SAT’s work but at lower grades, though the majority of female staff were aware of it (63-
83%), half the male staff were not. This will be addressed through our existing supervision structures (see Action Plan 1.1).
Word count 950
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3.
A picture of the department: maximum 2000 words a) Provide a pen-picture of the department to set the context for the application, outlining in particular any significant and relevant features.
The Department of Mental Health Sciences was formed through a merger of the Academic
Departments of Psychiatry at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School and UCL Medical School in
1998. In 2011 it was designated as a Unit (a Department in transition to becoming an Institute).
The Unit currently employs 21 clinical academic staff, 42 research staff and 7 administrative staff.
The Unit specialises in psychiatric epidemiology, molecular genetics, health services research and randomised trials of complex treatments in primary and secondary health care. All but one of the senior academics within the Unit are clinical academics, having honorary consultant psychiatrist posts in various London and North Essex Trusts that are UCL Partners. With the exception of the
Unit Director, all clinical academics work in these roles on a 0.5 FTE basis (pro rata for part-time staff). Many of these senior posts are co-funded by HEFCE and NHS Trusts but such arrangements are not available for junior, non-clinical academics whose career progression therefore has to be supported differently (see Section 4bii).
The Mental Health Sciences Unit is part of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences along with the
Institutes of Neurology, Cognitive Neurosciences and Ophthalmology; the Ear Institute; and the
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. The Unit hosts the Marie Curie Palliative Care
Research Unit which leads the Palliative Care Research Consortium within UCL. The Mental Health
Sciences Unit is a key component of PRIMENT Clinical Trials Unit ( www.ucl.ac.uk/priment ), and has strong links with UCL’s Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences. It forms part of the
North London Hub of the Mental Health Research Network and has multiple national and international collaborations. b) Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearly labelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary on their significance and how they have affected action planning.
Student data
(i) Numbers of males and females on access or foundation courses – comment on the data and describe any initiatives taken to attract women to the courses.
The Unit does not run any Access or Foundation Courses.
(ii) Undergraduate male and female numbers – full and part-time – comment on the female: male ratio compared with the national picture for the discipline. Describe any initiatives taken to address any imbalance and the impact to date. Comment upon any plans for the future.
Senior clinical academic staff (lecturer grade and above) are involved in teaching psychiatry to undergraduate medical students but the Unit does not run this course. The gender balance of new medical students enrolled at UCL over the last three years has been exactly even:
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Year of intake
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
Female medical students
866 (50%)
853 (50%)
849 (50%)
Male medical students
855 (50%)
865 (50%
878 (50%)
Nationally, there are slightly more female than male medical students at entry into the undergraduate preclinical course compared to UCL (e.g. HEI data for 2010/11: females 8290 [55%] vs males 6650 [45%]).
(iii) Postgraduate male and female numbers completing taught courses – full and parttime – comment on the female: male ratio compared with the national picture for the discipline. Describe any initiatives taken to address any imbalance and the effect to date. Comment upon any plans for the future.
The Unit runs a part-time MSc Course in Psychiatric Research. The course was developed for junior doctors undertaking specialist training in psychiatry but has also been open to applicants from other disciplines (psychology and social sciences) for the last three years. Due to discrepancies identified during our last submission between centrally held student data and our own records
(due to our recent transition to Unit status within UCL), one of our actions was to set up a robust system for recording data on our MSc and PhD students. This is now in place and the data presented in this application have been collated centrally and corroborated from our Unit records.
We will continue to collect and review these data on an annual basis (see Action Plan 2.1).
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This MSc has a relatively small number of students. Females generally predominate with the exception of the 2011/12 intake, where the increase in male registrations appears to be a chance variation since the gender ratio of the 2012/13 intake reflects earlier years. Students of both genders have taken advantage of flexibility in the course, allowing it to be completed over 2 to 5 years. Having children has been one of the reasons why some students have opted to take longer to complete the course. The course is unique in the country and therefore no national comparison data are available.
Though many senior staff from within and outside the Unit lecture on the course, it is run by the two female clinical professors in the Unit. This provides positive role modelling to female psychiatric trainees to consider the potential benefits of the MSc course for developing research skills and assisting career progression. The course is advertised through the induction events for
UCL medical school psychiatric trainees that take place every six months in line with their clinical rotations.
One of the actions detailed in our previous submission was to consider holding an event for medical students to encourage postgraduate study across the Faculty. Given the specialist nature of our MSc course, we felt we should focus on individuals who were considering a career in academic psychiatry. We therefore decided to pilot a “Meet the Academics” event for core and specialty UCL trainees in psychiatry (see Action Plan 3.2). This was held in April 2013 and included presentations from the Unit’s MSc and postgraduate tutors about the opportunities for postgraduate study which highlighted the gender balance in registration, completion rates for our
MSc and PhD students and possibilities for support with funding. This was followed by a drinks reception to give attendees an opportunity to talk to us more informally. The event attracted 20 psychiatric trainees (11 female and 9 male). We have decided to repeat it annually and have encouraged other Departments of the Faculty to offer similar events.
(iv) Postgraduate male and female numbers on research degrees – full and part-time – comment on the female: male ratio compared with the national picture for the discipline. Describe any initiatives taken to address any imbalance and the effect to date. Comment upon any plans for the future.
The total number of MPhil/PhD students has gradually increased over recent years and this increase has largely been attributable to female student registrations (see bar chart below). This
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can be explained by: i) the role modelling of senior female academics within the Unit. Most have a national/international reputation in their field. It is not uncommon for potential MPhil/PhD students to contact the Unit requesting for particular female staff to supervise them; ii) Over recent years, the senior female members of the Unit have been very successful at winning research grants. The Unit Director encourages senior staff to suggest their research staff register for MPhil/PhD studies related to the project on which they are employed. Since the majority of research staff is female, this has led to an increase in the number of female MPhil/PhD students in the Unit. Almost all our MPhil/PhD students are part-time since most are also working as research staff and/or in clinical roles within the Unit and our associated NHS Trusts.
(v) Ratio of course applications to offers and acceptances by gender for undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research degrees – comment on the differences between male and female application and success rates and describe any initiatives taken to address any imbalance and their effect to date.
Comment upon any plans for the future.
