Athena SWAN Silver department award application
Name of university: UCL
Department: Institute of Cardiovascular Science
Date of application: April 2015
Date of university Bronze and/or Silver Athena SWAN award: 2006 – renewed 2009, 2012
Contact for application: Professor Nish Chaturvedi
Email: n.chaturvedi@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7679 9431
Departmental website address: www.ucl.ac.uk/cardiovascular
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.
Sections to be included
At the end of each section state the number of words used. Click here for additional guidance on
completing the template.
List of abbreviations
BHF: British Heart Foundation
FPHS: Faculty of Population Health Sciences
ICS: Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
JFAG: Junior Faculty Advisory Group
MBBS: Batchelor of Medicine, Batchelor of Surgery
SLMS: School of Life and Medical Sciences
SMG: Strategy and Management Group
PGR: Post graduate research
PGT: Post graduate taught
RCP: Royal College of Physicians
QMUL: Queen Mary University London
UCL INSTITUTE OF CARDIOVASCULAR SCIENCE
Ms Sarah Dickinson
Athena SWAN Manager
08 May 2015
I am delighted to write in support of our Athena SWAN Silver Award application.
The Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (ICS), created in 2011 brings together scientists engaged in research,
teaching and clinical training in the cardiovascular sciences from a range of departments across UCL and
partner hospitals. We have grown to 160 staff, 90 researchers of which 37% are women.
I am proud of the quality and diversity of our SAT, which works to weave Athena SWAN principles into our
strategy, attitudes and beliefs. We implement actions and monitor their impacts on improving the prospects
of female scientists. The extent of our progress has encouraged us to apply for a Silver Award. I would like to
highlight some of our successes:
● Our 2013 Staff Survey showed that only 40% of women understood the promotion process,
revealing an unseen barrier to career development. We instituted a range of changes, including
dissemination of concise guidance on promotions, actively targeting women applicants, including
junior staff on our promotions triage panel and mandating discussion of promotion in staff appraisals.
By 2014, 3 of the 7 staff members applying for promotion were women, all were successful. In the
2015 Staff Survey 90% of women reported they understood the promotion process.
● In the 2013 Staff Survey, only 10% of women strongly agreed that the Institute provided
useful mentorship. We developed a mentorship scheme, offering training and have created 10
successful mentor-mentee pairings in the first round. The 2015 Staff Survey now indicates that 40%
of women strongly agree that useful mentorship is provided.
●
We created a search committee to identify women for de novo recruitment. This was a highly
successful strategy. Pro-active engagement with candidates, who may not otherwise have considered
applying or thought themselves eligible, led to successful applications, filling 3 out of 6 of the
Institute’s core funded posts.
UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science
University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT
Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 3080
a.hingorani@ucl.ac.uk
www.ucl.ac.uk/cardiovascular
Although we see benefits from our interventions, we see no cause for complacency and recognise that this
work must continue apace. With this in mind, we have set ourselves two key stretching targets in the next
period:

To bring on more women into leadership positions in the Institute

To integrate our Athena SWAN agenda with our aim to maximise opportunity for individuals from
Black and Minority ethnic groups, in line with UCL’s ambition to secure a Race Equality Charter Mark
I take great pride and place enormous importance in supporting our female staff. I see enabling them to
maximise their career potential while maintaining a healthy work-life balance as being a key tenet on which
the success of my own Directorship will be judged.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Aroon Hingorani
499 words
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 SAT formed in June 2012 and has 10 members (4 men, 6 women). It includes a graduate research
student, post-docs and academics at various career stages, and administrators. Following our Bronze
award (November 2014) we rotated the chair, appointing Professor Nishi Chaturvedi. The previous chair,
Philippa Talmud remains on the SAT to provide continuity and inspiration.
A refreshed SAT initially met in summer 2014 and monthly until November from when it moved to every
three weeks. Task and finish subgroups were created, for example for the staff survey, and for the design
and management of Institute Athena SWAN events.
The SAT team includes members from across our research groups and people with teaching, research and
managerial responsibilities. Members have a range of working patterns including; working part-time; and
have experience of balancing work with caring and domestic commitments. Several have taken maternity
or paternity leave.
Roles within the SAT include liaison with other SAT teams at UCL, strategic direction and creation of
initiatives, management of the staff survey, interpreting and analysing data, writing and reviewing material
for this submission; and being ambassadors for Athena SWAN in the Institute. The SAT was inclusive in
terms of ethnicity and disability.
Table 1: SAT membership and personal comments
SAT Member
Comment
Katherine Beaney (KB)
‘I am mother of two young children. Juggling work, childcare and
career aspirations is a daily challenge. I am fully confident of a
brighter future for women working within an Institute like ICS.’
PhD student
Professor Nish Chaturvedi (NC)
‘I am a Clinical Professor and Vice Dean Research for the Faculty. I
co-lead a research group of 16 people, 14 of which are women,
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
and 8 of which work part-time and am committed to enabling and
and SAT Chair
supporting flexible working practices’.
Simon Galloway (SG)
Institute manager
’It’s important that we create an environment in which all staff
are supported to produce great science’
Mike Higgins (MH)
‘I developed UCL’s new parental leave policy and am currently in a
job share with a colleague in HR. With a foot in two parts of UCL
Institute Executive Assistant and HR
have a unique perspective on the challenges ICS is rising to meet
Policy Officer
as well as how job sharing works in practice.’
Aroon Hingorani (AH)
Institute Director
‘My wife is a Consultant Ophthalmologist and we share the care
of our two children. I do the school run in the mornings which
means I often get in late, so I am fully aware of the need for
flexible working‘
Page | 1
Anastasia Z. Kalea (AZK)
Research Associate
‘I have a young son and I recently returned from maternity leave
and slowly but successfully managed to get back on my career
track. That was made possible because of a supportive
environment at work that encourages me to succeed and offers
me much needed flexibility in my working hours’
Riyaz Patel (RP)
‘As a working parent, I fully appreciate the strains of balancing
work, career aspirations and family life, especially for clinicalBHF Intermediate Clinical Fellow and
academics. I have found a great deal of support from ICS to help
Honorary Consultant
manage this balance, especially when dealing with simple things
like the school run or appointments’
Philippa Talmud (PJT)
Professor of Cardiovascular Genetics
Ann Walker (AW)
Senior Lecturer
‘I had my three children as a postdoc and worked part-time for
some of this period. I have 4 step-children, two of whom are
severely disabled, and 4 grandchildren who I am very involved
with. I couldn’t have done this and progressed scientifically
without a supportive partner‘
I have elderly parents who live some distance away and flexible
working is helpful when I need to help arrange things with them’
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
SAT members attended UCL-wide events to support departments in their Athena SWAN submissions and
liaised with UCL colleagues in other departments such as the Cancer Institute, and with the UCL Athena
SWAN adviser, to ensure adoption of best practice within our action plan. Professor Talmud meets with
senior female scientists externally in the ‘Science and Shopping’ network to discuss women in science and
aspects of our application.
Two SAT members sit on our parent Faculty’s Equality Committee, at which all Institute’s report on
progress and share best practice. We highlight Athena SWAN activities on our website, and had an
awareness raising session at our summer all-staff event. Athena SWAN is a standing item at our monthly
Strategy & Management Group (SMG).
We performed a staff survey in 2013 (53% of respondents were women) repeated in 2015 (43% female).
Issues from the initial survey included concerns about equal pay from women, and lack of mentoring were
two important issues. Both these have been addressed and reported on in this submission. In addition we
recently convened a Junior Faculty Advisory Group (JFAG) with representation from junior and mid-carrer
staff as a mechanism to increase input into our action plan.
The Institute is in an exciting period of transition. An alliance with the Barts Heart Centre and Queen Mary
University of London (QMUL) has been created, linking academia with NHS clinical care. We have begun
discussions with our counterpart SAT to explore joint working, and adoption of joint protocols and practice
(Action 2.1).
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.
Following submission the SAT will reconvene at least every two months to monitor progress of our action
plan. We will use surveys, focus groups and new data to monitor our action plan and inform new
initiatives.
We will also:






Rotate the chair for each new submissions
Continually look to expand / refresh membership (Action 2.2)
Implement, monitor, evaluate and update the SAT action plan
Work on recommendations made by the JFAG for future Athena SWAN initiatives (Action 2.3)
Produce an annual progress report for all staff
Meet regularly with our counterpart at QMUL and develop joint activities in support of women in
science.
Word count: 959
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 Institute of Cardiovascular Science (ICS) formed in 2011, brought together basic and clinical
scientists in disciplines including epidemiology, genetics, imaging, hypertension, inherited disease and
engineering. We have 8 research groups and 160 staff including 90 scientists, 33 of which are women.
Group heads report to the Institute Director, Aroon Hingorani, and are supported by 5 administrative
staff.
Figure 1. Research groupings of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences 2015
Hatter
Cardiovascular
Institute
Cardiovascular
Genetics
NCCPO
incorporating
NICOR
& Vascular
Physiology
GOSH
Cardiovascular
Surgery
Cardiology in
the Young
(Heart
Hospital)
Cardiometabolic
Phenotyping Unit
Cardiovascular
Imaging Group
Institute of
Cardiovascular
Science
Genetic
Epidemiology
Staff members work in eight buildings over three sites. This geographical spread, and our origins in four
different university departments, presented challenges to fostering a common culture at the Institute’s
inception. However, our Athena SWAN initiatives have provided us with a helpful focus to address this,
acting as both driver and enabler in instilling common principles and goals.
Clinicians in our Institute have joint NHS appointments, largely in Cardiology. The gender balance of our
clinical academics reflects that found in cardiology (i.e. around 21% women overall and 11% women at
consultant level – RCP2011). The expansion of the clinical service in its re-location to the Barts Heart
Centre in May 2015 provides an opportunity to address this gender imbalance through recruitment.
Research
ICS is a world-class centre of expertise in pioneering novel strategies in preventative and therapeutic
cardiovascular medicine. Our research is interdisciplinary and we collaborate internally, across the UK and
worldwide, providing opportunities to share Athena SWAN experiences and activities.
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.
We do not run 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.
ICS contributes a compulsory module to all 330 students on UCL’s MBBS programme. The UCL female
student intake is close to the national average of 55% (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Undergraduate Medical School Population by Gender 2010-14
100%
855
865
878
868
850
45%
866
853
849
863
859
55%
50%
Male
Female
0%
2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
HESA
2013/14
Medicine
and
Dentistry
Our MBBS teaching introduces pre-clinical students to patients. Six of the 16 (38%) clinical tutors on this
course are women. This ensures the visibility of female clinicians as role models, providing encouragement
to female students to consider cardiology as a career. The two prizes awarded to date for the best end-of
course essay have been won by women.
A new integrated BSc in Cardiovascular Science launching in 2016 provides a new opportunity to encourage
female applicants to the discipline by including images of female students and teachers in the course
advertising materials (as we have done with our MSc, see below) and by ensuring female course tutors are
present at the iBSc fair, where students make their course selection (Action 3.1).
(iii)
Postgraduate male and female numbers completing taught courses – 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 Institute’s MSc in Cardiovascular Science launched in 2012/13. Flexible part-time study has been
offered since 2014/15 but so far has not been taken up.
A promotional video for the course highlighted the personal tutoring system and supportive environment,
featuring several positive female role models. These include the course director, and two out of four
students. We advertise on the British Atherosclerosis Society, UCL and findamasters websites. The video
has been viewed 1,169 times in one year.
Figure 3. MSc Cardiovascular Science video images
Enrolment on the MSc course has increased from 12 to 19 in 3 years; the proportion of women from 58% to
68%. 100% of enrolled women completed the course, comparing favourably to the national average of 93%
for women and 94% for men (HESA 2012-13). In addition to the academic and practical support of the
course director and education officer, anecdotal evidence suggests that assigning an individual personal
tutor contributes to our high completion rate (Figure 4).
Figure 4. MSc Cardiovascular Science students entering and completing the course by gender
100%
5
6
5
6
7
50%
M
7
13
7
5
5
entered
completed
to date
F
0%
entered
completed
to date
2012/13
2013/14
entered
2014/15
The proportion of women graduating from our course is similar to that for the MSc in Preventative
Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, and to the national picture for Clinical
Medicine (Table 2).
We will continue to monitor and review student completion data (Action Point 3.2).
Table 2. Percentage women completers by course compared to the national average
UCL MSc
Cardiovascular
Science
Imperial MSc
Preventative
Cardiology
National picture:
ECU data
Biological Science
PGT
National picture:
ECU data Clinical
Medicine, PGT
2012-13
58% (7)
65%
68%
61%
2013-14
45% (5)
48%
N/A
N/A
(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.
ICS runs three postgraduate research programmes: MD(Res), 3-year PhD and 4-Year BHF PhD. The total
number of students, and proportion of women, has increased, the latter from 35% to 40% in three years
(Figure 5). This is lower than comparator HESA (2012) data for women in biological sciences (60%) and
clinical medicine (58%). Stratification by full-time/part-time status reveals that female representation for
full-time, largely basic science, degrees, ranging from 58% to 64%, is similar to the national average,
whereas part time registration is largely taken up by clinical cardiologists, and female representation, at
22% reflects the proportion of women entering that specialty nationally.
Figure 5. Total and full time PGR student numbers 2011-2014
100%
4
5
6
19
16
20
8
25
50%
M
7
7
10
15
11
11
11
F
17
0%
total
full time total full time total full time total full time
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
The interview panel for the three BHF PhD positions in 2014 consisted of one male and four females;
positions were offered to and accepted by one male and two female students. We aim to achieve equitable
gender balance on PhD interview panels (Action 3.3).
(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.
Postgraduate Taught (PGT)
Just over 60% of applicants to the MSc course are women. For each year, the gender ratio was maintained
at both the offers and acceptances stages (Figure 6). Our processes appear equitable, but we will continue
to monitor trends.
Figure 6. MSc in Cardiovascular Science: PGT applications, offers and acceptances
100%
7
6
5
23
18
11
21
15
9
14
13
8
26
24
15
50%
12
10
7
Male
Female
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
Acceptances
Offers
Applications
Acceptances
Offers
Applications
Acceptances
Offers
Applications
0%
The MSc student selection committee makes offers on the basis of published criteria, and keeps records.
Committee members have all attended courses in recruitment and equality of selection. In the first year
we increased numbers by 58%.
The proportion of female PGT students at the application, offer and acceptance stages is similar to that for
MSc Preventative Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College (Table 3).
Table 3. Percentage women by course for PGT Applications, Offers and Acceptances
UCL MSc Cardiovascular Science
Imperial MSc Preventative Cardiology
Applications
Offers
Acceptances
Applications
Offers
Acceptances
2012-13
63%
63%
58%
59%
67%
71%
2013-14
48%
45%
45%
53%
57%
53%
2014-15
65%
64%
68%
N/A
N/A
N/A
Postgraduate Research (PGR)
Our PGR opportunities appear on our website, with the BHF PhD programme being advertised nationally.
Just over half of applicants are women (Figure 7). The offer rate was lower for women than men (38%
versus 80%) in 2014/15. We are reviewing this and planning remedial action (Action 3.4).
Figure 7. PGR applications, offers and acceptances
100%
11
8
8
4
4
10
6
5
8
8
5
5
Acceptances
5
Offers
4
10
6
Acceptances
4
10
Offers
2
3
Acceptances
2
3
Offers
50%
4
2
2
11
M
13
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
Applications
Applications
Applications
Acceptances
Offers
Applications
Acceptances
Offers
Applications
0%
2014/15
F
(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.
Post-Graduate Taught
Grade achievement was equally high in men and women (Figure 8).
Figure 8. MSc Cardiovascular Science PGT degree classification by gender
100%
2
1
2
1
3
2
50%
1
M
3
2
3
F
1
2
1
0%
2012/132013/142012/132013/142012/132013/142012/132013/14
Distinction
Merit
Pass
Pending
Post-Graduate Research
There is no gender difference in time to thesis submission (Figure 9). We will continue to monitor
completion rates (Action Point 3.5).
Figure 9. Average time to submission of doctorate
Average time to submission (years)
6
5
4
1
3
5
3
14
4
F
M
2
1
0
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
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
46 of the 90 research staff are non-clinical, 22 of those are women (48%, matching the HESA figure for
Biosciences in London). Of the 44 clinicians, 12 are women (27% - lower than the HESA figure of 47% for
clinical medicine in London but similar to the RCP figure of 21% for cardiologists). Thus, for non-clinical
posts, there is a balance or even a preponderance of women at earlier career stages, with male dominance
at senior professorial level. For clinical posts, men predominate throughout.
Figures 11 and 12, which include students, shows that the long term pipeline leaks beyond the postdoc/senior post-doc stage and that there is attrition of women beyond that.
Figure 10: Staff snapshot by type and gender 1st October 2014
100
80
57%
60
Male
40
52%
43%
20
73%
48%
Female
27%
0
Both
Non-clinical
Clinical
Figure 11: Non-clinical pipeline 2011 to 2014
100%
50%
PGT
2013
2011
2013
2011
2013
2011
2013
2011
2013
2011
2013
2011
2013
2011
2013/14
2011/12
0%
M
F
PGR
Research Research
Senior
Senior
Assistant Associates Research Lecturer &
& Fellows Associates Principal
& Fellows Research
Associate
Reader
Professor
Figure 12: Clinical Pipeline 2011 to 2014
Professors
One in four non-clinical professors is a woman (25% compared to HESA 17% for Biosciences). Amongst 10
clinical professors, only one, a recent recruit, is a woman, 10% compared to HESA 24% in Clinical Medicine,
but reflecting the proportion of women in consultant cardiology posts nationally (11%).
Explanations for this gender imbalance include:


Age profile: 10 of our 14 professors are over 50, six are over 60. However, the removal of
compulsory retirement may constrain change at this level.
Cardiology remains a male dominated specialty.
Our approach to redressing this imbalance has been three fold: we are seeking to encourage consideration
of Cardiology as a career, by emphasis on positive female role models in our MBBS teaching and MSc
recruitment; we pro-actively search for women to recruit to senior posts (historically core funded but
increasingly looking to fellowship funding as a consequence of restrictions on new core posts at UCL), and
we target and encourage women scientists annually to consider putting themselves forward for promotion.
Both of the latter approaches have already increased the proportion of women in the professoriate.
Senior Lecturers and Principal Research Associates
We have nearly doubled numbers of non-clinicians by recent recruitment and/or promotion of three
women. Two were internal promotions, targeted and actively supported in their applications.
The recent appointment of a female cardiologist, head hunted from another institution, has increased our
clinical numbers. She has a mentor to support growth in leadership skills and prepare for promotion.
Lecturers
We have no lecturers.
Senior Research Associates / Fellows – Key Transition Point
Unlike senior posts, female representation in non-clinical posts at a junior level is high, with 7 of 11 staff
(64%) in this grade being women, as a consequence of internal pro-active promotion. In contrast, 1/6
clinicians in this grade is a woman (17%) similar to the speciality norm. Despite this, we aim to do better.
We will review recruitment and selection strategies using hard data and focus group discussions to identify
barriers to application and selection, and plan interventions accordingly. (Action Point 3.6)
Research Associates / Fellows – Key Transition Point
This is the commonest scientific role in the Institute, the area of greatest equality and the point at which
the pipeline leaks. Of the 20 non-clinical post-docs, 10 are female (50%). This mirrors the HESA figure in
biosciences. Funding for long-term employment and career progression are significant barriers and affect
men and women equally. We have focussed initiatives for this group, through enhanced promotion
processes, fellowship days, careers surgery and a mentoring scheme (see later sections). We have 23
clinicians at this grade. Six are women, which at 26% is considerably lower than the HESA figure of 60% in
clinical medicine but is similar to that in clinical cardiology.
Research Assistants
These posts are occupied by scientists without PhDs who have the expectation of gaining one. Few new
appointments are made to this grade.
Current activities and plans
Recognising that our academic structure is male professor heavy and that the pipeline has few women in
academic grades, despite our recent successes, we have developed a 7-point plan (Actions 3.7-3.13).
 Search committee to actively seek female candidates for core funded posts. This approach has
already yielded fruit, with three of the six recent appointments going to women identified by this
process.
 Support existing staff to apply for research council and BHF fellowships through one-to-one
mentoring, review of draft applications, enabling collaboration and interview training. Three of our
last five applications for fellowships from current staff came from women receiving structured indepth supported in this way.
 Identification and support of women for internal promotion
 Prepare and advance women in leadership roles
 Mentoring at postgraduate and post-doc level which currently pairs 20 staff into mentoring
relationships (see section on support for staff at key transition points)
 Leadership of, or participation in, faculty-wide early career fora. For example, the SAT chair
participated in a workshop attended by over 100 participants, and led an in depth seminar of the
Faculty ‘get that grant’ series.
 Promotion and implementation of policies on parental leave and flexible working, including
additional support for maternity and paternity leave.
(viii)
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.
No core academic staff left during the three year period and all leavers were those funded by external
research grants with funding end dates. Reasons for voluntary resignation or moving include return to the
NHS for clinical staff, and re-location to another HEI for non-clinical staff. This latter pattern is encouraged
at a junior stage for career progression, in order to gain new skills and demonstrate independence.
Figure 13: Reasons for leaving 2011/12 to 2013/14
10
8
6
Transfer
4
Retirement
Contract-related
2
Resignation
0
Female
Male
2011/12
Female
Male
Female
2012/13
Male
2013/14
Table 4: Proportion of staff leaving as a percentage of total employed,
stratified by gender
2011/12
Female
Resignation
Contract-related
Retirement
Transfer
2012/13
Male Female
2013/14
Men Female
Male
9%
4%
4%
9%
15%
3%
27%
18%
4%
9%
8%
7%
4%
2%
Although women who leave as a proportion of all women employed appears high, absolute numbers are
small. We will introduce and analyse an online exit survey for scientific staff and identify appropriate
actions (Action 3.14).
Word count: 1952
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.
Our previous application did not discuss recruitment practice in detail as there were doubts about data
quality. Ensuring good recruitment data prospectively was one of our action points and we have achieved
this for the last year of the data. We have reviewed and revised the historic data and include three year
data for non-clinical posts for the first time.
Non-clinical research posts
Figure 14a: Non- Clinical Research Recruitment October 2011 to September 2013
100
80
1
1
19
4
3
Applied
Interviewed
Offered
7
60
40
Female
Male
20
0
Figure 14b: Non-clinical Research Recruitment 2013-14
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
39
13
4
Male
Female
42
Applied
9
Interviewed
2
Offered
The data shows an attrition rate at all stages but with the attrition rate slowing from 2013-14. This
coincides with the Institute’s action planning for our previous Athena application and improved data
quality. These improvements, while welcome, still show room for improvement and our action plan
focuses on this key transition point for women. It is clear that the proportion of women succeeding is
less than it should be.
Clinical Research Recruitment
Figure 15: Clinical Research Associate Recruitment 2013-14
100
90
80
70
28
13
60
8
50
Male
40
Female
30
20
13
6
10
2
0
Applied
Interviewed
Offered
Clinical Research Posts
Far fewer women than men apply for clinical posts, reflecting the gender balance in the candidate pool.
Interview rates by gender are balanced but there is a clear indication that far fewer women (33%) than men
(62%) are made offers. This suggests there is something about the interview process that works against
women being appointed that needs further exploration.
Figure 16: Core Academic Recruitment (combined) 2011-2014
120
100
80
6
4
4
Male
60
Female
40
20
4
3
Applied
Interviewed
3
0
Offered
The low numbers of applicants for academic posts reflects their specialist nature and the pipeline suggests
equality in recruitment for these posts.
Conscious that recruitment needs to be fair we have already taken the following steps:






Improved recruitment data to allow better analysis issues
Reviewed and revised recruitment material to ensure inclusion of a generic equality statement
and an unambiguous section on our commitment to Athena SWAN including a link to our
Bronze submission
We draw applicant’s attention to work-life balance policies and other relevant benefits e.g.
maternity entitlements
Ensure new starters take UCL recruitment training which includes information on the Equality
Act 2010 and a discussion on unconscious bias.
25% of our SMG have had unconscious bias training
All our panels at least meet (and often exceed) the UCL policy of 25% women
However, further activity is clearly needed, and the following actions are planned:
Action Points:





All academics and staff managers who sit on panels to refresh their recruitment knowledge at least
every three years by attending UCL training (Action 4.1)
All academic and senior research staff to do unconscious bias training (31st December 2015 –
dedicated funding in budget for 2015/16) (Action 4.2)
Ensure that potential applicants are given the option of discussing the role with a female academic
(Action 4.3)
Run a focus group with academic cardiologists to understand why women are less successful than
men at interview (Action 4.4)
Work with ‘Women in Cardiology’ in the British Cardiovascular Society to help efforts to increase
the number of applicants, for example by using their network to advertise positions (Action 4.5)
(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.
Promotions at UCL are in two categories, senior and research. Senior promotions is for all academic staff
and those research staff applying for promotion beyond senior post-doc level; research promotions is for
research staff up to senior post-doc level.
Irrespective of type, we invite all eligible staff to submit their CVs to a local gender and grade-balanced
panel which includes research staff and non-Institute academics. It assesses applications against the
criteria and decides which to support to the decision making stage (a Faculty committee for research
promotions and a UCL-wide committee for senior promotions).
Applicants receive constructive feedback from the Director and since 2011 all those who we supported
have been successful, including six women. We believe that the rigorous local assessment contributes to
our high success rate.
Figure 17: Combined Promotions 2011 to 2014
25
20
15
Male
Female
10
5
0
Applied
Supported
Promoted
Success rates for women from application to promotion are marginally higher than for men. However,
relatively few of either gender take the opportunity to submit their CVs and our action plan aims to
increase the applicant rate to at least 40% of all eligible staff each year.
The main barrier to senior promotion for research staff is funding: for an application to succeed there must
be funding in place from 1st October in the following year, around 11-12 months after the process starts.
Therefore the Institute has adopted a policy whereby, the substance of the case is the most important
consideration and if supported the Institute will try to identify funding. To date this has approach has been
successful.
Such considerations do not apply to academic staff and the Institute is now in a position in which only six of
its academics are below Professor level, with one of those going through the promotions process at the
time of writing.
Promotion processes for research staff have not always been well understood so we have taken a number
of steps to increase understanding by:








Sending concise written guidance on UCL processes to all eligible staff
Explaining the internal process in an invitation to all eligible staff to submit their CV for
consideration
Emphasising funding as a secondary issue to achievement (previously lack of funding was an
absolute barrier to application)
Offering the opportunity to speak to the Institute manager about process and Director about
applying
Inviting all research staff to be considered as a member of our internal promotion committee and
appointing a female from the applicants
Having a grade and gender balanced internal committee to make transparent decisions based on
the criteria
Giving feedback to applicants
Creating an aide memoir for appraisers which includes a prompt to discuss promotion
Our action points are:



Bring forward the invitation to research staff to apply by around a month to 1st October in each
year to allow more time to prepare; to align it with senior promotions activity; and maximise time
to identify funding (Action 4.6)
Run an annual research promotions workshop with HR and academic colleagues in September
(Action 4.7)
Continue to host our own and promote other departments’ annual ‘fellowship’ events and make
explicit the link between a fellowship as evidence of achievement and as source of funding (Action
4.8)
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) 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
We instituted the following process initiatives to enhance the existing UCL equal opportunities policy:







Recruitment templates were reviewed at Institute level to ensure:
o Criteria are grade-appropriate
o Non-discriminatory language is used
o Positive action statements are included; senior roles specifically encourage female
applicants
o Specific reference to our Athena SWAN work, with links
o Inclusion of work-life balance and support policy references
Shortlisting scores are collected and anomalous outcomes are explored with the recruiting
manager
Panel composition is collected and monitored to ensure at least 25% of each panel are female (we
regularly achieve 33%)
Involvement of non-ICS female colleagues in recruitment panels to ensure representation and to
spread workload
New managers are advised by Institute manager to attend mandatory recruitment training as a
priority
The Institute Manager is tasked to ensure for academic search committees are gender, grade and
role balanced
Used gender equality as a key plank in securing permission to not advertise a professorial post,
resulting in the appointment of a female professor following interview.
Although the gender balance in applications for clinical posts exceeds the norm for the proportion of
women within our speciality, at 33%, we would like to do better and encourage more women in cardiology
to apply for research posts.
To this end we will work with the ‘Women in Cardiology’ group of the British Cardiac Society to publicise
the opportunities and merits of academic medicine focussed around a bespoke event at the annual
meeting, enabling networking, presentation of positive role models, and discussion groups (Action 4.5)
We found barriers to female recruitment at both the shortlisting and interview stage. We have instituted a
refresh interview training skills session for all existing staff, and instituted a female contact person for all
scientific appointments. Uptake of this will be reviewed (Action Point 4.3). We will also run a new
unconscious bias training session, and aim to improve uptake from 25% to 50% in the first year. Finally, we
will run a focus group of senior academics, hosted by an external facilitator, to determine whether there
are indeed conscious reasons for the low offer rate at interview (Action Point 4.4)
(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.
Key transition points include moving from external grant supported posts to HEFCE (academic) positions,
and from research associate to more senior positions. The 2013 staff survey highlighted concerns with
mentoring, demonstrating that nearly 20% of women disagreed with the statement that the Institute
provided them with useful mentoring opportunities (data are shown for women only for clarity, however
findings for men were similar).
Figure 18. Results of staff survey 2013 and 2015 on mentoring opportunities for women
In response to this we set up our in-house mentoring scheme. An initiation event took place attended by
50 staff’ followed by workshops led by an external consultant and attended by 20 potential mentors and
mentees. This series of workshops will be repeated again this year.
We have now set up 10 mentee/mentor pairs and plan a follow up session later in 2015 with the external
consultant to evaluate the scheme (Action 3.11).
The early career forum for researchers has representation from ICS across the spectrum, with Dr Kalea as a
member of the steering committee and Professor Chaturvedi as speaker and tutor for a ‘Get that Grant’
session.
Professor Talmud, as part of her SAT activities for the University, invited Nobel Laureate Professor Elizabeth
Blackburn to speak. As part of her visit, Professor Blackburn also attended a lunch meeting with junior ICS
faculty, with a slot dedicated to managing scientific careers and life work balance. Immediate feedback
from the session was positive:
‘Thank you very much for organising this meeting with Prof. Blackburn today. It is inspirational to meet her
and benefit from her insight, advice and experience on how women can progress in science’.
’ I just wanted to thank you for the lunch invitation yesterday with Elizabeth Blackburn. It was a fantastic
experience talking to her and getting her insight on career progression and overcoming milestones.’
Figure 19: Professor Blackburn with Institute Staff
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?
The Institute operates an annual appraisal for all staff, conducted by the line manager. Clinical academics
have a joint appraisals with the ICS Director and NHS manager. The institute maintains records and issues
reminders to ensure appraisals take place. The current completion rate is 68%, below our target of 90%.
The current processes though do not fully acknowledge wider activities, such as administration and
teaching, we are therefore revising the structure and scoring of appraisals to give more weight to activities
beyond research (Action 4.9)
Figure 20. Comparison of transparency of the promotion process for female staff in 2013 and 2015
Our 2013 staff survey revealed poor levels of understanding of the promotion process. This prompted a
range of measures including:







Sending concise written guidance on UCL processes to all eligible staff
Pro-active invitation to all staff to consider application
One to one meetings offered with either Institute manager or Director to discuss process and
eligibility
Inviting all research staff to be considered as a member of our internal promotion committee
Having a grade and gender balanced internal committee to make transparent decisions based on
the criteria
Feedback to all applicants
Creating an aide memoir for appraisers which includes a prompt to discuss promotion
This has resulted in an improvement in the percentage of women who understand the processes, with an
increase from 45% to 90% of respondents agreeing that they understood the process.
Figure 21. Comparison of career development opportunities for flexible or part time workers for female
staff between 2013 and 2015
Our 2013 staff survey revealed that nearly 20% of women thought that career development opportunities
for part time or flexible working staff were poorer than those for full time staff. As a consequence of our
pro-active approach to promotions, we are pleased to report that two women researchers promoted last
year to senior research associates work part time; as does one of two put forward this year also.
(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?
UCL has well-established induction and probation procedures to which we which we add the offer of an
induction meeting with the Institute Manager within their first month. Staff are provided with information
about Athena SWAN activities and support available for career development. In time, this information will
be included in a handbook which will be available to all staff (Action 4.10)
A requirement, of which UCL is proud, is that all new staff undertake Equality and Diversity training within
six weeks of appointment.
The Institute will continue to monitor and ensure that this training is completed by all new starters. In
addition, all relevant career and personal development training organised by UCL for female students or
staff (such as the ‘Springboard Programme’, which several ICS women have attended over the past years)
will be highlighted in the new Athena SWAN section of our website and in the staff handbook (Action 4.10)
Personal development opportunities are addressed formally as part of the induction, probation and
appraisal process and informally during the year on an ad hoc basis.
(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, 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.
Students undertaking the MSc in Cardiovascular Science are allocated a personal tutor with whom they
meet regularly throughout the year of study. They have the opportunity to request a female tutor. The
course Director also meets with students regularly and provides informal pastoral care.
Over the last three years we have run successful student career development afternoons. Informal
feedback is positive and 65% of attendees were female. At the next session we will collect formal feedback
to ensure that the sessions are meeting expectations. (Action 4.11).
We appreciate how important role models are for all students and at our monthly student seminars we ask
a senior scientists (male or female) to spend 10 minutes of their allocated outlining how they juggle worklife balance.
We took formal feedback on this part and had 11 responses, 6 of whom were women. Overall the
respondents found this part of the seminar really helpful (10/11); 8/11 felt the role model outline
provided helpful information in relation to work- life balance; and all agreed that the talks provided
useful information about career progression.
We are sensitive to the fact that some PhD students might take (and indeed have taken) maternity leave
during their MD(Res) or PhDs. They are welcomed into our ‘preparation for pregnancy and returning to
work’ group (see Section Cover for maternity and adoption leave and support on return).
We appreciate the importance of coaching and mentoring. The Institute is too small to support one-to-one
mentoring for its students so we have set up a group mentoring scheme. We have been able to
accommodate 3 PhD groups this way. The SAT will continue to monitor the impact of mentoring by
interview and survey (Action 4.12)
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 Institute’s governance is via its senior academic staff group (SMG). With relatively few female
academics the danger is that in pursuit of equality on committees the burden becomes unfair. This is
remediable to some degree by inviting staff from outside the Institute to participate so, for example,
academic appointments committees, the teaching committee, and the SMG are supplemented by external
staff.
The flat structure of the Institute and few formal committees mean that staff don’t have onerous duties.
Where ad hoc work is required we invite and encourage all relevant staff to participate e.g. when deciding
what our iBSc should look like we invited all research staff to contribute. When refreshing our educational
leads in 2014 we invited applications from relevant staff and interviewed four candidates for two roles. A
woman was appointed to one role, and a woman and a male deputy to the other.
Table 6. Committee representation by gender
Female
7%
N/A
54%
N/A
7%
33%
49%
64%
11%
50%
47%
60%
Male
93%
N/A
46%
N/A
93%
67%
51%
36%
82%
50%
53%
40%
SMG
Promotions
Teaching /
Student
SAT
SMG
Promotions
Teaching /
Student
SAT
SMG
Promotions
Teaching /
Student
SAT
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
Other than the SMG, committees appear reasonably balanced. Action 4.13 is to ensure that as we revise
our governance structure as we move towards a joint Institute we will increase female representation on
that committee (or its successor) so that it is proportionate to the make-up of the Institute.
(ii) Female:male ratio of academic and research staff on fixed-term contracts and openended (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.
UCL only rarely offers fixed-term contracts, and then only for a narrowly defined range of circumstances,
the most common being for a specific and time limited project usually less than 9 months. At present there
are no ICS staff members who are on fixed-term contracts. Staff on open-ended contracts with funding end
dates have the same benefits as those on open ended contracts.
Table 7: HEFCE funded staff 2011 to 2014
Female
8%
10%
10%
11%
Male
16%
15%
15%
14%
2011
2012
2013
2014
The main distinction now is between HEFCE versus grant funding. This latter is a key barrier to a scientific
career and affects the majority of staff, whether men or women.
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 Institute is entering a period of change as we develop partnership with cardiovascular sciences at
QMUL. The exact nature of the partnership committee structure is under discussion, but provides a unique
opportunity to embed principles of equality and diversity from the outset, and benefit from models of good
practice at both sites.
The Institute’s current committee structure will continue in parallel with new partnership structures. The
focus is the SMG, which is made up of all our Readers and Professors (currently thirteen men and two
women) plus academics from outside the Institute. A teaching committee and a promotions sub-committee
report to this, as does the SAT. In the SMG, the large differences in gender composition are due to the
overall composition of the Institute, albeit tempered somewhat by two non-ICS affiliate female SMG
members from other Faculties.
Apart from the SMG, membership of all other ICS committees is advertised to all staff; women and junior
staff are particularly encouraged to put themselves forward.
The promotions subcommittee was boosted by the addition of a female Senior Lecturer from within the
Institute and now consists of 3 female and 3 male members. For the first time this year we invited post-doc
representation, and another woman joined as a result.
The teaching committee includes staff from a number of other UCL departments who teach on the course.
It is open to all ICS staff who contribute to teaching. Eleven staff are on the committee, seven of whom are
women. The current MSc course leader, graduate tutor and deputy graduate tutor are all women.
We expect our education programme to expand over the next few yours, for example with the iBSc to start
in 2016. The course director elect is a woman, who has chosen to join us from the Division of Medicine.
We established a Junior Faculty Advisory Group, co-chaired by one man and one woman, drawing its
membership from all research groups. Its brief is to discuss and design initiatives to support junior faculty
in their work and career progression, to provide a networking space for junior staff, and a forum for formal
communication with the SMG. This group has only recently convened, so we cannot report on activities
and impacts at this early stage; however initial feedback is positive.
All staff serving on committees are given an agreed duration of tenure, with plans for refresh and rotation
to ensure that other activities do not suffer. Institute administration keeps a record of committee
membership to ensure that the same individual is not approached repeatedly for duties. In addition
individual committee membership and duties is monitored at staff appraisals to ensure that committee
overload for overstretched women does not occur.
Our staff naturally participate in UCL committees, with ICS SAT members also sitting on the Faculty Equality
Group and the Faculty Executive. Our SAT chair is also the Vice Dean of Research for the Faculty, and
externally is chair of the Wellcome Trust Investigator Award Interview Panel, and Trustee of the British
Heart Foundation.
(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.
UCL appraisal considers the range of activities carried out by an individual and the discussion centres on the
individual’s self-assessment. In addition clinical staff are required to agree a job plan as part of their
combined academic/clinical appraisal process.
The UCL appraisal process does not formally review balance of pastoral and administrative responsibilities,
however we have devised an action plan to address this, which aligns with the promotion process (Action
4.9).
Teaching is a relatively small part of our overall activity while being a significant commitment for individual
staff. On our Masters it is done by those who agreed to offer modules and ICS staff often teach on courses
run by other departments. MSc personal tutors are two men and a woman. The Institute graduate tutors
are all currently women, with the lead for our MBBS contribution being a man.
These roles are reviewed regularly and we anticipate changes within the next two years. There is no
assumption that these are women’s roles.
Administrative and managerial responsibility rests with the Director (male) and is devolved to research
group leads (all male). There are around five senior academics on the SMG who will retire in the next twothree years. This will provide opportunities to change the gender balance of the Institute.
Responsibility for Athena SWAN sits with the SAT which is gender balanced and which we aim to expand
and enhance (Action 2.2).
(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.
Our survey data shows an improvement in how this is viewed:
Figure 22:
To achieve a culture shift we have:







Changed SMG starting time from 7.30 to 9.00 am, and from January 2015 to 9.30
All ICS-wide staff social events are held within core hours, albeit with part of the social element
occasionally falling outside of core hours.
ICS-wide events are announced well in advance to allow people to make appropriate arrangements
if required. We have had several all-staff events and another is planned for summer 2015. Events
have addressed scientific and business matters and have included discussion groups, poster-board
presentations, a quiz and food and drink for more relaxed interactions. We have used these events
to feedback on our Athena SWAN activity.
Social gatherings are either over lunch or where possible start around 4.00pm.
Clinical staff often have commitments until 5.00 pm and we are flexible with times to ensure their
inclusion e.g. the seminar series is occasionally held at that time
Where possible Doodle polls are sent out to organise meeting times
The Director leads by example by asking his assistant to ensure diary commitments fit in with
domestic responsibilities
(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.
Our survey shows an improvement in the percentage of respondents who feel the Institute is a great place
to work:
Figure 23:
The Institute operates across a diverse set of sites, yet we ensure that all of these have breakout space and
kitchen facilities. Individuals on parental leave are invited to social events and to meetings to ensure
inclusion.
We were pleased to see that over 60% of women and men in 2015 agreed that the Institute takes a firm
view against stereotypical/disrespectful behaviour. These views are emphasised by awareness and
promotion of Athena SWAN activities at formal meetings, staff get-togethers, and on our website.
(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.
At present the Institute’s outreach work is limited and our approach to this will be determined once our
new research strategy and joint QMUL department is in place.
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.
Since its formation, 15 scientists in the Institute have taken maternity leave; all have returned. In 2013-14,
three men took paternity leave, with no record of any having done so in previous years.
(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.
(iii)
Table 8: Maternity and Paternity Leave 2011- 2014
Maternity
/
Adoption
4
4
6
6
5
5
Paternity
/ Parental
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
3
3
Took
Returned
Took
Returned
Took
Returned
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
UCL offers double the national requirement for paternity leave and provides up to 4 weeks full paid
paternity leave, and also supports the provision of additional paternity leave. These are publicised in
recruitment material, our website and by the UCL Comms team.
Shared parental leave is available to staff whose babies are due (or due to be placed in the case of
adoption) on or after 6th April and we advised all affected staff of this. UCL’s policy was written by a SAT
member, who has a dual HR and ICS role. He has presented the policy to our maternity group.
(iv) 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.
Staff are entitled to request flexible working under a UCL-wide work-life balance policy and accompanying
formal process. This is certainly followed for support staff but (at least since August 2011) the Institute is
not aware of any formal requests from research and academic staff.
The available data on which to draw conclusions refer only to changes in hours worked. Since 2011 there
have been twelve recorded changes of hours by academic and research staff, eleven for women and one
for a man.
Of those changes five are recorded following maternity leave. The data suggests that these were voluntary
changes rather than changes necessary due to funding and the inference is that the changes were made
following an informal. We don’t have data on the success rate of requests.
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) 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.
Academic and research roles are often amenable to flexible arrangements and a number have been agreed
informally. Such agreements tend to be arranged at research group level, with the Institute only being told
if an agreement results in a contractual change. For example, an agreement to work from home one day a
week will often only be discussed, agreed and recorded locally.
Flexible working arrangements need not be on-going and indeed many agreements are ad hoc, for example
working from home on a manuscript or changing working pattern during school holidays. These are
typically not recorded.
From our 2015 staff survey, it appears that this approach works, with around 60% of men and women
agree that their line manager is supportive of flexible working, while a markedly greater proportion of
women are aware of gender equality policies.
Figure 24:
Figure 25:
In the coming year we will implement two actions: the first is advising staff of their right to request flexible
working (Action 3.13). This will be done through the staff handbook and annually during appraisal, during
which working arrangements will be a formal item for discussion.
(ii) 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.
When a staff member advises her manager that she is pregnant the manager contacts the Institute admin
team, who offer to meet with the individual to discuss the maternity options. This includes a discussion of
keeping-in-touch days, the possibility of flexible working on return and how to make a request using the
formal UCL processes.
Except where a funder specifically agrees to maternity pay, all periods of maternity leave are funded at
Institute level. If there is not funding to cover maternity absence then the work is either distributed
amongst existing staff or not done (a good example of this is on a personal fellowship).
UCL has a good maternity policy, however, qualitative data reported in our previous Athena SWAN
application indicated that there was confusion regarding the policy within the institute. An institute wide
focus group set the course of our action plan. A key part of the plan was to establish a maternity and
return to work group, which meets 2 monthly. Women planning to become pregnant are also welcome.
This is a forum for informal networking, as well as formal discussions with internal speakers, such as those
from HR to clarify questions regarding maternity and return to work policies, and external speakers for
example the Wellcome Trust, to explore return to work fellowship schemes. Meetings are attended by 10
to 15 women, children are also welcome. This grouping has been particularly valuable for one member of
staff, who although wishing to become pregnant, hesitated to approach her line manager, and her research
funder, to discuss impacts on her work. The group offered advice and support, empowering her to make
this approach successfully.
We have also contributed to UCL policy, by improving information on rest rooms for pregnant or
breastfeeding women. One of our action points in our previous application was to provide enough practical
information, for example about facilities for expressing milk, contractual issues, funding information during
maternity leave. To meet this action point a fact sheet has been included in the induction pack (and
circulated to all current staff), and also that the maternity policy at UCL has been included on the ICS
website.
In addition, our Institute based maternity and return to work group has been commended by UCL’s
Organisational Development team, who are exploring how to roll out our approach across the University.
Word count: 4937
5. Any other comments
Equal Pay
Throughout we have stratified staff data by clinical/non-clinical status. This adds complexity to our
analysis, but even with our relatively small numbers it is clear that gender imbalance acts differently for
these two groups, and the barriers, and actions to overcome these may differ.
In our previous application we reported findings of the 2013 staff survey, which indicated that a greater
proportion of women than men felt that there was pay inequality by gender within the Institute, with the
sense that women were paid less than men. We were challenged by the Athena SWAN panel to investigate
this further.
The figure and table report salaries by grade, stratified by gender. This shows that, for lower grades
salaries are higher for women than men, whereas for higher grades the situation is reversed. An in-depth
analysis suggests that this is due to seniority within the pay grade. Thus while pay is appropriate for grade,
women are spending longer in lower grades. This has informed our action point on staff promotions, to
pro-actively identify and support women at the lower graded for promotion.
Figure 26: Average salary by grade and gender
100000
90000
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Average
Women
Men
G7
StR
CL7
G8
CL8
G9
CCA
Other Diversities
As we worked on SAT activities, a recurring theme was the ethnic diversity of our SAT, our institute and our
university. To that end, a longer term goal is to broaden the Athena SWAN approach to ensure support for
our ethnically diverse workforce, including monitoring of recruitment, promotions and pay, support for
individuals from Black and ethnic minority groups in terms of mentoring and career progression, and enable
a supportive culture for diverse groups.
Word count: 267
6. 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.
Appendix A: Previous action plan - progress updated
Appendix B: Action Plan 2015-2018
7. Case study: impacting on individuals: maximum 1000 words
Case Study 1: Dr Ann Walker PhD (SAT member)
I joined ICS in 2011 as Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Genetics thanks to the support of Professors
Philippa Talmud, Steve Humphries and Aroon Hingorani, having been dissatisfied with academic
working conditions and prospects, particularly for women, in my previous post.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, so I feel that I am working in an important area.
My research centres on the influence of iron and iron regulatory genes upon traits which increase the
risk of cardiovascular disease, such as cholesterol levels. This area has been reproducibly implicated by
large and powerful genome wide association studies. To this end I participate in large, collaborative
studies into the genetic basis of iron biomarkers and red blood cell traits.
I am a primary and secondary supervisor of PhD and MSc research students and the external supervisor
of a student working in a genetic testing laboratory who is taking the British Society for
Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Diploma professional qualification.
The Cardiovascular Genetics group in which I work is open and friendly collective with diverse
backgrounds. Many researchers visit the laboratory to gain experience in different techniques to take
back to their home institutes. The practice of different religions may require regular absences from the
laboratory which are accommodated in the working day without any problem.
Research students have weekly meetings and research assistants have monthly meetings. We also
have social gatherings, a weekly Friday afternoon tea together at the end of the working week, and
celebrate all birthdays, with a birthday cake rota so that all members of the group will, at some point
during the year, bake a cake for someone else’s birthday.
Philippa and Steve have helped to develop my teaching career, involving me as a lecturer and personal
tutor in several MSc courses and modules and in the BHF 4 year PhD programme. I am enrolled in the
UCL Arena Senior Fellowship Scheme to enhance my teaching skills and to gain a recognized
qualification in teaching.
I participate in the ICS programme of peer observation of lectures and I am a personal tutor and
mentor, roles I hope to strengthen after taking the ICS mentor training. I joined the interview panel for
a research assistant position in another research group, to help address gender balance on ICS
appointment panels. I am the Departmental Graduate Tutor (Taught Courses) for ICS and from the next
academic year I have been appointed as the Director of the MSc in Cardiovascular Science course.
I have quite elderly parents who live independently in their own home in a rural location. From time to
time they need some assistance with the running of the house and garden, financial and other
paperwork and health-related issues. Because ICS operates the UCL core hours policy, when needed I
can more easily dovetail visits to my parents with working. In crisis times there was never a problem
with flexibility around working.
Overall, since moving to ICS, there is a complete change in polarity from the negative aspects I
encountered previously and I have gained a supportive working environment.
Case Study 2: Dr Chloe Park
I am a biomedical scientist specialising in the application and development of novel tools to study
cardiovascular structure and function. After completing my PhD at the Brunel Institute of Bioengineering I
joined the team of Professor Alun Hughes at Imperial College London. My Post-doctoral research was
funded by a British Heart Foundation grant and allowed me to bring together a distinctive mix of
engineering, physiological and epidemiological skills to cohort-based research. During the end of my postdoc our team moved from Imperial College to UCL. The team was attracted to UCL's strong and influential
cohort-based research history.
At the time of the move I was 8.5 months pregnant and my funding was soon coming to an end. Not only
did UCL take on a person soon to be on maternity leave but my supervisors also applied to the SLMS
Research Board Sub Committee for financial assistance for me via the Wellcome Trust’s Institutional
Strategic Support Fund. Our application was successful and it enabled me to return to work after my
maternity leave. This bridge funding support has also enabled me to prepare research grants and
fellowships to continue my career.
Whilst on maternity leave I was encouraged to apply for a promotion to Senior Research Associate. The
head of department helped me through the process and provided significant support. The Institute's review
committee was happy to support my case and the Faculty review committee granted me the promotion.
Prior to returning to work I visited the office informally to discuss my funding/promotion and my son
accompanied me during these meetings. I also attended the CI support group for women which discussed
breaks for pregnancy, early childcare and the return to work period. Having such a supportive network
made returning to work a trouble-free experience.
My supervisors place enormous importance in supporting women, and in helping mothers to maximise
their career potential while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. On return from maternity leave I went
onto a 60% contract. My supervisors and colleagues always accept my flexible hours and arrange meetings
to accommodate me. I have never felt any pressure to increase my workload/hours; instead I have a
supportive and flexible working environment.
Word count: 887
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
1. AWARNESS & SAT
1.1
Meet with other
SAT committees
within FPHS
A faculty
coordinator has
been appointed
to organise
collaboration.
A Faculty
Equality
Steering Group
has been set up
which includes
representatives
from the FPHS
Institutes’ SAT
Make contact with SATs
in other FPHS Institutes
and set up meetings
 SG to make
contact
 Eleanor Day,
Faculty
Athena
SWAN Lead
September
2014
Annual FPHS SAT meeting

Both actions
completed
1.2
Current SAT:
gender balance,
representation,
student member
The original SAT
formed of 4
members of
staff was
enlarged to 8
members, to
include each ICS
site and
different levels
of seniority.
One new
member is a
post-doc
recently
returned from
maternity leave
 Invite student
representative to the
SAT
 Open the invitation to
other targeted ICS
members
 Remind the entire staff
of the SAT and
encourage anyone
interested to join
 Rotate the SAT Chair
for each resubmission
 PJT to invite
2 students
 SG to email
all ICS staff
about SAT
invitation
May 2014
Larger SAT (12 members),
with gender balance, good
representation from different
staff groups and different ICS
sites and a student member

