Athena SWAN Silver Departmental award application
Name of Institution: University of Warwick
Year: 2010
Department: Chemistry
Contact for application: Professor Michael Shipman
Email: M.Shipman@warwick.ac.uk
Telephone: 024 76523186
Departmental website address: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry
Date of university Bronze SWAN award: May 2010
Letter of endorsement from the Head of Department
Dear Ms Hawkes
Application for Athena SWAN Silver Award in Chemistry
I am writing to convey my very strong support for the Department of Chemistry’s
application for the Athena SWAN Silver award.
The Department of Chemistry is a dynamic and vibrant department which strives to
provide an inclusive environment that values and supports all members of staff. As
Head of Department and chair of the Departmental Self Assessment group, I am
aware of the issues faced by female staff in STEM departments as a whole, and within
Warwick Chemistry in particular.
We work at all levels to ensure that female role models are promoted within the
Department. The Department has an extensive outreach programme that engaged with
some 3500 school students last academic year through demonstration lectures and
presentations to school audiences. Led by our School Teacher Fellow, the outreach
activities involve academic staff, researchers and PhD students, of whom
approximately 50% who take part are female. For example, we recognise the
importance of this at open days for prospective students and their parents in
encouraging applications from female A-level students to take up undergraduate study
in Chemistry.
The process of preparing this application has been used directly to improve
arrangements within the department already. One area of particular note is the
recognition of the need to support staff at key career transition points and in particular
to provide our postdoctoral researchers with the support to help them to make the
transition to full academic members of staff. Our statistics show that this transition is
a key point at which female researchers leave the sector and one that therefore needs
careful attention. In response to this we have designed an accredited Advanced
Researcher Postgraduate Certificate in Transferable Skills in Science (PGCTSS) for
Postdoctoral Researchers to prepare them for future roles as senior scientists and
1
leaders. We have also supported our postdoctoral researchers to establish a forum
whose role in the department is evolving to the best advantage of our post doctoral
researchers.
We have already taken steps to improve our performance in some areas, for example
addressing the current imbalance between female and male research staff on openended and fixed-term contracts and ensuring appropriate representation on all
departmental committees. The SWAN Action plan has the Department’s full support
and commitment. Progress on actions will be monitored by the Athena Swan
Departmental Self Assessment group, working closely with the department’s
decision-making body (the Executive Committee), the University Self Assessment
group and the Human Resources department to ensure advancement is made within
the agreed timescales.
My own very long commitment and success in assisting women in the development of
their careers and the fine examples of Warwick women who occupy prominent roles
in chemistry, provide a very strong basis on which to strengthen our activities.
Yours sincerely
Peter J. Sadler
457 words
1. A picture of the department (300 words)
Warwick Chemistry is one of the top UK Chemistry Departments and is at the core of
the science faculty at Warwick with teaching and research spanning across all
scientific disciplines and beyond. The University has invested heavily in the
Department’s infrastructure to guarantee and nurture world-class education and
cutting-edge research. The result of this drive for excellence is that Warwick
Chemistry is becoming a magnet for the some of the best scientists in the world. The
culture of the department complements its drive for research excellence with the
highest standards in teaching and a positive supportive working environment for all
members. The inevitable changes that result from striving for excellence are
managed as positively as possible with least disruption to members of staff.
The department is organised into three sections: Inorganic and Materials, Organic
and Bioorganic, and Physical and Theoretical with administrative and technical
support staff being distributed across all areas. There are 32 members of academic
staff, 54 postdoctoral and senior research staff, 160 graduate students and an intake
of approximately 120 undergraduate students each year. There are 12 administrative
staff and 20 technical staff to support the research and teaching activities of the
department.
One third of the academic staff have been appointed in the last 6 years which makes
Warwick chemistry a dynamic and vibrant community which benefits from a wide
range of external experience. Most academics collaborate with others both within
chemistry, in other Warwick departments and externally. This in turn broadens the
perspectives of their research groups. The chemistry department has also played a
lead in many research initiatives across campus and plays a lead role in
2
multidisciplinary research initiatives such as Warwick Centre for Analytical Sciences,
the BBSRC Doctoral Training Grant and the MOAC Doctoral Training Centre.
293 words
2. Gender Data (must be in pdf format and each section max 200
words)
Provide data on the following areas, and comment on their significance and how they
have affected action planning. Data should be provided over a three-year period to
enable comparisons to be made and trends over time identified. The purpose of
asking for this data is to identify what you are doing to create a pipeline for future
appointments in your discipline, how you are attracting new staff and what you are
doing to retain staff and promote them.
The data also enables us to get a snapshot of the department. If you are unable to
provide any of the data please comment on the reasons for this. We recommend that
you use graphical illustrations to highlight the trends emerging from the data, in
addition to providing the statistics and analysis.
Make sure that the data is clearly labelled. Please put the data into a PDF document.
There is a maximum of 200 words for the commentary on each section (i–xvi).
STUDENT DATA
(i)
Numbers of males and females on access or foundation
courses
The Department does not offer access or foundation courses – so no data are
available.
14 words
(ii)
Undergraduate male and female numbers
Full and part-time – comment on the female:male ratio compared with the
national picture in your discipline. Describe any initiatives taken to address
any imbalance or negative trends and the impact to date. Comment upon any
plans for the future.
Applicants for chemistry degrees at Warwick are approximately 40% female.
The percentage of students registering on chemistry degrees at Warwick is
also approximately 40%, indicating that the success rates reflects the
application rates. The percentage of women is similar to the national average
summarized in Figure 2-1.
Any ‘imbalance’ of gender, ethnicity or indeed social background is a complex
issue that cannot be addressed within the UCAS process alone. Thus in our
strong outreach programme, developed with RSC and University support, for
local schools across the educational spectrum (state, grant maintained,
private schools) we have worked to further the positive image of Chemistry in
mixed and single gender schools from each of these background. We ensure
there is a gender-balanced team involved in outreach and admissions.