Though the number of males and females applying for a place on the MSc course varies year on year, the proportion offered a place who go on to accept it has remained about even overall for male and female students over the last three years:
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Proportion of applicants offered a place on MSc course who accepted it:
Female Male
2009/10 60% 57%
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
Mean since 2009/10
75%
100%
63%
75%
85%
67%
100%
77%
With the exception of 2010/11, the ratio of the absolute number of females to males who have accepted a place has been around 1.5:1, in line with Higher Education Statistics Agency data for postgraduate medical and dental taught courses
(http://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/1897/239/). It remains to be seen if our “Meet the
Academics” event will encourage more female applicants in the future.
The total number of new applications for MPhil/PhD study in the Unit has increased from 2 (1 female, 1 male) in 2009/10 to 10 (all female) in 2012/13. Applications are reviewed by the PG tutor, the majority are offered a place and, as can be seen in the bar chart above, very few applicants decline to accept. The majority of applicants over the last three years have been female
(20 female, 5 male) and only one applicant (female) has been declined an offer of registration.
(vi) Degree classification by gender – comment on any differences in degree attainment between males and females and describe what actions are being taken to address any imbalance.
Postgraduate Taught Courses: attainment
MSc attainment data are difficult to interpret due to the varied timescales over which students complete their course (between two and five years). All students are part-time. However, of the female students registered in 2008, 75% have been awarded their degree, one student has dropped out and the rest are due to submit their dissertations by summer 2013. Of the male students registered in 2008, none have been awarded their degree yet but all are due to submit by summer 2013 and none have dropped out.
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Postgraduate Research Courses: attainment
The time from registration to submission of MPhil/PhD theses has gradually reduced for both male and female students registered since 2006 (see bar chart below). Of those registered since 2006: 7 females and 4 males have attained their PhD; 30 females and 10 males are continuing with their studies or are registered as having achieved completion status but have not yet submitted their theses; two females are on maternity leave; four females and two males have dropped out.
Staff data
(vii) Female: male ratio of academic staff and research staff – researcher, lecturer, senior lecturer, reader, professor (or equivalent). comment on any differences in numbers between males and females and say what action is being taken to address any underrepresentation at particular grades/levels
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Since 2009, the total number of staff employed in the Unit has increased from 58 to 63 and the percentage of female staff has increased from 66% to 70%. In keeping with other academic psychiatry departments, there is a higher percentage of females in research associate and postdoctoral grades compared to more senior grades. However, our Unit outperforms national averages for female representation at more senior levels as explained below.
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In 2002, we carried out the only detailed survey to investigate the representation of women in academic psychiatry in the UK (Killaspy et al., Psychiatric Bulletin , 2003, 27:323-326). We found that over 80% of clinical academic posts (Lecturer grades and above) were occupied by males, who were over three times more likely to hold a Professorial position than female academic staff.
Across London, 11% of Professorial posts, 31% of Reader posts and 30% of Senior Lecturer posts were held by females at that time. Current detailed national and London wide data are not available for comparison, but the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ most recent published census of
2011 reported 98 clinical academic consultant posts in psychiatry across the UK (Senior Lecturer,
Reader and Professor) with 73 (74%) being held by males
( http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/workforce/census.aspx
).
Currently, 9 of the 27 senior positions in our Unit are held by females (33% of our Senior Lecturers,
80% of our Readers and 33% of our Professors). In 2009 there were no Readers in the Unit, in
2010 three female Senior Lecturers were promoted to this grade (reducing the percentage of female Senior Lecturers) and a fourth female Reader was appointed in 2012. Since 2009, one male
Senior Lecturer has been promoted to Reader. Currently under consideration by UCL for promotion are one Reader to Professor (female) and one Senior Lecturer to Reader (male).
We also have a high percentage of females at Lecturer grade (currently 78%) and a good track record in facilitating subsequent appointment to substantive Senior Lecturer posts. Section 4bii) describes our strategy for supporting careers in clinical academic psychiatry. Our data suggest that our approach has been more successful for women than other academic psychiatry departments in the country. However, we are mindful of the pipeline issue for women especially at the Lecturer/Postdoc to Senior Lecturer and Reader to Professor grades. We address this further in Section 4bii).
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Turnover by grade and gender – comment on any differences between men and women in turnover and say what is being done to address this. Where the number of staff leaving is small, comment on the reasons why particular individuals left.
There has been very little turnover of senior staff in the Unit in recent years: one male Senior
Lecturer left to take up a Chair in Canada in 2009, one female Senior Lecturer retired due to sickness in 2010 and two male professors retired 2010-2011. We attribute this in part, to the very positive environment within the Unit. Our 2013 staff survey found that all male staff and 92% of female staff felt the Unit had a friendly and supportive culture (in 2012 this figure was 89% for all staff).
Most research staff at the more junior grades have left due to the end of their fixed research contracts, which is of course common in academia generally. In our previous submission we identified a need to collect more data on leavers and have now set this up. More details are provided in Section 4bii) below.
Word count 1937
4.
Supporting and advancing women’s careers: maximum 5000 words
Key career transition points a) Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearly labelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary on their significance and how they have affected action planning.
(i) Job application and success rates by gender and grade – comment on any differences in recruitment between men and women at any level and say what action is being taken to address this.
Over the last three years the Unit has recruited into 45 new posts, 5 academic (Senior Lecturer or higher) and 40 Research Associate or Academic Fellowships/Studentships. Overall, there have been equal proportions of male and female applicants, but a higher proportion of females have been appointed. These data are shown graphically below and separately for research and academic posts.
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(ii) Applications for promotion and success rates by gender and grade – comment on whether these differ for men and women and if they do explain what action may be taken. Where the number of women is small applicants may comment on specific examples of where women have been through the promotion process. Explain how potential candidates are identified.
The Unit proactively seeks to promote staff on merit. In 2010, all three female Senior
Lecturers from the Unit who applied for promotion to Reader were successful. Their rate of promotion exceeds their male counterparts; since 2010 of two male Senior Lecturers who have applied for promotion to Reader, only one has succeeded. The Unit Director takes into account a range of factors affecting female staff in their pursuit of promotion including parenting responsibilities and the impact these may have on, for example, overseas speaking engagements and international collaborations. The Unit Director actively encourages supervisors to discuss promotion with their junior staff at their annual appraisal. This provides an opportunity to review the person’s activities that support potential promotion. Where an area for development is identified, the appraisal also provides an opportunity to review their job plan and identify commitments that they may need to relinquish to free up time for this.