Actions completed;
10 members and all
but one group is
represented.
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
1.3
Launch of ICS
Athena SWAN at
the next ICS ‘get
together’ staff
event and annual
update at future
meetings to embed
principles in the
Institute
Athena SWAN
information has
been uploaded
to the ICS
website
 ICS staff ‘get together’
event where all ICS
employees will be
made more aware of
the ICS Athena SWAN
programme in
breakout sessions
 The promotion criteria
will also be part of the
agenda
AH, SG and
Rikke
Osterlund,
Institute
executive
assistant
June 2014
Understanding and
embedding of the Athena
SWAN principles within the
Institute will be monitored as
part of the ICS questionnaire
planned for Oct 2014
Improved response rate in
survey in relation to
understanding the promotion
criteria

Actions completed
1.4
SMG mainly male
dominated
Appointment of
a new female
Professor in Oct
2013, and
recent
recruitment of a
female Senior
Clinical
Lecturer.
Attempt to
recruit an
excellent female
scientist from
the US
 Assess potential
retirement plans for
the senior Professors
and plan a succession
strategy to start
balancing staff at
senior levels
 Identify early career
scientists (4 members
of staff are currently
eligible to be
promoted to Reader, 2
men and 2 women)
that could be
supported and
promoted to replace
one day the potential
leavers
 Assess suitability of all
female staff at Grade 8
level or above to apply
for promotion, and
AH, SG
September
2015
A strategy in place to achieve
a more balanced and
representative SMG within
the next 5 years

Ongoing. Succession
planning group is led
by a female.
Strategy will be
determined by new
research strategy in
which all female
academic staff are
involved.

Operational group –
remit depends on
new research
strategy, academic
groupings and jointInstitute. Initial
meeting of relevant
staff is organised for
April 2015
Careers advice clinics
are up and running
More women involved in
management decisions by
September 2014 (new
decision making group)

Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
support them through
our careers advice
clinic
 Invite female
candidates for senior
positions to present in
the Institute and to
meet staff
 Ensure that women
are fully involved in
the search committees
 Set up a second tier
management group to
engage more women
in management
decision-making and
organisation. This
group will organise the
PhD meeting and ICS
seminar series, and be
involved in new
educational ideas
1.5
Ensure that SAT
members sit on all
important ICS
executive
committees
We have
improved the
gender balance
of the
Promotion
Committee, the
Departmental
Teaching
Committee and
the Student
Staff
 Review of the current
committees’ gender
balance
 Additional staff
members to join the
SAT in the next few
months to avoid
overburden, especially
for the female
members of the SAT
Progress To Date

No senior positions
being filed at
present – action
remains in future

Institute manager
responsible for
ensuring gender
balance of
committee
Governance changes
on hold pending new
joint Institute

SG, SAT
May 2014
Decisions of major
committees to reflect Athena
SWAN principles


Review complete
SAT has expanded
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
The SAT report
was introduced
as one of the
points in the
SMG agenda in
December 2013
 Report of the Athena
SWAN progress to
SMG bi-monthly
 Compile an annual
progress report to
upload on ICS website
AH, SG
 April 2014:
Next progress
report to
SMG
 January 2015:
annual
progress
report
Agenda and minutes of SMG
meetings include Athena
SWAN update (every other
month)
Progress identified and
reported on annually

Athena SWAN is a
standing item at
SMG; annual report
been postponed to
accommodate
strategic discussions
about the joint
Institute. The annual
report will be
presented with this
application in May’s
SMG.
The 2014
questionnaire
was highly
advertised
through ICS
group email;
staff were
reminded
before the
deadline and
encouraged to
take part.
Survey results
have been
analysed and
 Report the results of
the UCL survey to the
next ‘get together’
staff event to
emphasise the
importance of
participating
 Stress the importance
of this survey at SMG
meeting and report
results once analysed
 SAT to develop actions
and identify areas of
impact each year as a
 SG to report
results to
the next
staff
meeting
 AH to
address this
at SMG
 Report of the
results to
staff: June
2014
 Report of the
results to
SMG: June
2014
 Advertise the
survey: at
June 2014
staff ‘get
together’ and
just before
Completion of survey, with an
increase of 20% each year.
Actions to be addressed by
SAT and SMG, progress
reviewed annually by SMG

Survey re-run but
with drop in
completion rate
Consultative
Committee
1.6
Athena SWAN
progress report to
SMG
2. MONITORING
2.1
UCL Staff Survey
< 20% ICS staff
members
responded to the
2011 UCL survey
60% ICS staff
members
responded to the
2013 UCL survey
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
2.2
ICS Staff Survey
< 50% ICS staff
members
responded to the
questionnaire in
2013
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
discussed by
SAT.
Key transition
point for gender
balance and
other issues
have been
identified
result of staff feedback
The first survey
was designed
and delivered in
March 2013 to
understand the
opinion of staff
about potential
gender issues
and identify
areas for
improvement.
Key transition
points for
gender balance
and other issues
were identified
and plans made
for addressing
them
 Update the survey
according to latest
results from the UCL
survey in order to
assess staff feeling
related to specific
areas of interest and
potential
improvement. The ICS
survey will be
delivered every 18
months.
 Stress the importance
of this survey at SMG
meeting and
encourage ICS staff to
fill in the survey via
email communication.
 SAT to develop actions
and identify areas of
impact as a result of
staff feedback.
 Key issues from the
survey results also
communicated to
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
and during
the time of
the next
survey
completion
(2015)
 SAT to
design the
new survey
 AH to
address this
at SMG
 SG to email
all ICS staff
Next survey
distributed in
January 2015,
analysed and
discussed by
SAT before May
2015
Completion of survey, with an
increase by 20% each time.
Actions in place and
monitored as a result of
feedback

Survey conducted
and analysed within
timescale
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
SG, all
recruiting
managers
 October 2014
 Database in
place:
January 2015
100% of interview panels with
at least 25% female
representation
No women to sit on more
than 4 panels a year
Progress To Date
SMG.
2.3
Gender-balance on
all shortlisting and
interview panels,
including for PGR
recruitment.
This is already in
place for academic
posts, but not for
other positions
where
arrangements are
made locally
Since August
2012, interview
panels for all
academic posts
have already
exceeded the
interim 25%
female target
 Continue to ensure
that at least 25% of
any recruitment panel
is female and aim to
make this 50%
 Recruitment panel
composition to be
requested at
advertisement stage
 Staff to sit on a
maximum of 4 panels
a year.
 Avoid over-burdening
by involving women
from other UCL
departments and
partner organisations:
creation of a FPHS
database
 Review of all genderbalance data regarding
recruitment during
SAT meetings. Results
will guide further
changes year by year.

Panels to date meet
criteria; database
planned at Faculty
level so local action
on hold
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
2.4
Job
applications/result
s
Incomplete data
until mid-2013
Recruitment of
a new HR
member of staff
in March 2013
that enhanced
our monitoring
of new job
applications.
Administration
was done
external to ICS
before and data
are incomplete
Collection of robust data
for future appointments
Institute
Admin
Starting from
June 2014
Accurate data, analysed
annually by SAT. Actions in
place where required as a
result of analysis

Complete and
ongoing
2.5
Committee work
load of female
academics
 Monitor the
committee workload
by gender and check
the distribution
amongst senior
academic staff
 Invite women from
other Institutes to
participate in the
activities of the
committees
SG
October
2014
Fair distribution of committee
workload across the Institute.
Decrease in committee
workload for each female
individual

Review suggests no
overload; data
suggests committees
are balanced other
than SMG
Non-ICS women sit
on SMT, Promotions
and Teaching /
Student Committees
 Review of these data
to plan the next year
course.
 Pilot a new part-time
programme from
academic year 201415; monitor and
review student data
PJT, Joanna
Pajerska, ICS
Education
Administrator
2.6
MSc student
course:
Lack of information
related to the
reasons for
declining the offer
to the course
Gather
qualitative data
from applicants
who decline
offers to find
out the reason
for their
decision and to
Progress To Date

Starting from
next academic
year – 2014-15
• Information related to
reasons for not acceptance.
Actions in place in response
to feedback
• Appropriate gender balance
for the new intakes and
monitor results between
female: male part-time: full-


Qualitative data
requested and
response rate was
very low; anecdotal
data suggests the
main reason is fee
level.
No part-time
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
New part-time
programme
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
identify and
address any
potential reason
for their choice
related to
inequality
also in consideration
of the declining
reasons.
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
time students
students enrolled in
2014-15
2.7
Postgraduate
research
programme
student outcomes.
Information is
currently provided
centrally by UCL,
but it is not as
good as it could be.
MD(Res) and
PhD programme
students came
from different
Institutions at
the time of ICS
formation,
which made it
difficult to
monitor
consistently this
group.
• Collect good quality
data and outcomes
from prospective
students registered for
these programmes:
record of reports and
outcomes from annual
individual meetings,
MPhil/PhD upgrade
time and pass/fail rate,
PhD final outcome and
time to award
• Work with UCL’s
Student Services to
ensure good data
quality
 SG to gather
current
student
information
 Joanna
Pajerska to
collect
prospective
data
 Retrospective
data: June
2014
 Prospective
data: starting
from next
academic
year – 201415
• Information on female:male
outcomes from current
students.
• Information for prospective
students

Significant
improvement in
data quality
2.8
Paternity leave.
Currently not
monitored.
UCL has
recently
introduced a
formal
procedure to
request and
monitor
paternity leave.
2 men in the
Institute have
 Spread information
about paternity leave
through ICS mailing
list.
 Require formal
requests to be filed in
order to ensure these
data are monitored in
future.
 Add information about
Institute
Administration
April 2014
All instances of paternity
leave monitored and recorded
in 2014 onwards.
Increased number of men
taking the full 4 weeks leave.