3
Table 2-1: Total numbers of male and female undergraduate applicants students
for Chemistry at Warwick for the last three years.
Applicants
2006
2007
2008
Total
910
971
820
Male
548
576
515
Total
116
121
119
Intake
2006/7
2007/8
2008/9
Male
71
68
74
Female
362
395
305
Proportion
of total who
are male
0.60
0.59
0.63
Proportion
of total who
are female
0.40
0.41
0.37
Female
45
53
45
Proportion
of total who
are male
0.61
0.56
0.62
Proportion
of total who
are female
0.39
0.44
0.38
National data - Gender Breakdown for Chemistry (UG total
Acceptances)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2001
2002
% Male
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
% Female
Figure 2-1: Percentages of male and female students starting first degrees in
chemistry in the UK as a function of time. Data from Royal Society of Chemistry
(RSC), http://www.rsc.org/images/Summarylateststatistics_tcm18-102763.pdf.
126 words
(iii)
Postgraduate male and female numbers completing taught
courses
Full and part-time – comment on the female: male ratio compared with the
national picture in your discipline. Describe any initiatives taken to address
any imbalance and the effect to date. Comment upon any plans for the future.
Table 2-2 shows the number of male and female students on postgraduate
taught courses in chemistry at Warwick. On average the percentages of
women on the taught PG courses are similar to those on undergraduate
courses. There is no gender difference discernable.
4
Table 2-3 shows the proportion of men and women completing the courses.
Completion rates are generally excellent. There is no discernable difference
between the genders.
Table 2-2: Total numbers of male and female postgraduate students in
Chemistry at Warwick and completing taught courses for the last three years.
PG - Taught
FT
2006/07
2006/07
Completed
2007/08
2007/08
Completed
2008/09
2008/09
Completed
M
F
Proportion
of Male
Students
0.62
Proportion
of Female
Students
0.38
13
8
Total
21
12
15
7
6
19
21
0.63
0.71
0.37
0.29
14
11
6
11
20
22
0.70
0.50
0.30
0.50
11
9
20
0.55
0.45
Table 2-3: Completion rates of male and female postgraduate students in
Chemistry at Warwick on taught courses for the last three years. The apparently
unsuccessful students in these cases all transferred to other courses.
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
M Completion
rate
0.92
0.93
0.91
F Completion rate
0.88
1.00
0.82
67 words
(iv)
Postgraduate male and female numbers on research
degrees
Full and part-time – comment on the female: male ratio compared
with the national picture in your discipline. Describe any initiatives
taken to address any imbalance and the effect to date. Comment
upon any plans for the future.
Table 2-4 shows the numbers of male and female postgraduate
research students in chemistry at Warwick for the last three years.
The ratio is approximately 60:40 male:female as is the case for
undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses. It is in accord with
the national figures shown in Figure 2-2.
5
Table 2-4: Numbers of male and female postgraduate research students
commencing in Chemistry at Warwick for the last four years.
PG - Research
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
M
F
22
15
30
23
15
9
25
14
Total
37
24
55
37
Proportion
of Male
0.59
0.62
0.55
0.62
Proportion
of Female
0.41
0.38
0.45
0.38
National data - University Higher Degree Chemistry Graduates
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Male
Female
Figure 2-2: Percentages of male and female students undertaking higher degrees
in chemistry in the UK as a function of time. Data from: RSC,
http://www.rsc.org/images/Summarylateststatistics_tcm18-102763.pdf
49 words
(v)
Ratio of course applications to offers and acceptances by
gender for (ii), (iii) and (iv) above
Comment on the differences between male and female admissions and
describe any initiatives taken to address any imbalance and the effect to date.
Comment upon any plans for the future.
We are confident that we treat all applications at undergraduate and
postgraduate levels equally, irrespective of gender, ethnicity or disability. As
far as we can tell there is no gender bias in any of our admissions processes.
We do not keep gender data at undergraduate level, but spot checks (e.g.
2006/7 undergraduate) indicate that the ratio of admitted students follows
ratios of applications. At a post graduate level, although the total number of
women admitted is fewer than men admitted, their success rate from
application to admission (Figure 2.3) is on average higher.
6
However, we do note there is a decrease from school to University (~48% to
~40%) in the percentage of female students. We recognise that encouraging
students from all backgrounds to study science at University is an important
task that research has shown to be especially critical between ages 13–15.
Chemistry- M-F proportions PG - Research
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Male intake/ Male applicants
Female intake/ Female applicants
Figure 2-3: Proportion of male and proportion of female applicants who were
accepted onto chemistry PG research degrees by year.
143 words
(vi)
Degree classification by gender
Comment on any differences in degree attainment between males and
females and say what action you are taking to address any imbalance.
Table 2-5 and Figure 2-4 give the degree classifications of undergraduates by
gender. In recent years the female students on average perform somewhat
better than the male students with a higher proportion of 1st and 2(i) degree
classifications.
7
Table 2-5: Degree grades of male and female students on both BSc and MChem
degrees in Chemistry at Warwick for the last three years and proportions of
male students with each grade and proportions of female students with each
grade.