Supervisors identify to the Unit Director individuals they feel meet criteria for promotion who are then supported with their application. The Unit Director is also involved in ensuring
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equitable distribution of work commitments that are not facilitative of promotion (see Section
5ai). Our 2013 staff survey found that almost all staff at Senior Lecturer Grade and above were aware of UCL’s promotion guidance but at more junior levels this fell to below 40% and no junior male staff were aware of the guidance. We are addressing this though a number of strategies including setting up a mentoring scheme (see Section 5ai and Action Plan item 4.1) and improving our processes for ensuring staff are aware of the resources available at UCL to help prepare for promotion and receive specific guidance on this through their annual appraisal (see Section 5ai and Action Plan items 4.2, 4.3. and 4.4).
For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in the department, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances, what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additional steps may be needed.
(i) Recruitment of staff – comment on how the department’s recruitment processes ensure that female candidates are attracted to apply, and how the department ensures its short listing, selection processes and criteria comply with the university’s equal opportunities policies
In all adverts and job descriptions for new posts, language is used which actively encourages candidates with the appropriate skills to apply. Adverts, person specifications and job descriptions are checked by one of our Unit administrators, who takes a lead on recruitment processes and has had additional Education and Development Training. Any inference that posts are more suitable for male candidates is identified and returned to the author for amendment. The Unit uses positive action statements on job adverts, particularly encouraging women to apply for grades where they are under-represented. For example, the Unit has just engaged a firm of head hunters to find candidates for our new Chair in Palliative Care Research and we have made it explicit that they must follow UCL’s HR Recruitment & Selection Policy in order to produce an ethnically diverse and gender balanced list of candidates. The Unit follows the best practice recommended by UCL’s comprehensive ‘Recruitment and Selection Policy’ and all staff who sit on interview panels must attend Fair Recruitment training. This guidance is included in our Induction Pack for all staff (see
Action Plan item 1.1). The Unit is able to ensure gender balance on all appointment panels without overburdening female staff since there is good representation of females at senior level.
(ii) Support for staff at key career transition points – having identified key areas of attrition of female staff in the department, comment on any interventions, programmes and activities that support women at the crucial stages, such as personal development training, opportunities for networking, mentoring programmes and leadership training. Identify which have been found to work best at the different career stages.
In Section 3vii) we identified our key transition point for female staff as the Lecturer/Postdoc to
Senior Lecturer grade and noted the gender disparity at Professor level. In this Section we describe our strategy for attracting and supporting junior psychiatrists into academic psychiatry at the Lecturer/Postdoc level and our approach to facilitating their further career progression. We also describe the action we are taking to ensure that women are as likely as men to progress to
Professor level in our Unit.
We have an excellent track record in supporting early career academic psychiatrists to make successful applications for prestigious Wellcome, MRC and NIHR Research Training Fellowships.
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Our success rate in this has been higher for females; since 2002, 7 of 8 (88%) females and 5 of 9
(56%) males have applied successfully. This process has been further facilitated by the Unit’s successful application to host Academic Clinical Fellows (ACFs) which are posts allocated by the
Postgraduate Medical Education Regional Deaneries to provide opportunities for doctors in postgraduate training to develop competency in academia alongside their higher training. Most
ACFs use these two year posts to develop an application for a Research Training Fellowship which provides a detailed grounding in research methods, often incorporating an MSc in research methods, and adequate funding to support them to carry out a research project in its entirety.
Many use this opportunity to register their project for MPhil/PhD. We have found that the ACFs and Research Training Fellowships offer a clear pathway that encourages excellent trainees to pursue a clinical academic career in psychiatry. Five of our current Senior Lecturers and Readers
(three male and two female) have embarked on their careers along this route. Currently we have four ACFs who are all female. Our success in attracting and supporting women to gain these posts may be due to the high profile of the Senior female staff in our Unit and our reputation as a female friendly environment; of note, three of our current ACFs have taken maternity leave during these posts (see case study 2).
For those at Lecturer level (which includes our ACFs and Training Fellows), completion of postgraduate qualifications and ensuring research findings are published is obviously key to promotion. However, the issue of availability of senior posts cannot always be solved within the
Unit. The Unit has excellent relationships with our partner NHS Trusts who employ senior clinical academics in their honorary consultant capacity, and opportunities for full or joint funding of new
Senior Lecturer posts are hotly pursued by the Unit Director. Since 2008 there have been six new
Senior Lecturer posts created, three of which have been filled by female candidates, two of whom were previously Training Fellows in the Unit.
Our data also highlighted a gender disparity at Professor level. The last two promotions to
Professor were females and since four of the five current Readers are female (all appointed since
2009) we clearly have potential to address this imbalance. At present, one Reader (female) is being considered by UCL for promotion to Professor. Our Action Plan includes a focus on the use of annual appraisal to ensure that all our staff are given the right support to prepare for promotion and to make this as likely for females as males. It provides an opportunity to discuss an individual’s progress and achievements, highlighting areas of strength and areas that need further attention in line with UCL’s promotions policy (further details about our appraisal system are given in Section 5ai). For Senior Lecturers and Readers, successfully applying for research funding and publishing in high impact journals are obviously key. Our 2013 staff survey found that 81% of our
Senior Lecturers and Readers were aware how to prepare for promotion but those that didn’t were all female. This is specifically addressed in our Action Plan (item 4.2 and 4.4). Where an individual requires support to ensure adequate time to work on specific tasks, the Unit is able to support a number of strategies including flexible working, home working and being relieved of responsibilities within the Unit for a period of time. For example, when one female Senior Lecturer needed to write a grant application, another member of the Unit covered her teaching duties in the MSc course for six months. Senior staff (who carry out appraisals) are encouraged to suggest these strategies and all staff have been reminded of them through dissemination of our Induction
Pack which contains specific links to the relevant policies (See Action plan item 6.1).