Achieved – all
instances are
monitored; four men
have taken paternity
leave
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
2.9
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
recently applied
paternity leave to all
Job Descriptions and
Induction Pack
 Promote 4 weeks
paternity leave, and
additional paternity
leave to staff
Flexible working
Responsibility
 Add information to job
description, staff
handbook and to staff
appraisal documents
 Pilot a ‘just say yes’
approach: trial period
for all requests made
under the formal UCL
process. At the end of
the trial period,
successful
arrangements will
continue
Institute
Administration
 Make an active effort
to head hunt
outstanding female
applicants to attain
gender balance
 State clearly in all
adverts the gender
neutrality of the
recruitment and
interview process
Academic
Appointments
Committee,
SMG
Timescale
Starting from
September
2014
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date

Information is in job
pack; all current staff
have been advised
by Institute and by
UCL
Men and women report
through ICS staff survey that
they work flexibly, with
satisfactory results, or >80%
understand how to request
flexible working

Information is in
recruitment material
and on website
No formal
approaches have
been recorded but
anecdotal data
shows suggests
informal requests
continue to be made
and approved
Increase the number of
women applying for senior
positions to rectify the
imbalance at professorial
and reader level



3. RECRUITMENT
3.1
Increase numbers
of women
externally
recruited to senior
research grades
This has been
commenced by
the
appointment of
a female
Professor, a
female Lecturer
promoted to
Senior Lecturer
in the next year,
Next 2-3 years
Ongoing
All adverts give clear
messages about our
commitment to
equality and Athena
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
 Introduction of an ICS
pack for job
advertisement,
shortlisting and
interview panels to be
circulated to all staff.
 Review of recruitment
material to outline
staff benefits and
maternity leave policy,
which will be added to
all job descriptions and
ICS pack
 Increase the number
of staff members who
undergo Unconscious
Bias training and keep
a register of this (using
a different facilitator
or the new training
being developed by
UCL)
Institute
Administration
Starting in the
new academic
year 2014-15
No bias evident in annual
analysis of recruitment data
(% female applicants reflect %
female in applicant pool)
Progress To Date
and more
recently a
female clinical
consultant
cardiologist to a
Senior Lecturer
post
3.2
Transparent
recruitment
process
 Job
descriptions
are now
finalised at
Institute level
to ensure that
they contain
an
appropriate
equality
statement
and
information
about the
Institute’s
commitment
to Athena
SWAN; to
ensure that
they are free
from gender
(and other)
impartiality;
and to ensure
that the
person


Increase in number of women
applying for jobs at ICS due to
improved communication of
benefits.


Job pack delayed
due to changes in
the FTE of its author
Non-clinical data
shows improvement;
clinical recruitment
continues to
conform to historical
trends of inequality
Review and update
of material on hold
25% of SMG have
undergone
unconscious bias
training
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
 Induction of all new
starters with one of
our administrator
team within their first
month to inform them
about UCL and ICS
guidelines, outlining
recommended training
opportunities, career
development and
promotion
procedures.
 All new staff to
undertake Equality
and Diversity training
within six weeks of
appointment. The
Institute will continue
to monitor and ensure
Institute
Administration
 Standardised
inductions
from October
 ICS Staff
Handbook
ready in
September
2014
 100% of staff inductions
carried out for new
appointments
 ICS Staff Handbook o be
circulated to all existing
staff, as well as new staff
 All new starters have
completed online E&D
training
 Institute Manager
inductions offered to all
new staff (uptake circa
50%)
 Handbook delayed due to
reduced capacity in admin
team
 100% completion rate
specification
is in line with
UCL’s
expectations
for a job at
that level.
 Senior
management
at ICS have
done
Unconscious
Bias training.
3.3
Induction of new
staff members
Staff inductions
are already
performed, but
vary by site
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
AH, SG, Rikke
Osterlund
Starting August
2014
 Increase number of women  Data shows increase in
applying for promotion and
successful applications
being successful.
 Much improved feedback
on how well processes are
 Improved feedback on
promotions in the next ICS
understood
staff survey – increased
awareness of the
promotion process % in
2014 survey.
that this training is
completed and staff
members who have a
probation period
cannot be confirmed
in post until this
training has been done
 Develop an ICS Staff
Handbook
4. PROMOTION, MENTORING, CAREER DEVELOPMENT
4.1
Limited awareness
amongst early
career staff, but
also at more senior
levels, of the
requirements for
promotion
Employees’ PIs
were alerted for
their view on
the individual’s
suitability for
promotion in
the last round,
and information
was provided
about the
assessment
criteria
 Circulate relevant
documents directly to
all staff eligible for
promotion.
 Advertise the UCL
promotion workshops
 Organise a workshop
dedicated to UCL
promotion criteria as
part of the next ICS
‘get together’ staff
event.
 Invite research staff to
take part in the
internal review
process
 Adapt the appraisal
process to ensure that
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
it specifically
addresses promotions
 Assess the impact of
part-time working on
promotion and action
that special attention
is given to this group
so that they are not
jeopardised by their
work pattern
4.2
Career progression
process
information
4.3
Career
development
afternoons for MSc
and PhD students
4.4
PhD and Postdocs
career
development
support
th
Progress To Date

No obvious impact –
two part-time
female members of
staff were promoted
last year
 Event for a focus
group of female
clinicians and nonclinicians to identify
issues with career
progression.
 Speed mentoring
activity
PJT
7 July, 2014,
annual
thereafter
Through positive evaluation of
events at the time of delivery
Successful
annual
presentation of
the wide range
of career
options
Introduce an evaluation
and feedback form
which will be collated
and analysed to enable
assessment and
development of the
careers day
PJT, AW
Jan 2015
Positive feedback from these
meetings.
Content adapted in response
to feedback where necessary

Event held; informal
feedback is that it
was well received
and successful
A programme
has been set up
within ICS, in
particular
towards
fellowship
 ‘Fellowship day’
planned for 27th May
2014 with key funding
bodies.
 Set up mock
interviews before the
PJT, AH, SMG
 May 2014
and annually:
‘Fellowship
day’.
 Starting with
the next
 Improvement in staff
satisfaction regarding
career development
reported by this key
transition group in the next
ICS staff survey (October

Fellowship day held
jointly with Institute
of Child Health –
feedback was
positive
All fellowship

Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
4.5
Individual career
development
support
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
applications
interview itself to give
applicants feedback
and improve their
chances of a successful
application
 Set up a buddy
mentoring scheme for
PhDs and Postdocs in
ICS, to improve the
support given to PhDs
and Postdocs who
have different needs,
by establishing
separate PhD ad
Postdoc small
mentoring groups led
by senior staff
members with
opportunity for
individual mentoring if
required
 Advertise UCL Careers
Service and the oneto-one appointment
with a Careers Advisor
 Implementation of the
UCL policy to offer a
rolling programme of
‘career advice
surgeries’
 Create a fund to
financially support
career development
Responsibility
SG, SMG
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
fellowship
applications
within ICS:
mock
interviews
(responsive
mode)
2014) by 20%.
 Increase in the number of
fellowship applications and
success in particular female
applicants.
 % of students who have
accessed the buddy scheme
 Positive feedback from staff
through the ICS survey
December 2015
Improvement in staff
satisfaction regarding career
development reported by this
key transition group in the
next ICS staff survey (October
2014) by 20%.
Progress To Date

applications are fully
supported and mock
interviews are
planned into our
application process
Mentoring scheme
now up and running
– feedback from
training sessions was
entirely positive

Careers surgeries
running monthly
since January 2015;
uptake has been
slow but is
increasing.

There is a dedicated
Athena SWAN
budget from 2015-
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
opportunities such as
Teaching and Learning
in Higher and
Professional Education
certificate, external
training course, etc.,
with 50-50 split
between female and
male applicants
4.6
Lack of funding
sources for women
who have taken
career breaks and
following one
round of return to
work fellowship
(key career
transition point)
4.7
Assessment of the
appraisal process
ICS has moved
to an annual
appraisal cycle
rather than the
UCL-required
two-year cycle
as we see
appraisal as an
essential
mechanism to
support
individual
career
16 to support gender
equality activity,
which can include
training
Meeting organised with
BHF to outline this issue
and discuss the removal
of the age limitation on
their intermediate
fellowships, or the
opening of a new
scheme specifically for
this group of female
researchers
AH
 Meeting in
April 2014
 BHF change in
the next 2
years
BHF change in their
fellowships scheme
regulations or improve
communication of policy
 Monitor appraisals to
ensure that they are
done regularly with
review of career
development and
potential promotion
assessment, using
existing UCL tools and
quality checking
before Director signoff
 Ensure that both the
appraise and appraiser
 All senior
staff
(appraiser
update
pack)
 All staff
through preappraisal
pack
guidance.
September
2014 onwards
Improve the quality of the
appraisal process with cultural
change and transparency of
opportunities.
Improve promotion rate of
women.
90% appraisal completion rate
each year
Increased satisfaction with
the appraisal process in the
ICS staff survey



Appraisal aide
memoir has been
circulated to all
managers
The rate of recorded
appraisals has
dropped to 68% but
the carrying out of
appraisals is higher
Survey showed
significant increases
in satsfaction
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
development,
and pivotal in
changing the %
women
representation
in senior
positions as well
as in all grades
of career
progression.
are trained to optimise
the promotion process
 Advertise training
courses for appraiser
and appraisee by email
to all ICS staff
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
 PJT to set up
bi-monthly
meeting
 PJT, SS,
Rikke
Osterlund
and Elaine
McDonald
to
disseminate
information
 April 2014
next meeting
 September
2014:
information
pack
Improve information available
to women thinking of
becoming pregnant and
informing details to those
already pregnant or on
maternity leave. But more
importantly to support
women in these situations
Positive feedback from the bimonthly meetings, and from
the ICS survey.
Progress To Date
5. PREGNANCY, MATERNITY LEAVE AND RETURN TO WORK
5.1
Improve
information about
pregnancy,
maternity leave
and return to work
issues which are
not well
disseminated in
UCL.
When a staff
member advises
her manager that
she is pregnant,
the manager
contacts the
Institute admin
team, who offer to
meet with the
individual to
discuss the
maternity options.
A forum has
been set up to
understand the
issues
experienced by
ICS women
during
pregnancy and
on returning to
work
 Organise a bi-monthly
meeting with the ICS
women interested in
this subject.
 Organise a mailing list
where women can
exchange information
and share experiences
 Include information
such as facilities
available at UCL e.g.
for expressing milk,
contractual issues,
funding information
during maternity leave
especially for those
researchers sponsored
by grants, etc. in the
induction pack.
 Include UCL maternity
policy on the ICS



Meetings ongoing as
planned
Facilities information
is widely shared
Maternity policy is
on website
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Action Point/Issue
Identified
Actions already
taken
Further actions Planned
Responsibility
Timescale
Success measure over next 3
years
Progress To Date
However, women
cannot easily
access practical
information
especially during
planning of
pregnancy or
before
communicating the
pregnancy to the
line manager
website and in the
new Induction Pack.
 Send the information
pack to all existing
staff.
5.2
Set up small buddy
mentoring groups
led by senior staff
in relation to
pregnancy and
maternity.
Buddy mentoring groups
work well for women
planning for pregnancy,
pregnant, and returning
to work after maternity
leave to support each
other and deal with
mutual issues.
PJT
April 2015
Help support women through
this period of pregnancy,
maternity leave and return to
work so they do not feel
isolated.
Positive feedback via the ICS
survey