Male BSC
2006/7
2007/8
2008/9
1st
2
3
6
2i
10
7
8
2ii
5
6
11
3
5
5
3
Female BSc
Pass
1
0
3
Total
M
23
21
31
1st
2
6
2
2i
5
1
10
Male MChem
2006/7
2007/8
2008/9
1st
11
7
6
2i
5
12
16
2ii
4
2
10
3
0
1
0
2006/7
2007/8
2008/9
2006/7
2007/8
2008/9
1st
0.3
0.23
0.19
Pass
2ii
0.21
0.19
0.33
3
0.12
0.14
0.05
Pass
0
0
0
Total
F
22
12
20
1st
4
3
10
2i
2
12
9
2ii
3
2
5
3
0
0
0
Pass
Total
F
9
17
24
Total Female
2i
2ii
3
Pass
15
9
5
1
19
8
6
0
24
21
3
3
Proportion of Male
2i
0.35
0.44
0.38
3
6
1
2
Female MChem
Total
M
20
22
32
Total Male
1st
13
10
12
2ii
9
4
6
Pass
0.02
0
0.05
Total
M
43
43
63
1st
6
9
12
Total
M
1
1
1
1st
0.19
0.31
0.27
2i
2ii
3
Pass
7
12
6
0
13
6
1
0
19
11
2
0
Proportion of Female
2i
0.23
0.45
0.43
2ii
0.39
0.21
0.25
3
0.19
0.03
0.05
Pass
0
0
0
Total
F
31
29
44
Total
F
1
1
1
8
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Proportion of Male students awarded degrees of each
class
1st
2i
2006/7
2ii
2007/8
3
Pass
2008/9
Proportion of Female students awarded degrees of each
class
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
1st
2006/7
2i
2ii
2007/8
3
Pass
2008/9
Figure 2-4: Proportions of male students (above) with each grade and
proportions of female (below) students with each degree grade for the last three
years.
143 words
(vii)
Length of time for postgraduate completion by gender
Comment on any differences in completion times between males and females
and say what action you are taking to address any imbalance.
Table 2-6 and Figure 2-5 give the time taken for postgraduate students to
complete research and taught degrees. There is on average no significant
gender difference. The increased completion time in 2008/9 is due to the
increased number of students funded for four years. Completion rates are
high in chemistry, though the data suggest students are not finishing within
their original registration time. The University is considering how to address
this issue.
9
Table 2-6: Time taken for male and female students to complete PG research
and PG taught degrees in Chemistry at Warwick for the last three years.
PG
Research
PG Taught
PG
Research
PG Taught
PG
Research
PG Taught
F 2006/07
M 2006/07
4.14
1.45
3.99
1.11
F 2007/08
M 2007/08
3.81
1.16
3.93
1.11
F 2008/09
M 2008/09
4.37
1.00
4.30
1.15
PG Taught - completion time
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
F
2006-07
M
2007-08
2008-09
PG Research - completion time
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
F
2006-07
M
2007-08
2008-09
Figure 2-5: Time taken for male and female students to complete PG taught and
PG research degrees in Chemistry at Warwick for the last three years.
72 words
10
STAFF DATA
(i)
Number of male and female staff (academic and research) at
each grade
Comment on any differences in numbers between males and females and say
what action you are taking to address any under-representation at particular
grades/levels.
The Department has six full time female academic staff, of whom 2 are
professors, and 30% of the total research and academic staff are female.
Table 2-7 and Figure 2-6 show the number of research staff at each grade
and the proportions of the total population of each gender in that grade. As
with the University data, there are more grade 5 women than men (though the
numbers are small) and significantly fewer women than men at the high
grades. Of the women employed, they are predominantly in Grade 6
(postdoctoral researchers). Over time the average grades occupied by
women is increasing as is the proportion of women at the higher grades.
Table 2-7: Number of male and female research and academic staff at each
grade in Chemistry at Warwick for the last three years together with the
proportion of the total number of men/women in each category.
310707
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
Total
310708
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
Total
310709
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
Total
M
F
2
22
8
9
13
54
M
4
12
2
2
1
21
F
0
23
13
8
13
57
M
4
19
2
1
2
28
F
0
27
13
8
12
60
2
16
2
3
2
25
Proportion
of M at each
category
0.04
0.41
0.15
0.17
0.24
Proportion of
F at each
category
0.19
0.57
0.10
0.10
0.05
Proportion
of M at each
category
0.00
0.40
0.23
0.14
0.23
Proportion of
F at each
category
0.14
0.68
0.07
0.04
0.07
Proportion
of M at each
category
0.00
0.45
0.22
0.13
0.20
1.00
Proportion of
F at each
category
0.08
0.64
0.08
0.12
0.08
1.00
11
Proportion of M-F employees for eah category over three years
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Grade 5
M 2007
Grade 6
M 2008
Grade 7
M 2009
Grade 8
F 2007
Grade 9
F 2008
F 2009
Figure 2-6: The proportion of male employees who are in each category and the
proportion of female employees who are in each category over the last three
years.
112 words
(ii)
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 you are taking to address this.
Table 2-8 gives the number of women, men and unknown gender applicants
(due to gender blind application forms), shortlisted candidates and
appointees. The number of male applicants is three times higher than the
number of female applicants. The proportion of shortlisted female applicants
(as a function of the total number of female applicants) is higher than for male
and so is the proportion of female short-listed candidates to whom job offers
were made. Thus the women who do apply are approximately twice as likely
to be successful as their male counterparts. However, as the 40:60
female:male population split at PhD level reflects the national situation, this
means that women PhD graduates are somewhat less than half as likely to
apply for post doctoral positions. From the total population of researchers
eligible to apply the male and female success rate is comparable (i.e. fewer
women apply but those who do are more successful).
12
Table 2-8: Number of male and female research and academic staff applicants,
shortlisted candidates and candidates to whom job-offers were made for 37 jobs
advertised in chemistry. The data are also expressed as proportions. The data
are not available by grade, however, most of the applicants will be for Grade 6
posts. F denotes female, M denotes male and U denotes unknown (application
forms are gender blind).
F
M
U
Applications
166
547
34
Shortlisted
30
60
4
Offers
13
19
1
Proportion (as a
function of the
total number of
M or F or U) of
applicants that
were shortlisted
0.18
0.11
0.12
Proportion (as a
function of the total
number of F or M or
U) of shortlisted
applicants to whom
jobs were offered
0.43
0.32
0.25
152 words
(iii)
Turnover by grade and gender
Comment on any differences between men and women in turnover and
say how you plan to address this. Where the number of women in the
department is small you may wish to comment on specific examples.