Support for more junior members of the Unit to seek promotion within UCL or elsewhere is also encouraged through regular supervision (frequency varies but at least monthly) and annual appraisal. Around half of our junior staff reported they were aware of how to prepare for
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promotion in our 2013 staff survey (no gender differences were found). Advising junior staff on strategies to increase their research and teaching skills is considered a role for all senior supervisory staff and we hope this will be enhanced by our new mentoring system (see Section
5ai). The support that junior staff get from their supervisor in progressing their career can, to some degree, be evidenced by the fact that over the last three years, one third of female (12/33) and male (3/8) research staff whose contracts have ended have moved on to new research posts either within our Unit (6 females and 1 male) or at other Universities. Most (13 of the 15) have moved to posts of a higher grade.
5.
Career development a) For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in the department, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances, what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additional steps may be needed.
(i) Promotion and career development – comment on the appraisal and career development process, and promotion criteria and whether these take into consideration responsibilities for teaching, research, administration, pastoral work and outreach work; is quality of work emphasised over quantity of work?
All senior clinical academics (Senior Lecturer and above) are appraised annually jointly by a senior member of the Unit and their NHS line manager. The process provides an opportunity to review their achievements in line with UCL’s promotions policy as discussed earlier, taking account of the fact that their academic time is 0.5 FTE. Areas for development are identified and strategies agreed to address these. Although, until 2013, UCL guidance recommended two yearly appraisal
(in 2013 it became annual), our Unit already aimed to achieve annual appraisal for all staff
(included in our Action Plan Point 4.4). Our 2013 staff survey found that 96% of staff (and all senior staff) had had an appraisal within the last 12 months. This is an improvement on the previous year’s figure of 84%. Our Action Plan (item 4.4) further strengthens the process for reminding senior staff to complete annual appraisals for all those they supervise by reporting back completion rates at the Senior Advisory Group.
If an individual is felt to be ready for promotion by their appraiser, the Unit Director meets with them and their appraiser to confirm their eligibility against UCL’s promotions guidance and to ensure they are aware of the process and timeframe for application. Individuals can also apply for promotion independently if they wish. Promotion criteria take into account all the individual’s responsibilities (teaching, research, administration etc) and, where an individual needs to create time to address an area for development, negotiation about relinquishing some responsibilities takes place. Of course, the routine tasks and responsibilities of the Unit have to be covered but there is a culture of mutual support amongst the senior colleagues that facilitates successful negotiations to achieve a reasonable balance in everyone’s workload (see Section 6bii). Different types of task are shared and women are not expected to take on more enabling/pastoral duties than male colleagues. Staff identified for potential promotion are actively supported through the application process by senior colleagues through meetings to review the content of their application. The success of this approach can be evidenced by the fact that all but one of the senior staff who applied for promotion over the last three years have been successful. In addition, the results of our 2013 survey showed that 91% of our staff had felt supported in their career progression over the last 12 months (an improvement on the 2012 survey figure of 83%) and 83% had been encouraged by their supervisor to undertake CPD activities (a large improvement from the previous year’s figure of 63%). There was no gender disparity in these figures.
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Since our previous application, the Unit has, in line with our Action Plan (item 4.1), progressed well in setting up a mentorship scheme to support the career progression of our research staff and address the pipeline issue at Lecturer/Postdoc to Senior Lecturer level. Senior staff identified the researchers they supervise who are seeking an academic (rather than clinical or administrative) career path. Senior staff from the Unit willing to act as mentors then attended training from UCL’s
Equality and Diversity Unit on gender sensitivity in mentorship skills. The SAT lead has paired mentors with mentees and initial sessions have begun. Mentors are not also supervisors or line managers to their mentees. So far the scheme has been enthusiastically received and we will be monitoring uptake and feedback annually. Of note, some members of the Unit were already engaged in UCL’s “Future Fifty” mentoring scheme and had previously been trained in mentoring skills. This has facilitated us making fast progress with this initiative. Our 2013 staff survey found that over 75% of junior staff (and all senior staff) were aware of the mentoring scheme. We intend to continue to promote the scheme through our Induction Pack for new staff and through reminders to the Senior Advisory Group to discuss the scheme in supervision with their research staff.
(ii) Induction and training – describe the support provided to new staff at all levels, as well as details of any gender equality training. To what extent are good employment practices in the institution, such as opportunities for networking, the flexible working policy, and professional and personal development opportunities promoted to staff from the outset?
Newly appointed staff are inducted and orientated to the Unit by their supervisor and the administrative team. Since our previous application, we have updated our Induction Pack to include details of the SAT’s work, information about the provision of supervision and appraisal, mentoring, flexible working, home working and maternity/paternity leave. There are also links to other useful resources such as UCL’s promotions guidance, opportunities for continuing professional development, and coaching schemes. The updated Induction Pack has also been disseminated to all current staff (see Action Plan 1.1, 4.2 and 4.3).
The Unit Director actively encourages flexible working to ensure that staff with parenting/caring responsibilities can achieve a sustainable work life balance. Such arrangements are agreed between the staff member and their supervisor. All staff are strongly encouraged to make use of
UCL’s extensive range of personal development resources. Specific leave to attend relevant courses is agreed in advance between the staff member and supervisor/appraisers. Staff are also encouraged to join other groups within UCL that can develop their networks and potential for future collaborations as well as providing peer support. The ACFs have a particularly active peer support network within and outside the Unit. Our female ACFs have found this very helpful in accessing advice and role models who have managed maternity leave and parenting responsibilities alongside a clinical academic training fellowship. Similarly, the research staff run two regular peer groups - one that focuses on qualitative research methods and one that provides a more informal forum for discussion of day to day issues within the Unit. The co-ordinator of the latter group feeds back to the Unit Director any issues that require advice or action from the
Senior Advisory Group.
(iii) Support for female students – describe the support (formal and informal) provided for female students to enable them to make the transition to a sustainable academic career, particularly from postgraduate to researcher, such as mentoring,
19

seminars and pastoral support and the right to request a female personal tutor.
Comment on whether these activities are run by female staff and how this work is formally recognised by the department.
The Unit supports junior psychiatrists in training into academic careers by the means outlined in section 4bii), whereby we encourage psychiatric trainees to apply for ACF posts and then support them to apply for NIHR, Wellcome or MRC training fellowships. Other staff who undertake postgraduate qualifications within the Unit are supported to identify their further career aims and areas of development towards this are identified through supervision and appraisal as previously described. The Unit has very strong female role models who have an important influence on women considering a clinical academic career, many of whom also have children/parenting roles.