N/A
5.3
Barriers for clinical
staff in specific
male dominated
environments
Work with the relevant
NHS Trusts to help with
these issues, by
introducing role models
in teaching, Continuing
Professional
Development, seminars
and conferences
PJT and SS
January 2015
Female staff are better
equipped to develop in a
clinical as well as an academic
setting

On hold due to
major reorganisation
of cardiology clinical
services – will re-visit
in October 2015
Female clinical
role models
have been
introduced into
MBBS teaching
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
6. ORGANISATION & CULTURE
6.1
6.2
Time of work
meetings
Time of social
gatherings
 Monthly SMG
used to meet
at 7.30am, a
common time
for clinical
cardiology but
unusual for
academics.
This was
moved to
9.00am to
help
accommodate
the needs of
staff with
childcare
responsibilitie
s.
 Meetings
organised
centrally for
specific
committees
now go
through a
Doodle poll
 Review of SMG time to
be moved to core
hours for some
meetings, when
compatible with
clinical commitments
 Heads of laboratories
to reschedule their
Centre meetings in
core working times
from 10am to 4.00pm.
 Empower staff to
choose optimal
meeting times through
the use of web tools
such as Doodle poll at
local level
Whole SAT
ICS ‘get
together’ staff
events in 2012
and 2013 were
held during the
afternoon
Work with the different
NHS Trust sites to ensure
that clinical duties are
organised to allow staff
to participate in these
events.
SMG
Starting from
May 2014
June 2014
 Women report improved
satisfaction regarding time
of work meetings in ICS
staff survey
 All centre meetings held
during core hours

Positive feedback via the ICS
survey


Improvement
recorded
Meetings comply
with core hours
policy
Survey shows
increase in
satisfaction
Appendix A: Previous Action Plan – Progress Updated
Encourage social
meetings such as
Christmas Parties to be
organised at lunch time
or start around 4.00pm.
When not possible, the
meetings need to be
organised well in
advance to enable
parents/carers to plan
for childcare and support
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
Set up series of joint meetings
and working groups with sister
SAT to create shared Athena
SWAN agenda. This includes
identification of common areas
of action, adoption of best
practice, recognition for the
need for continued site specific
activity.
September
2015 –
ongoing
RP
Invite representation from
JFAG, ensure all research
groups represented
June 2015
NC
Research group leads
JFAG
Larger SAT (12 members),
with gender balance, good
representation from different
staff groups and different ICS
sites and a student member
2. AWARENESS & SAT
2.1
2.2
Partnership with
cardiovascular
sciences at QMUL
Refresh and extend
SAT membership
Academic
cardiologists
Joint Athena SWAN strategy
for partnered organisation
Respective Institute
Directors
3. STUDENTS AND STAFF
3.1
Attract women to
apply for new iBSc
course
Include positive female role
models and images in the
course booklet and electronic
material, ensure female
representation when publicising
the course at the iBSc fair
January 2016
AW, SG
Lucie Clapp (course
director)
Numbers of enquiries,
applications and acceptances
of women compared to all
women on the MBBS course
by year
3.2
Completion rate
for MSc
Review data on an annual basis
Ongoing
AW
Education
administrator
100% completion rate
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
3.3
Gender balance on
PhD interview
panel
Monitor and refresh
membership as necessary
Ongoing
AW
Primary Supervisor
and education
administrator)
At least 25% of the committee
is female
3.4
Low PhD offer rate
to women
Review historic and current
score sheets against criteria,
offer training as necessary
June 2015
AW
Graduate Tutor
(research)
Improve offer rate to at least
60%
3.5
PhD completion
rate
Review mean completion rate
and % completing within 4
years
June 2015
AW
Graduate Tutor
(research) and
education
administrator
100% completion rate by 4
years
3.6
Low recruitment of
female clinical
cardiologists
Review shortlisting and
interview scoresheets against
job criteria and CVs, focus
group with senior cardiologists
to detect biases.
February 2016
NC
Institute Manager
Clinical cardiologists
Increase recruitment of
female clinical cardiologists at
all levels to 33%
3.7
Identify suitable
female clinical
candidates
Search committee
June 2015
AH
NC, senior clinical
academics
Ensure at least one female
candidate for core funded
post, identify women to apply
for fellowships
3.8
Ensure high quality
submissions for
fellowships
Mentoring, grant review and
mock interview infrastructure
September
2015 and
ongoing
NC
Research group leads
JFAG
Increase the number of
applications by 50% and
success rate to 70%
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
3.9
Increase numbers
of women
promoted
successfully
Pro-active identification and
support through the process
September
2015 and
ongoing
SG
Research group leads
and managers
Increase numbers and success
rate of female promotions
(50% of all promotions should
be women)
3.1
0
Few women in
leadership roles
Prepare women for leadership
through nomination to college
wide leadership course, provide
leadership support through
mentoring and identify women
to fill roles within and outside
the university
September
2015 and
ongoing
AH
Research group leads
Increased numbers of women
attending leadership course
and appointed to leadership
roles
3.1
1
Mentoring scheme
Review of mentoring scheme 12
months after inception, grow
numbers of mentors and
mentees, create review of
mentoring
March 2016
and ongoing
AW
JFAG
Double number of mentormentee pairs, high quality
data on impact of mentoring
3.1
2
Early career
support
Enlarge early career support
schemes alone and in
collaboration with other
faculties
September
2015 ongoing
SG
Research group leads
JFAG
Increase early career support
activities and create
structures for monitoring
3.1
3
Promote policies
on flexible
working, parental
leave
Dissemination activities at
group meetings, electronic &
written material and 1:1 advice.
Include policies in new ICS
Handbook
June 2015
ongoing
SG
MH
Increase uptake of parental
leave, satisfaction with
maternal leave support and
return to work, greater
acceptability of flexible
working
3.1
4
Establish reasons
for leaving
Exit survey and analysis to form
basis of a plan of action
August 2015
AH
SG
Obtain high quality data on
reasons for leaving, and
create a responsive plan; male
and female voluntary
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
turnover to be proportionate
4. SUPPORTING & ADVANCING CAREERS
4.1
Ensuring fair
recruitment –
recruiter skills
Academics and staff managers
to refresh recruitment skills
every three years
October 2017
NC
SG
100% have been refreshed –
recorded on HR training
database
4.2
Ensuring fair
recruitment reducing
unconscious bias
All academic staff to have
participated in a relevant
training session to be organised
and funded by the Institute
December
2015
AH
SG
All current staff are recorded
as having attended; all new
academic staff to undertake it
within first 6 months
4.3
Ensuring fair
recruitment –
female contact
during application
stage
Applicants to be given the
option to speak to a woman
when contacting us about a job
All posts
advertised
from October
2015
AH
SG
Data from local HR team
shows all adverts give the
option
4.4
Ensuring fair
recruitment –
understanding
barriers in
academic
cardiology
Run a focus group with clinical
academic cardiologists to
identify why the reasons for the
high attrition rate of women
during recruitment.
By January
2016
SG
MH
Reasons identified
Develop an action plan to
address the identified issues
Relevant action plan in place
Offer rate to women to be at
least equivalent as to men
33% of clinical cardiology staff
at all grades to be women
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
4.5
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
Ensuring fair
recruitment –
supporting women
cardiologists
We will develop a relationship
with ‘Women in Cardiology’
section of the British
Cardiovascular Society
March 2016
RP
MH
ICS cardiology posts publicised
by WiC
Joint programme of activity
with appropriate measures of
success e.g. participant
satisfaction
Better recruitment outcomes
as in 4.4
4.6
Improving
promotions process
Bring forward research
promotion cycle by one month
to all more time to prepare;
align with senior promotions
activity; and maximise time to
identify funding
September
2015
AH
SG
Increase in numbers providing
their CV for consideration to
40% of eligible staff
4.7
Improving
promotions –
understanding how
it works
Annual workshop prior to the
promotions round to explain
the process and criteria
September
2015
AH
SG
Survey continues to show
improvements in
understanding
Increase in applications to
40% of eligible staff
4.8
Improving
promotions funding
Host our own annual event on
fellowships and promote other
departments’ events
Annually in
April from
2016
AH
NC
Positive feedback from
sessions
Increase in number of
fellowship applications (at
least 5 per year)
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
Increase in number of people
promoted (at least 3 each
year)
4.9
Better appraisals
The whole range of activity
needs to be considered at
appraisals, not just research
By October
2016
SG
Group leads and
managers
Quality monitoring data will
be collected to show key
issues have been addressed
Recorded appraisal rate
exceeds 90% target
4.10
Improving
Induction and
ensuring current
staff have
sufficient
knowledge about
training
Staff handbook
June 2016
SG
Institute Admin team
As evidenced by survey on
survey increases:
Improved training rates
Improved understanding of
processes and benefits
Improved overall satisfaction
in working for the Institute
4.11
Supporting female
students – career
development
Ensure that the information we
give and the sessions we run
are fit for purpose
January 2016
then at least
annually
NC
AW
Increased attendance at
sessions
Introduction of formal
feedback shows satisfaction
of 70%
Poor feedback is taken on and
changes are made
Appendix B – Action Plan 2015-2018
4.12
Issue and area for
action identified
Actions
Timescale
Accountability
(SAT member)
Responsibility
Success measure over next 3
years
Supporting staff
and students mentoring
Monitor and evaluate the
success of our current
mentoring scheme
October 2015
- ongoing
SC
AW
33% of Institute staff and PGR
students to have mentoring
relationships
Run an annual session to allow
new participants
At least 10 new people attend
the training each year
Training feedback is positive
Successive surveys show
improvements on satisfaction
with mentoring arrangements
4.13
Committees –
increased female
representation
Governance structure to be
reviewed and opportunities for
women representation to
increase
Review under
way – to be
completed in
line with
development
of joint
Institute
AH
SMG
Decision making committees
have proportionate
representation of women on
them e.g. SMG (or
replacement) to have at least
37% women
Extend Athena SWAN culture to
maximise opportunities for
Black and Ethnic Minorities by
analysing and presenting data
on ethnicity in promotion and
recruitment, identify role
models and target individuals
for mentoring and support
2017
AH
SAT
Recognition of support for
Black and Ethnic Minority
Groups in the staff survey
5. ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
5.1
Recognition of
ethnic diversity in
institute and
university
workforce