Explain if turnover affects recruitment and promotion rates.
Table 2-9 gives the number of male and female researchers and academic
staff by grade and the number who left in each of the last three years. The
graph shows the proportion of M-F-U employees that left. Figure 2-7 shows
the proportions of men and women who left in each year. It is not clear why in
2008/09 the proportion of women who left the department is so high.
13
Table 2-9: Number of male and female research and academic staff at each
grade and the number who left each year for the last 3 years.
2006/07
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
Total
2007/08
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
Total
2008/09
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
Total
Male
Headcount
Female
Headcount
Total
Headcount
Male
Leavers
Female
Leavers
1
22
8
10
12
53
2
8
2
1
1
14
3
30
10
11
13
67
0
8
1
0
2
11
1
1
0
0
0
2
Male
Headcount
Female
Headcount
Total
Headcount
Male
Leavers
Female
Leavers
1
22
11
9
13
56
4
16
2
2
2
26
5
38
13
11
15
82
2
7
0
1
0
10
0
4
0
0
0
4
Male
Headcount
0
26
14
8
13
61
Female
Headcount
3
17
3
2
2
27
Total
Headcount
3
43
17
10
15
88
Male
Leavers
0
8
0
0
2
10
Female
Leavers
2
7
0
0
0
9
Total
Leavers
1
9
1
0
2
13
Total
Leavers
2
11
0
1
0
14
Total
Leavers
2
15
0
0
2
19
Proportion of M-F employees that left
0.50
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
M employees that left/all M
2006-07
F employees that left/all F
2007-08
2008-09
Figure 2-7: Proportion of male staff who left and female staff who left research
and academic staff positions in Chemistry at Warwick for the last 3 years.
69 words
14
(iv)
Maternity return rate
Comment on whether your maternity return rate has improved or deteriorated
and say how you plan to improve further. If you are unable to provide a
maternity return rate, please explain why.
Due to the reasonably small percentage of women above Grade 6 in
Chemistry, there have been few requests for maternity leave in the last three
years. Two women took maternity leave in 07/08, one of whom left before
their return date. There were none in 06/07 or 08/09.
48 words
(v)
Paternity, adoption and parental leave uptake
Comment on the uptake of paternity leave by grade and parental and
adoption leave by gender and grade and whether this has improved or
deteriorated and say how you plan to improve further.
There were no cases of paternity leave in 06/07, three in 07/08 and one in
08/09. There were no cases of parental or adoption leave in this period,
though consideration has been given as to how the department would deal
with such a situation. Anecdotally we know most research and academic staff
with children juggle work commitments around children, use annual leave,
work flexibly by local arrangements etc. to cover any crises. The drive to
cover child-care and ones responsibilities in these ways is high as parental
leave is unpaid.
90 words
(vi)
Promotion application and success rates by gender and
grade
Comment on whether these have improved and say what further action may
be taken. Where the number of women is small you may comment on specific
examples of where women have been through the promotion process. Explain
how potential candidates are identified.
Table 2-10 gives the promotion data for academic and research staff for the
last three years. The numbers overall are small. It is not obvious from the data
or knowledge of the community in chemistry that there are any issues that
need to be considered.
Table 2-10: Number of male and female research and academic staff who were
recommended for promotion by the Department of Chemistry and the number
who were promoted for the last 2 years. There were none in the preceding year.
Recommended
Promoted
2008/09
Male
Female Male
Female
Professorship
1
0
1
0
2009/10
Professorship
1
0
1
0
Principal research
fellow
1
0
1
0
15
45 words
(vii)
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.
All academic staff and key administrative staff attend the twice-termly staff
meetings. The composition of the Executive Committee is discussed in
§3.(vi). Women are represented on most departmental committees, the
membership of which rotates from time to time.
38 words
(viii) 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 you may wish to comment on specific examples.
See §3.(iii) for a discussion of this issue. The numbers are too small to be
summarized in a table.
19 words
(ix)
Female: male ratio of academic staff on fixed-term contracts
and open-ended (permanent) contracts
Comment on any differences between male and female staff representation
on fixed-term contracts and say what you are doing to address them.
Table 2-11 gives the number and proportions of women and men who are on
fixed-term (FT) and open-ended (OE) contracts. These staff are almost
exclusively postdoctoral researchers. Women are three times more likely to
be on a fixed term contract whereas men are closer to equally likely to be on
either form of contract. The FT/OE transition is largely due to time spent with
one employer. These data suggest that women leave their research posts
earlier than do men. Trying to address this issue is part of the action plan.
Table 2-11: Number of female and male research staff on fixed-term contracts
(FTC) and open-ended contracts (OEC) in 2009/10 in the Department of
Chemistry. The proportions of women and men in each category are given in the
final two columns.
FTC
F
17
M
25
OEC
6
31
TOTAL
23
56
Proportion of
female staff in
each category
Proportion of
male staff in
each category
0.74
0.45
0.26
0.55
90 words
16
3. Initiatives to advance and support women in the department (300
words each section)
(i)
Promotion and career development
All academic staff have Annual Review meetings which offer them
opportunities to discuss matters relevant to promotion and career
development. A recent innovation is that postdoctoral research staff have the
option of an Annual Review and are required to have regular (6 monthly)
career review meetings with their supervisor or other mentor. The effect of
this will be monitored.
In general, Heads of Sections (HoS) review the career stages of all academic
staff in their section and discuss this with the staff member advising and
encouraging them as appropriate. In addition staff are always welcome to
discuss their own career prospects with the Head of Department (HoD) at any
time during the year. The HoD operates ‘formal’ open door sessions where
any member of staff may have one to one discussions on any subject matter,
in addition to being available on an ad hoc basis. Each year the HoD is invited
to submit recommendations to the Vice Chancellor of staff that have been
considered by their HoS to deserve promotion. All professional and personal
circumstances are considered, including gender issues or staff with parental
or other caring responsibilities.