MSc students are allocated a tutor from within the Unit and are informed that they can request a female if they prefer (although no students have to date). Our “Meet the Academics” event described earlier is a new initiative aimed at encouraging female psychiatric trainees into postgraduate study.
6.
Organisation and culture a) Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearly labelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary on their significance and how they have affected action planning.
(i) Male and female representation on committees – provide a breakdown by committee and explain any differences between male and female representation.
Explain how potential members are identified.
The Unit prides itself on keeping the number of committees it runs to a minimum. None last over two hours or meet more than monthly and all are held within core hours. All senior members of the Unit are automatically included in the membership of the Senior Advisory Group (monthly, one hour) which feeds ideas about the organisation and running of the Unit to a smaller Executive
Group (monthly, one hour) which is responsible for setting the Unit’s strategy and feeds into the
Faculty and higher levels within the University. The Executive Group also cascades information and University directives to the Senior Advisory Group. Prior to 2009, the Executive Group was the decision making body for the Unit and automatically included all Professors of the Unit. However, this was not a successful model for implementing suggestions made by the Senior Advisory Group and University directives. On taking over the Unit Directorship in 2009, Professor King reconfigured the Executive to a much smaller group, inviting two female Professors to join him
(one from the Institute of Neurology to foster collaborations), joined by a third female professor in
2013, each of whom represent different interests of the Unit (old age psychiatry, adult psychiatry, neuropsychiatry). That three of the four members of the Executive are women indicates our commitment to ensuring women play a key part in the strategic direction of the Unit. This model appears to be working well and has a much more productive relationship with the Senior Advisory
Group than the previous model.
Membership of the Postgraduate teaching committee is determined by the Postgraduate Tutor and includes the leads for the MSc course which has ensured good gender balance. It meets quarterly for one hour. All undergraduate teachers are automatically members of the undergraduate teaching committee (quarterly, two hours). The teaching committees are chaired by the Postgraduate and Undergraduate tutors respectively; both roles are currently held by men and are quite onerous. Committee membership is shown in the table below:
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Committee membership
2010
Committee Male members
Executive group
1 Unit
Director
Senior
Advisory
Group
19
Unit Director
5 Profs
0 Readers
7 Sen. Lecs
5 Lecs
Post- graduate teaching
Under- graduate teaching
3
0 Readers
3 Sen. Lecs
43 consultant psychiatrists of whom 7 are clinical academics
(2 Profs,
5 Sen. Lecs)
Female members
2 Profs
20
2 Profs,
3 Readers,
3 Sen. Lecs
12 Lecs
3
2 Profs
1 Sen. Lec
43 consultant psychiatrists of whom 7 are clinical academics
(2 Profs,
3 Readers,
2 Sen. Lecs)
2011
Male members
1 Unit
Director
19
Unit Director
4 Profs
1 Reader
8 Sen. Lecs
4 Lecs
3
1 Reader
2 Sen. Lecs
42 consultant psychiatrists of whom 8 are clinical academics
(2 Profs,
1 Reader,
5 Sen. Lecs)
Female members
2 Profs
20
2 Profs
3 Readers
5 Sen. Lecs
10 Lecs
3
2 Profs
1 Sen. Lec
43 consultant psychiatrists of whom 7 are clinical academics
(2 Profs,
3 Readers,
2 Sen. Lecs)
2012
Male members
1 Unit
Director
19
Unit Director
3 Profs
1 Reader
7 Sen. Lecs
4 Lecs
3
1 Reader
2 Sen. Lecs
42 consultant psychiatrists of whom 8 are clinical academics
(2 Profs,
1 Reader,
5 Sen. Lecs)
Female members
2 Profs
20
2 Profs
3 Readers
4 Sen. Lecs
14 Lecs
3
2 Profs
1 Sen. Lec
43 consultant psychiatrists of whom 7 are clinical academics
(2 Profs,
3 Readers,
2 Sen. Lecs)
(ii) Female: male ratio of academic and research staff on fixed-term contracts and open-ended (permanent) contracts – comment on any differences between male and female staff representation on fixed-term contracts and say what is being done to address them.
Number and % of male and female staff on fixed and open ended (substantive) contracts, 2010-2012
Fixed contract male
2010
8
2011
5
2012
7 female
% female
Substantive male female
% female
30
79%
12
8
40%
31
86%
14
10
42%
35
83%
12
9
43%
Senior lecturers and more senior staff are employed on substantive contracts, which are reviewed through UCL’s stringent processes for the first 60 months and at annual appraisal thereafter. The majority of more junior staff are female and are usually employed on fixed contracts funded by research budgets with a nine month probationary period. Since most junior staff are not trainee psychiatrists, opportunities for them to progress to substantive contracts within the Unit through the route described in section 4bii) are not available. However, many do not wish to pursue an academic career and instead, need to work as a Research Associate to increase their likelihood of recruitment into clinical psychology training posts in the NHS. Of those that do wish to continue
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an academic career, the Unit tries to be creative in finding opportunities to continue to employ people beyond their contract end and, ultimately to find funding opportunities for substantive posts. Since 2008 the Unit has managed to employ 1 male and 6 female research associates on further contracts at the end of their fixed period of employment, most of which were at a higher grade but only two (both female) were substantive posts. b) For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in the department, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances, what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additional steps may be needed.
(i) Representation on decision-making committees – comment on evidence of gender equality in the mechanism for selecting representatives. What evidence is there that women are encouraged to sit on a range of influential committees inside and outside the department? How is the issue of ‘committee overload’ addressed where there are small numbers of female staff?
The Unit has few committees and, as previously demonstrated, their membership has a good gender balance. The main decision making committees are the Executive Group and the Senior
Advisory Group. The Unit Director works with three female professors on the Executive group.
The Senior Advisory Group is open to all those at Lecturer grade and above which ensures an equal gender representation. We are mindful of the potential to overburden our two current female professors with committee work but have minimised this such that the total committee time per month in the Unit is under 4 hours.
(ii) Workload model – describe the systems in place to ensure that workload allocations, including pastoral and administrative responsibilities (including the responsibility for work on women and science) are taken into account at appraisal and in promotion criteria. Comment on the rotation of responsibilities e.g. responsibilities with a heavy workload and those that are seen as good for an individual’s career.
