September 2014
Headlines from Athena SWAN feedback (November submissions):
Royal Society Diversity Programme:
It has taken a while to receive the feedback from the November 2013
submissions, but please see a summary below. Much of the feedback is
covered in the SWAN toolkit available on the UCL Athena SWAN website.
The information below highlights new ideas and issues panels highlighted.
HoD letter:
Panels welcomed letters that illustrated current actions and impact,
intentions and plans for the future, and evidenced real commitment from
senior management.
Self-assessment process:
Panels commented on the response rate of surveys – praising those
departments who had a good response rate, and asking departments with
low response rates to comment, and include actions in the future to
improve survey response rates. Panels seem to see survey response rate as
a signal of a department’s engagement in the Athena SWAN process.
The panel welcomed SATs attending external events and communicating
with other SWAN departments or external organisations.
When SATs outline their plans for the future; several panels commented
that SATs should meet more regularly than once a term/quarter.
A picture of the department:
If an issue is identified, e.g. certain degrees are more male dominated than
others in the department, always provide a clear discussion around why
this might be the case, and how the department intends to investigate
further or put actions in place to address the issue
Supporting and advancing women’s careers:
Don’t assume the panel will know how appraisal or promotion work at UCL
– make sure processes are explained clearly.
Avoid relying too heavily on one key action; ensure there is a spread of
actions in response to data and consultation with staff.
Panels suggested the inclusion of additional data, and praised departments
who provided data that isn’t asked for in the application form. For example,
the gender balance of successful and unsuccessful grant applications, and
the amount applied for and awarded. Ensure gender specific actions are in
place as a result where appropriate.
When discussing outreach activities – comment on the gender balance of
staff involved in outreach as well as the gender of students the activity for.
Consider how outreach is accounted for in appraisal and workload
allocation. Are women being overburdened with such activities?
Panels welcomed the inclusion of unconscious bias training for staff.
Action plan:
Increasingly, panels are asking to see the actions embedded within the text
– not just referenced (e.g. see Chemical Engineering Silver renewal)
Case studies:
Make sure case studies illustrate consistent good practice in the
department – rather than making it seem that your case study was lucky to
have a supportive PI.
Contact
Harriet.jones@ucl.ac.uk
Tel: 02076798220
Internal: 48220
The Royal Society are publishing case studies that have
been submitted from a range of STEM employers
illustrating the best examples in recruitment and
retention where actions, policies, practices or initiatives
have successfully improved the diversity of the scientific
workforce, in particular the representation of women,
disabled people and those from minority ethnic
backgrounds.
There are also individual case studies, one of which is
from Dr Helen Wilson, a reader in UCL’s Department of
Mathematics.
If you would like to submit an individual case study, or
examples of good practice from your department, please
do so using the submission form on the Royal Society
Website.
Cast your vote for Inspiration Awards for Women:
Professor Claire Elwell from Medical Physics and
Bioengineering and Professor Eva Sorensen from
Chemical Engineering have both been nominated for the
Inspiration Awards for Women in the category of
‘Inspirational Teacher’, and UCL students Claire Crowley
from the Division of Surgery and Larissa Suzuki from
Computer Science were nominated under the
‘Inspirational Students’ category
Please cast your votes for these awards here.
Tips and ideas:
TEDx talk: gender theory condensed into a short 15
minute talk. ‘Understanding the Complexities of Gender’
TEDx talk: The Everyday Sexism Project
Unconscious bias good practice guide: the Institute of
Physics have some useful resources for Project Juno
which is a similar scheme to Athena SWAN for Physics
departments; many of the guidance documents are
relevant to STEMM departments working on Athena
SWAN, in particular their information on unconscious
bias.
Join our networks
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Race Equality Group
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