Academic staff on probation regularly meet with the HoD to discuss aspects
of their activities including funding, publications, external profile, research
activity, supervision, teaching and administrative duties. Staff are also
encouraged to get involved in the wider university context to understand how
university committees work and to widen their network. All probationers have
to complete PCAPP (Postgraduate Certificate in Academic and Professional
Practice). This has recently been revised in light of feedback from academic
staff and is more appropriate to chemistry than was previously the case.
The department is proactive in working with individuals as far as possible to
ensure that teaching duties fit around other personal responsibilities without
unduly burdening colleagues.
300 words
(ii)
Support for staff at key career transition points
In our experience, the transition from PhD to post doctoral researcher (PDR)
positions usually happens fairly easily but how the PDRs are supported as
they adapt to a position of greater leadership is more challenging. The
emphasis for PDRs is usually on research results. Yet for career progression
they need to develop a wide range of skills to enable them to move to the next
stage of their career either in academia, industry or elsewhere. Further, the
most vulnerable transition point in an academic career is that from PDR to
academic member of staff. This is true for both men and women but the
available data (see above) suggest this is particularly an issue for women.
In addition to training being available in mentoring for supervisors we have
designed an accredited Advanced Researcher Post Graduate Certificate in
Transferable Skills in Science (PGCTSS) for PDRs. The PGCTSS provides
17
training suggested by the Roberts Agenda and the needs of future scientific
careers. It was also developed to be a tool to help PDRs manage their
supervisors (or other academic member of staff of their choice) to their
immediate and longer-term benefit. This is in recognition of the reality that
post-doctoral researchers are at exciting points in their career, but many feel
undervalued by their supervisors and employers as they feel everyone
focuses only on their research output. From this point their career will be
unique to them so they need to be supported individually. The PGCTSS
provides a mentored programme that gives the early stage researcher the
tools to manage a mentoring relationship. In the short term this increases their
effectiveness as researchers whilst also preparing them for future roles as
senior scientists and team leaders.
284 words
(iii)
Flexible working
The Department currently has four women (all support staff, grades 1a–5) and
two men (one support staff, Grade 1a–5; one Grade 8 academic staff)
working part-time. One member of administrative staff currently on maternity
leave has negotiated to return to work 4 days per week. The department
recognises the benefits of being able to support a more flexible workforce in
terms of recruitment, retention and performance of staff, and adheres to the
University Guidelines on Flexible Working which are aimed at assisting
employees to balance their work and personal lives.
The department considers flexible working requests on an individual basis,
taking into account the needs of the employee and the operational needs of
the Department. The Head of Department has the authority to make
recommendations to the University with regard to staff either temporarily or
permanently reducing or changing their working hours. Information on flexible
working arrangements are available on Warwick’s website, which give a
comprehensive list of the types of flexible working that might be considered,
including case studies written by staff working flexible hours. Information on
flexible working is also given in induction material, and as part of the literature
provided at appointment stage.
The University provides training sessions on work-life balance and each
department has a dedicated HR Advisor who can offer information and
guidance to staff wishing to change their working hours.
A recent example of support is ….. [removed due to confidentiality]
300 words
(iv)
Culture
The department has a supportive friendly culture and has tried to
accommodate the needs of all staff, including e.g. requests for flexible
working, on an individual basis. In recent years the department has grown
significantly and over the last two years has changed its management
structures to endeavour to ensure that the supportive friendly culture is
maintained despite the increased number of people. After initial problems,
18
much of the new structure is now working well, but further changes especially
in the administrative and technical support side will be implemented in the
near future. The department is very aware of the challenges faced by all
academics, particularly younger members of staff at this time. The department
has therefore ensured that there are senior role models and mentors available
for staff who wish to have them (probationers are required to have a mentor).
Support is offered to postdoctoral staff who are applying for fellowships and
independent positions e.g. Science City Fellowships, BBSRC, EPSRC, Royal
Society Career Development Fellowships. Formal advice and support
sessions are regularly given by the Chemistry Research Support Link Officer
as well as by mentors and HoD, in addition to ‘responsive mode’ support.
Careers guidance and general mentoring of PDRs is usually via their
supervisor. The new PGCTSS (see above) is designed to facilitate this
process.
The department has endeavoured to engender a culture in which it is
accepted that childcare is a matter for both men and women and has
supported parents of both genders to spend time away where appropriate.
In another initiative to deal with the increased size of the department we have
recently launched a weekly electronic news letter which has replaced the
former termly one. This is proving to be a helpful communication forum for
social and non-social ‘news’.
295 words
(v)
Recruitment of staff
Departments are guided by Central HR on the recruitment process, with
application forms being consistent for all categories of posts. The forms do
not explicitly ask for gender information and applications are often gender
blind. In line with equal opportunities policies, all short-listing is based on
merit, including for academic staff and PDRs number of publications in high
profile journals, competency and expertise of research, teaching experience.
All applications received for posts are matched to the Person Specification
and Job Description issued with the advertisement. Short listing is undertaken
by a group of academic staff with an appropriate gender representation.
Within the department, staff of both genders are encouraged to apply for
promotion, e.g. PDRs to lectureship positions, when they arise. One of the
department’s current female professors was formerly a student, then PDR,
then reader. Other permanent academic staff began with short-term contracts.
Recently the department has appointed an HR administrator who is involved
in all matters of recruitment and selection ensuring that all University policies
incorporating Equal Opportunities are adhered to for all categories of staff.
For all positions, as a matter of good practice, there is normally at least one
female representative on interview panels, this could be another member of
academic staff or the HR administrator. Since the pool of female academic
staff is small it may not always be possible to find someone willing to
contribute, but the HR Administrator ensures that a fair process is followed.