The allocation of work within the Unit is reviewed annually at the Senior Advisory Group to ensure equitable division of tasks and roles that takes into account individual staff’s other responsibilities.
For example, those staff co-ordinating more or larger research projects are not asked to also manage a heavy teaching commitment. Nevertheless, all senior staff are expected to undertake teaching duties at undergraduate and postgraduate level and to take on at least one administrative or other “extra” role within the Unit. These include: postgraduate tutor; undergraduate tutor; MRCPsych course tutor; Athena SWAN lead; peer review co-ordinator; PPI lead; data protection officer; safety officer; fire officer; and first aider. These roles vary in their workload and those that involve a heavy commitment are rotated every few years and accommodated in the person’s Job Plan (a tool used to agree and review clinical academics’ workloads annually). This approach also ensures that female staff are not automatically expected to take on pastoral roles. As mentioned earlier, there is a culture of mutual support amongst the senior colleagues of the Unit that facilitates successful negotiations to achieve a reasonable balance in everyone’s workload. However, since our previous application we have been in discussion with other Units within the Faculty to collaborate on developing a more systematic process for reviewing and allocating workloads that could be implemented across Departments
(see Action Plan 5.2).
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(iii) Timing of departmental meetings and social gatherings – provide evidence of consideration for those with family responsibilities, for example what the department considers to be core hours and whether there is a more flexible system in place.
The Unit operates within the core hours of 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. Unit meetings are held in core hours and the monthly Senior Advisory Group meeting is held on a day of the week and at a time when all part-time staff are available. The Unit promotes a friendly culture, encourages informal social gatherings, and ensures that all staff are invited to its esteemed and convivial annual Christmas lunch.
(iv) Culture –demonstrate how the department is female-friendly and inclusive. ‘Culture’ refers to the language, behaviours and other informal interactions that characterise the atmosphere of the department, and includes all staff and students .
The Unit’s culture is friendly and highly respectful of the value of the contribution of its female staff. Professor Michael King, the Unit Director, has a very supportive and warm leadership style and this permeates throughout the Unit. He is himself very proactive and visible on leading on equalities issues at UCL generally and has delivered lectures, been involved in key initiatives such as the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and, with senior staff in the Unit, organised seminars on creating an inclusive workplace. As mentioned earlier, our 2013 staff survey found that almost all staff felt the Unit had a friendly and supportive culture. Over half (52%) reported they were
“very satisfied” and 36% reported they were “satisfied” with working in the Unit.
Female staff returning from maternity leave are made to feel very welcome and encouraged to stay in touch informally if they wish during their maternity leave (and to send photos of their baby!) Maternity leave for staff employed on HEFCE funded contracts (substantive staff, ACFs,
MRC, Wellcome and NIHR funded fellowships) is covered by UCL. Staff employed on research contracts that are funded by research bodies are also eligible for maternity leave in accordance with UCL’s policy, but funding to cover their post has to be negotiated with the grant funder.
Chief Investigators within our Unit make a great effort to negotiate acceptable funding arrangements or an extension to the research project in such cases. This issue is not unique to our
Unit, but to date we have managed to successfully negotiate support for maternity leave whenever this has been needed.
The professional development of female staff is very clearly supported at all stages. The senior female staff were all considered research active in the last RAE and all will be included in the forthcoming REF (three male staff are not being included). As mentioned earlier, flexible and home working is encouraged to facilitate female staff in ensuring ring fenced time to prepare new research funding applications and to write up research project results for publication. Home working is seen as an efficient and helpful strategy in maximising staff’s productivity, reducing travel time and balancing the demands of the job with home commitments including parenting.
(v) Outreach activities – comment on the level of participation by female and male staff in outreach activities with schools and colleges and other centres. Describe who the programmes are aimed at, and how this activity is formally recognised as part of the workload model and in appraisal and promotion processes.
All senior staff are actively involved in promoting careers in psychiatry and academic psychiatry through outreach events such as careers fairs for medical students. The last one, held at UCL in
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December 2012, attracted 60 (of 100) medical students to the seminar on psychiatry. The aim is to demystify the specialty and provide useful information on the career path into psychiatry and academic psychiatry. Members of the Unit are also actively involved in promoting academic psychiatry through their roles within the Royal College of Psychiatrists. For example, Dr Killaspy is
Chair of the College’s Rehabilitation and Social Faculty which provides student bursaries for medical students to attend College conferences that include specific sessions for those considering a career in psychiatry. The impact of this kind of role modelling by senior female academics is strongly supported in the Unit and seen as an important activity in encouraging female medical students into academic psychiatry. In 2009, one of the female ACFs, Dr Pitman (see Case Study 2) organised a meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Psychiatry Section aimed at medical students, newly qualified doctors and trainee psychiatrists, to encourage them to consider a career in psychiatry. It included a session on flexible training (a possible pathway for clinical academics) presented by a female UCL trainee psychiatrist. Her involvement came about following her presentation of a potential research project in the department’s weekly academic meeting, and was seen as a way of developing her academic CV. Another session on the evidence base for psychiatric treatments was presented by another of the Department’s female ACFs. Dr Pitman repeated this event at the RSM in November 2012, involving female members of the department as before.
7.
Flexibility and managing career breaks a) Provide data for the past three years (where possible with clearly labelled graphical illustrations) on the following with commentary on their significance and how they have affected action planning.
(i) Maternity return rate – comment on whether maternity return rate in the department has improved or deteriorated and any plans for further improvement. If the department is unable to provide a maternity return rate, please explain why.
The Unit’s maternity return rate has been maintained at 100% over the last three years. This has involved three members of staff (all at lecturer/ACF level). The Unit director encourages open discussions between supervisors and staff planning maternity leave at the earliest opportunity to negotiate a change in working commitment (such as returning to work part-time) where helpful.
People returning from maternity leave are released from teaching for the first term after as per
UCL HR policy. Staff returning from maternity leave are also encouraged to make use of the ten
”keeping in touch” days whilst on maternity leave. Specific tasks that need to be taken on by other members of staff during the person’s maternity leave are agreed with the Unit Director who approaches other staff about this. Having an overview of each person’s workload ensures that there is a fair share of cover in these circumstances. The supportive culture within the Unit has meant that this process has worked very well as explained below in Section 7bii) (and see Case
Study 1).
(ii) Paternity, adoption and parental leave uptake – comment on the uptake of paternity leave by grade and parental and adoption leave by gender and grade. Has this improved or deteriorated and what plans are there to improve further.
Paternity leave is actively encouraged and has been taken by one member of staff (an ACF) in the last three years. A member of our SAT is also about to take paternity leave. Information on maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave has been added to our updated Induction Pack and disseminated to all staff.
24

(iii) Numbers of applications and success rates for flexible working by gender and grade – comment on any disparities. Where the number of women in the department is small applicants may wish to comment on specific examples.
Over the last three years, three female staff (two Senior Lecturers and one Lecturer) have requested flexible working on return from maternity leave which has been agreed in all three cases. The Unit strongly supports flexible working and encourages discussion about it in planning return to work once a staff member announces their intention to take maternity leave. Flexible working has also been facilitated for the two staff (both female, one Senior Lecturer, one Reader) who needed to manage their responsibilities for caring for sick relatives alongside their work.
For each of the areas below, explain what the key issues are in the department, what steps have been taken to address any imbalances, what success/impact has been achieved so far and what additional steps may be needed.
(iv) Flexible working – comment on the numbers of staff working flexibly and their grades and gender, whether there is a formal or informal system, the support and training provided for managers in promoting and managing flexible working arrangements, and how the department raises awareness of the options available.
The Unit operates a fairly informal system whereby any member of staff who wishes to request flexible working first discusses this with their supervisor. As long as their work responsibilities can be achieved through flexible working, such requests can be supported. Nobody who has asked to work flexibly has been turned down to date. Our 2013 staff survey found that 67% of female and
83% of male staff were aware of this option. Information about flexible working has now been included in our updated Induction Pack and webpage (circulated to all staff) to increase awareness of this option (Action Plan 1.1).
(v) Cover for maternity and adoption leave and support on return – explain what the department does, beyond the university maternity policy package, to support female staff before they go on maternity leave, arrangements for covering work during absence, and to help them achieve a suitable work-life balance on their return.
Prior to maternity leave a planning meeting is held with the staff member, their supervisor/line manager and the Unit Director. This identifies their teaching responsibilities, committee work and research responsibilities that need to be allocated to another member of staff. As an example, when a female professor took maternity leave, two senior lecturers (one male, one female) agreed to take over as temporary PI on two of her projects. Their role was recognised by ongoing involvement in the projects on her return and inclusion as co-author in subsequent publications.
At the meeting, there is also discussion about the staff member’s plans for returning to work fulltime or part-time. The Unit is highly supportive of people reducing their hours to manage their home as well as their work responsibilities and returning part-time has been facilitated for all four members of staff who have returned from maternity leave in the last three years. In our 2013 staff survey, all those returning to work after maternity leave reported that they felt supported on their return and able to arrange part-time work if desired.
Word count 4757
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8.
Any other comments: maximum 500 words
Please comment here on any other elements which are relevant to the application, e.g. other
STEMM-specific initiatives of special interest that have not been covered in the previous sections.
Include any other relevant data (e.g. results from staff surveys), provide a commentary on it and indicate how it is planned to address any gender disparities identified.
Staff survey 2012 and 2013
In March 2012, we carried out the first survey of staff within the Unit. We achieved a 75% response rate. The following responses were reported:
84% had had an annual appraisal within the last 12 months
83% felt supported in developing their career
63% had attended at least one course at UCL in line with their CPD needs
89% felt the Unit provided a happy working environment
In order to maximise the response rate we chose not to include any questions that could potentially identify respondents (the small number of male or female staff at certain grades would have meant that had we asked staff their gender and grade they could potentially have been identified).
In the 2013 survey we dealt with this issue by including an option for staff to decline to state their gender. We also enhanced our survey with more in-depth questions, particularly in relation to the promotion process and career progression. We achieved an 83% response rate.
The main results were:
96% of female and male staff had had an appraisal in the previous 12 months
94% of female and 92% of male staff felt supported in their career progression
83% of female and 92% of male staff had been encouraged to undertake CPD activities in the previous 12 months
92% of female and 100% of male staff felt the Unit had a friendly and supportive culture
In addition, we found discrepancies in the awareness of male and female staff of the UCL guidance on promotions, opportunities for promotion and how to prepare for this, and opportunities for flexible working. These results helped us to identify specific interventions for our Action Plan to improve the gender equality in our Unit.
Word count 286
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9.
Action plan
Provide an action plan as an appendix. An action plan template is available on the Athena SWAN website.
The Action Plan should be a table or a spreadsheet comprising actions to address the priorities identified by the analysis of relevant data presented in this application, success/outcome measures, the post holder responsible for each action and a timeline for completion. The plan should cover current initiatives and your aspirations for the next three years .
27

1
1.1
Description of action
Progress at April
2013
Further action planned
Responsibility Timescale Success
Measure
Awareness of SAT’s work
Make all Unit staff aware of SAT’s work
SAT work discussed at monthly Senior Advisory
Group since Sep 2011.
SAT work included in
Unit’s updated Induction
Pack and circulated to all staff March 2013
Agreed webpage content for the Unit’s website detailing the
Unit’s Athena SWAN activities and circulated to all staff March 2013
SAT work to remain a standing item on the
Senior Advisory Group agenda. SAT lead to remind them to discuss work of SAT and relevant items in the
Action Plan with their junior staff in supervision.
Email all Unit staff relevant info about
SAT’s work.
Induction Pack to be kept up to date and provided to all new starters
Unit website to be upgraded by July 2013 and to include Athena webpage.
SAT lead and all senior staff
SAT lead and unit administrator
Unit administrator
Sep 2011 and monthly thereafter
March 2013 and quarterly thereafter
March 2013 and for all new starters thereafter
Unit administrator July 2013
All staff report being aware of
SAT’s work in annual staff survey.
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2
2.1
2.2
2.3
Description of action
Progress at April
2013
Further action planned
Responsibility Timescale Success
Measure
Data and Supporting Evidence
Monitor registration and attainment of degrees for students of PG Taught and
Research courses within Unit
Student data are collected centrally but there are discrepancies with Unit held records.