242 words
19
(vi)
Representation on decision-making committees
The department has an Executive Committee which meets every two weeks
and is the major decision making committee of the department. The
committee membership includes the Head of Department, Heads of Section,
the chair of LTC, the director of Graduate Studies, a non-professorial
representative whose selection is based on nominations from members of
staff and key administrative staff. Currently 2 administrative staff members of
the Executive Committee are female. Other departmental committees feed
into this committee for decisions on issues raised.
The Departmental Staff meetings are attended by all academic staff, key
personnel and representatives for the Research Staff Forum as well as SSLC
representatives.
Monthly section meetings are attended by all academic staff and are the
formal mechanism for communication to and from the Executive Committee.
However, this has not always proved a sufficient means of communication.
This issue is addressed in the action plan.
The women in the chemistry department are all involved in crossdepartmental and university-level activities and decision-making. For
example, Alison Rodger is the Director of the MOAC Doctoral Training Centre
(a cross-faculty activity she founded) and on committees such as the Science
Faculty Research Committee. She also heads up the Warwick
Interdisciplinary Science Committee (all science Directors of Graduate
Studies). Ann Dixon is the MOAC MSc Director and on the University
Undergraduate Appeals Committee. Claudia Blindauer plays a key role in
decision-making in Warwick Centre for Analytical Sciences and is driving its
new MSc programme forward. Julie Macpherson was on Senate. Tiffany
Walsh is a member of the Centre for Scientific Computing.
257 words
(vii)
Workload model
Chemistry has had a transparent workload model for teaching for many years
which tries to encompass other academic commitments of staff. The
spreadsheet with these data is circulated to staff for comment and used to
feed into the planning process. Teaching allocations are handled at Section
Levels (Inorganic, Organic, Physical) where a preliminary allocation is made.
These are then discussed at the Learning and Teaching Committee (LTC)
prior to a meeting between teaching heads and section heads where the
process is finalised as much as possible. Information from Annual Reviews
can be fed in by the section heads at this time. The ‘final’ allocation is taken
back to sections and will be put up on the web for all to see. Administrative
tasks are shared out among all academic staff and published in the
departmental handbook.
The teaching allocation process is based on the fact that all staff are initially
presumed to be on a 100% teaching load although due consideration is taken
for lecturers on probation (who get a reduced teaching load), Fellows whose
terms and conditions require reduced loads and any special cases (e.g. Head
20
of Department, ERC funding) where it is deemed to be to the department’s
benefit to give reduced teaching loads. LTC’s intention is for the process to be
open and transparent.
Further consideration of teaching loads and the model itself is now required in
light of changes in the department and types of teaching. Such information
needs to be available to new staff in induction material.
252 words
21
(viii) Cover for maternity and adoption leave and support on
return
Due to the reasonably small percentage of women in Chemistry, there have
been few requests for maternity leave as outlined above. No academic staff
have taken maternity or adoption leave within the last ten years.
The department has experience of supporting female PhD students who have
become pregnant during their studies, in one case, the research project had
to be changed considerably because of issues of working with certain
chemicals in the laboratory. The supervisor worked with the student to ensure
that she was able to cope with the change of direction and that she was still
able to produce work worthy of a PhD.
In general the modus operandi for maternity/adoption cover depends on the
type of work. Research work is often independent work and therefore difficult
for someone else to cover whilst staff are on maternity leave. Teaching and
administrative loads are/would be distributed amongst existing staff or rearranged to suit the leave period. In some cases additional teaching
assistance will be brought in from other universities or provided by early
career researchers. Funding is available to departments from central
university resources to pay for this support.
189 words
(ix)
Timing of departmental meetings and social gatherings
All central University committee meetings are organised in core hours to try to
avoid impacting on staff who have child caring responsibilities. Departments
also try to follow this, but this is often difficult because of teaching
responsibilities of staff together with University committee time-tablings. In
general the approach taken is to give as much notice as possible for
departmental meetings, so that, if possible, staff have ample notice and have
time to make alternative arrangements. Further, consideration is given to the
needs of specific individuals and meeting timings are changed from time to
time. In this context it should be noted that, depending on the relevant
community, meetings in non-core hours may be deemed far more appropriate
than those in core hours. Most departmental agendas are flexible, so that
people can be scheduled into a suitable time slot if that is necessary.
In line with University financial regulations, all staff of all categories are invited
to departmental social gatherings. Each year the department has a Christmas
lunch and each summer after the busy exam period Chemistry celebrates the
end of another successful academic year with a departmental barbeque at
which children and other family members are very welcome. The Postdoctoral
Research Forum is supplied with a small budget to use towards lunches
before their seminars.
215 words
(x)
Outreach activities
Individual staff of all levels and PhD students contribute to school and general
public outreach activities including via regular media activities, news flashes,
22
schools, and the web. For example, one PhD student spent a day recording a
3 hour show in the BBC Radio 1 Studios in London as part of her prize for
winning best female presenter at the National Student Radio Awards. In
addition, Warwick Chemistry runs a very active schools outreach programme
coordinated and inspired by our School Teacher Fellow Nick Barker. We
engage with children from all backgrounds aged 6–18 with visits from
Warwick personnel to schools and from school groups to Warwick. Children
come and enjoy and day in the laboratories, tutorials, workshops and tours.
We visit schools to give demonstration lectures and research scientists tell
school audiences about their work. Last academic year the outreach
programme in Chemistry engaged with some 3500 school students and the
programme has been busier this year.
Whilst not all post-graduate students, PDRs and staff choose to take part in
outreach, most do. Indeed the success of this programme can be directly
attributed to the active involvement of scientists at all stages of their careers.
There is an approximate 50:50 gender balance when looking at the adults
who work with our school visitors and a conscious effort is made to ensure
that quieter members (not always the girls, but often) of visiting groups are
encouraged to contribute. The efforts of staff and students in this work are
formally recognised by Nick Barker and the Head of Department.