Previous Action Plan identified need to set up robust student data collection system within
Unit. System for recording student data now in place.
Monitor where staff move on to at end of post or on leaving
Unit
Previous Action Plan identified need to develop exit questionnaire to collect data on leavers.
Leavers’ form now in place and data for all leavers since 2009 collated into database.
Monitor promotion rates of all staff by gender
Data on promotion rates by gender collected for
Athena SWAN submission.
Data to be updated annually by Unit’s MSc and PhD administrators, reviewed by PG teaching committee and reported annually to
SAT.
Unit administrator to continue to collect data from leavers and collate annually.
Unit administrator to collect and collate staff promotion data by gender annually.
MSc/PhD course administrators
Postgraduate teaching committee.
SAT.
Annual review of data in Jan at Senior
Advisory
Group
Unit administrator.
Annual data to
SAT.
Unit administrator.
Annual data to
SAT.
Annual review of data in Dec at Senior
Advisory
Group
Annual review of data in Sep at Executive
Committee to fit with
UCL promotion processes and timeframes
Better match between Unit and central student records.
Better information on where staff move on to in order to monitor any gender discrepancies in career progression.
Improve gender balance in applications and success rates for promotion
29

3
3.1
3.2
Description of action
Progress at April
2013
Further action planned
Responsibility Timescale Success
Measure
Postgraduate students
Encourage recruitment of female MSc and
PhD students
Enhance understanding of female students’ perceptions and motivations for post-graduate study
Annual reminders to senior staff to inform clinical trainees and researchers about MSc course
Previous Action Plan included “Explore the possibility of initiating an event with the wider
Medical School and female students exploring myths and realities of postgraduate study.” After further d/w Faculty, we decided to pilot a smaller event aimed at trainee psychiatrists and researchers: “Meet the Academics” event held April 2013 to provide info about PG study and funding support. Good gender balance in recruitment and completion emphasised
To liaise with Faculty
Recruitment and
Marketing Group to raise awareness of opportunities for MSc and PhD studies in the
Unit
Event was a success and well attended. Plan to run annually
Postgraduate tutors
SAT
MSc and postgraduate tutors
All senior staff
Annual reminders in Jan
Maintain and/or improve gender balance in MSc and PhD student registrations
Annual event in
April
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4
4.1
4.2
4.3
Description of action
Progress at April
2013
Further action planned
Responsibility Timescale Success
Measure
Supporting staff with career progression
Mentoring Scheme Previous Action Plan included need to establish a Mentoring
Scheme for staff on fixed contracts. This is now in place. Most senior staff attended mentoring and gender sensitivity training
13.2.13. Mentors and mentees identified and
Make staff aware of resources available to help prepare for promotion
Ensure staff are well-informed about gender equality issues and career progression paired. Mentoring sessions started.
Disseminated link to podcasts made by UCL
Equalities Team on useful pre-promotion strategies June 2012, disseminated link to promotions workshop video. Links included in updated staff Induction
Pack disseminated
March 2013
Relevant research and information on gender equality and career progression included in updated Induction Pack and disseminated to all staff March 2013
Scheme is at an early phase but enthusiastically received. SAT lead to monitor progress through annual updates from participants on uptake and satisfaction.
SAT lead.
Mentors and mentees.
Relevant and updated links will be sent to all staff annually in Sep to fit with UCL promotion processes.
Induction Pack will be sent to all new staff.
Any further useful links/articles to be circulated to all staff
Unit administrator
Unit administrator and
SAT lead
31
Started Feb
2013.
SAT to review feedback annually in
Feb.
Good uptake and satisfaction with scheme.
Annual
(Sep) disseminati on of relevant information.
Increase applications for promotion and improve gender balance of success rates
March 2013 and as relevant thereafter
Increase applications for promotion and improve gender balance of success rates

4
4.4
5
5.1
5.2
Description of action
Progress at April
2013
Further action planned
Responsibility Timescale Success
Measure
Supporting staff with career progression (cont)
Continue to support all staff with CPD and career progression through annual appraisal
Staff appraisal system in place. The Unit aims to provide annual appraisals for all staff
(UCL HR policy requires two yearly).
This was achieved for
96% of staff last year.
Remind senior staff of their responsibilities to ensure all staff under their supervision have annual appraisal.
Organise refresher appraiser training event for senior staff
Data on completion to be reported to Senior
Advisory Group
Unit HR administrator
Unit administrator
Unit administrator
Annual reminders to senior staff
By Sep
2013
May 2013 and annually thereafter
Culture and departmental organization
Monitor committee membership
Review senior staff workload for Unit tasks (committees, teaching, specific roles in Unit and at
Faculty level)
Committee membership reviewed annually by Director of
Unit and Senior
Advisory Group
Workload reviewed annually by Director of
Unit and Senior
Advisory Group
Continue to review at
Senior Advisory Group
SAT lead exploring with other Departments more formal systems of evaluating workload to ensure gender balance.
Plan to pilot selfassessment system.
Director of Unit Review annually at
Oct Senior
Advisory
Director of Unit
SAT lead
Group
Review annually at
Oct Senior
Advisory
Group
All staff have an annual appraisal and report being encouraged to access CPD activities in annual staff survey
Maintain gender balance on committees
Maintain gender balance with regard to workload for
Unit/Faculty activities
32

5
5.3
6
6.1
Description of action
Progress at April
2013
Further action planned
Responsibility Timescale Success
Measure
Culture and departmental organization (cont)
Review staff experience of working in Unit annually.
First staff survey completed March 2012.
Second survey completed March 2013.
Repeat annual staff survey.
SAT Survey to be sent out annually in
Feb and review data annually in
March
High levels of staff satisfaction and positive experience of specific items in this Action Plan
Parental/carer leave and flexible working
Ensure all staff are aware of parental leave, return to work and flexible working policies
HR policies are available on UCL website; high uptake of parental leave and flexible working in the
Unit already. Links to policies included in updated Induction Pack and webpage and circulated to all staff.
Induction Pack will be sent to all new staff.
Remind senior staff to d/w junior staff in supervision/appraisal.
Report uptake annually
Unit administrator
Unit Director and Senior
Advisory Group
March 2013 and all new starters
Review annually at
Oct Senior
Advisory
Group
Maintain high uptake of parental leave and flexible working
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