259 words
(xi)
Induction and training
All staff categories are offered a departmental induction as well as a
University induction session. Induction material is available in paper and web
format. Chemistry is currently reviewing its induction documentation to
provide different relevant information to the various categories of staff
following the model established by Physics at Warwick, where staff were
consulted about what they would have found useful on their arrival in the
department. As part of Chemistry’s management restructuring, the
department now has in-house HR assistance and will draw upon this
expertise to ensure that new staff are welcomed to the department and given
the correct and timely assistance they need.
Training issues are discussed with new staff and a training plan identified.
Most technical training is offered within the department because of the
specialised nature of the research. The Learning and Development Centre
(LDC) offers a wide range of training and development courses to all
categories of staff. Probationary lecturers are required to participate in the
Postgraduate Certificate for Academic and Professional Practice (PCAPP).
Chemistry PhD students are required to register on the PGCTSS (see above
and below) and PDRs are encouraged to take the advanced stream. The
Warwick Leadership Programme is available for more senior staff including
women. Training issues are discussed at Annual Reviews, with a collective
list of identified training issues being discussed with LDC after the review
process. Support staff are encouraged to gain professional qualifications,
often with departmental financial support.
The PGCTSS for PDRs includes two skills modules. The first focuses on their
own personal skills development including planning, reporting, reviewing and
writing. The second is designed to take them into positions of leadership
23
locally and nationally. It provides techniques and a formal structure for
managing a mentoring relationship and more generally their own.
294 words
24
(xii)
Support for female students
The general support provided to male and female students is the same, some
of it being from the supervisor, some from the PGCTSS and some from the
director of graduate studies. Women on average have less confidence in their
own abilities than men and we deal with this on an individual basis: as
supervisors; by encouraging peer-peer mentoring; and by providing support
(administrative and some finance) for any student initiatives. For example two
female chemistry PhD students have joined with a biology PhD student
(following their PGCTSS Team Development Course last year) to run a
Women in Science programme with a focus on leadership in September.
We strongly encourage female students to use the mechanism of the
PGCTSS to help them get the support they need. This is particularly useful for
women working in male-dominated environments where role models are few.
The PGCTSS includes a skills module for each year complemented by an
optional module such as Team development, project planning, enterprise,
ethics, leadership, writing etc. The certificate is designed to be particularly
useful for researchers who find it difficult to ask for the support they need from
their supervisors.
The female members of academic staff (of which we have 6) are all visible
active researchers and willingly spend time with younger researchers
providing them with advice and support.
219 words
4. Case study: impacting on individuals
Professor Julie Macpherson
Julie Macpherson was awarded a University Royal Society Fellowship (URF) in 1999,
which was held in Chemistry at Warwick. The Department were extremely supportive
offering Julie her own office and laboratory space. She was treated as any new junior
academic in the department would be and was given a departmental studentship in
addition to a monetary contribution towards equipment she wished to purchase to
start her research programme. Julie took on teaching duties but at a reduced rate
given her URF position. She had several people (from Warwick Chemistry) who
actively participated in mentoring her research career, including Profs. Patrick Unwin
and Alison Rodger, which helped her enormously. The department early on made a
commitment to take over the payment of Julie’s salary at the end of her
fellowship and actively considered her progress (in terms of promotion). Thus by the
time her fellowship ended she had moved from the status of URF to full time
academic professor. This rapid rise in title was credit not only to the support of the
Royal Society but very much down to the commitment and help the department gave
to Julie during her URF years.
195 words
5. Further SET-specific initiatives
The chemistry postdoctoral researchers have been supported by academic staff as
they establish a departmental post doctoral forum. This group now links with formal
25
departmental management via a representative at staff meetings (which occur twice
per term). PDRs are also now being offered opportunities to be involved in teaching if
they wish to do so, thus becoming more part of the core activities of the department
and preparing themselves for future academic or other training/teaching roles in their
future careers. These activities benefit both men and women. We will explore how to
use the postdoctoral researcher forum to support involvement of PDRs in
departmental activities where they wish to do so.
111 words
6. The self-assessment process
To help the department examine its policies and procedures, a visit by members of
the Royal Society of Chemistry was arranged on 19th November 2009. The purpose
of the visit was to explore how effectively the department’s good practice policies
were implemented, and how they impacted on staff at different career levels. A
previous visit in 2004 had highlighted that the Department already had much good
practice in place, but the report received back from the November 09 meeting was
disappointing in as much that the panel thought little progress had been made since
then. A preliminary internal review of the 2009 report led to the conclusions that the
new management structure was not working as effectively as might have been hoped
in some parts of the department and that the growth of the department had resulted
in the ‘traditional’ methods of communication being inadequate. Related to this, the
PDRs felt more isolated from departmental-decision making than had previously
been the case. The department has therefore used the process of preparing this
application to proactively address some of the issues referred to in the report.
A self assessment group was organised, which consisted of Professor Peter Sadler
(Head of Department), Professor Alison Rodger (Chair of the University Athena
Steering Group), Professor Tim Bugg, Dr Claudia Blindauer, Dr Rachel O’Reilly, Ms
Katharine Gray, Mrs Sandra Beaufoy (currently on secondment from Physics) and Dr
Alana Collis (representing postdoctoral researchers). The group has formally met
four times and informally more frequently. The University Self Assessment group,
which has met every three weeks whilst preparing the University application, has
departmental representation (Professor Alison Rodger, Professor Patrick Unwin, Ms
Katharine Gray and Mrs Sandra Beaufoy). This has proved very useful to benchmark
how Chemistry is performing against other Warwick SET departments, and has also
provided a mechanism for SET departments to examine their procedures and to
share best practice.
Recent initiatives mentioned above which have been introduced as part of this
process have included: the PGCTSS for PDRs; the weekly departmental news letter;
in-house HR support; the Postdoctoral Researcher Forum that has been established
and has a representative at staff meetings.
356 words
7. Self Assessment Team
Professor Peter Sadler – Head of Department
Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and The Royal Society of
London (FRS) and has been Head of Department since 2007. He has had a very
26
successful academic career which has included mentoring a large number of
successful scientists, many of whom are women. One of his former students went on
to become the first women appointed to an established Chair in Chemistry in
Australia. A female Chinese PhD student was UK graduate research student of the
year in 2002 in a competition run by the Royal Institution and L’Oriel. The award
gave her life membership of the Royal Institution and a cash prize. Several of his
former female students and postdoctoral researchers now hold university positions,
including an associate professor at Warwick who was also one of Peter’s former
postdoctoral researchers. Seventy percent (13/19) of his current research group are
women. Peter is keen for all his students and staff to fulfil their potential and is keen
to encourage them to do so.
Professor Alison Rodger
Alison has been the Director of the MOAC Doctoral Training Centre since 2003
having established it as a cross-disciplinary post graduate training centre. She is a
Professor in Chemistry whose research focuses on structure and function of
biomacromolecules. She has worked with young people to enthuse them into
scientific careers and much of the focus of her current effort is to develop ways of
supporting early career researchers, particularly young female scientists, as they
establish their own career paths. 17 of her 38 PhD students have been female. She
is chair of the university Athena Steering Group and thus a member of the University
Athena Self Assessment Group.
Professor Tim Bugg
Tim is Professor of Biological Chemistry, who joined the Department in 1999 from
Southampton. His research area is enzymology, and he teaches biological and
medicinal chemistry. He is Course Director for the BSc Biomedical Chemistry and
MChem Chemical Biology degrees, was Director of Undergraduate Studies in
Chemistry from 2004 to 2008, and he organises team development activities for
undergraduate and postgraduate students in Chemistry and at the MOAC/Systems
Biology/Complexity Science DTC's.
Dr Claudia Blindauer
Claudia was educated in Germany and completed her PhD thesis in Switzerland
before moving to the University of Edinburgh to do 5.5 years of post-doctoral work,
funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Novartis Foundation, the
European Commission, and the Wellcome Trust. Upon being awarded the Royal
Society Olga Kennard Fellowship in 2004, she moved to Warwick to start her
independent research career. She has now a research group with two PDRAs, seven
PhD students, and varying numbers of project students. She is also the director of
Chemistry’s MSc course in Analytical Science, teaches on three out of nine postgraduate modules, and is also involved in five undergraduate modules.
Dr Rachel O’Reilly
Rachel joined the department in January 2009; she has won an ESPRC career
acceleration fellowship. In September of this year she was promoted to an Associate
Professor. Prior to joining the department at Warwick, she had established her
independent career at the University of Cambridge through the award of a Dorothy
Hodgkin Fellowship.
27
Dr Alana Collis
Alana is a Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, working as part of a
multi-disciplinary project investigating sustainable materials and high-value products
from biorefining. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Nottingham,
working on vinylphosphonate-linked nucleic acids and their application in RNAi.
Alana has been a key person in establishing the Post Doctoral Researcher forum in
Chemistry. She is particularly interested in application of products to healthcare. She
enjoys working in a research environment and assisting in the training and
development of students in Chemistry.
Mrs Sandra Beaufoy
Sandra is HR Administrator for the Departments of Physics and Chemistry. She is a
Member of the University and Chemistry Athena Steering Groups and attends the
Self Assessment Group meetings. Sandra has experience of putting together the
application for the Institute of Physics Juno Champion Award, which the Department
of Physics at Warwick achieved in November 2009. Sandra was awarded an MA in
2009 for research examining potential barriers that female academics face during
their careers.
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8. Action Plan
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY - SWAN Action Plan 2010 to 2013
This Action Plan is intended to guide the work of the Chemistry Department in its bid for Athena SWAN Silver
Award.
Key areas for assessments
1. Female representation on
departmental committees
2.
Timely communication
within the department
3.
Promotion Criteria (in line
with University Athena
Action Plan)
Actions
Ensure the issue of female representation on
departmental committees, e.g. promotion,
executive, examination boards is considered.
To continue to develop more effective means
of communication between Executive
Committee and academic and postdoctoral
as well as all other members of staff.
To define how credit can be given to
academic staff working on collaborative work
Credit for publications
Credit for research grants
Credit for admin and teaching.
Accountability
Head of
Department
Timescales
1 year
Executive
committee and
staff.
6 months
Head of
Department, HR
Administrator,
Promotions
Committee,
HR Resources
1 year
Allocation of
teaching/administration
duties
To review the details of the teaching
workload model.
Discuss the balance between
administrative/teaching/research workloads
and increase transparency.
5.
Consider how to review
and support academic
career development
6.
Refine job descriptions for
major roles in the
department and
disseminate these.
Consider how the Annual Review can be
used more effectively to help support staff in
establishing clear objectives and to balance
the different aspects of their own work loads.
Discuss what is involved with major roles in
the department and ensure the information is
made available to all academic staff.
Head of
Department,
Head of Sections,
LTC, Staff
Head of
Department,
Heads of Section,
Staff
Head of
Department,
Heads of Section,
Staff
To ensure that promotion committee structure
and process is available on Chemistry intranet
pages.
Provide clear links to the University HR site.
Formalise support for post doctoral researcher
promotion.
To define promotion criteria for part-time
staff.
4.
Progress
Discussions between female members of staff
and the head of department in the first
instance.
Regular newsletter, web updates of news and
events posted continuously, encourage posting
of minutes by major committees.
1 Year
Formalise support for post doctoral researcher
promotion
The existing teaching model works reasonably
well but needs refinement.
Ensure appropriate communication with staff
(including Annual Reviews) before duties are
allocated.
2 years
2 years
Discuss the allocation of workloads in relation
to University policy.
Discuss the issues departmentally in the first
instance.
Discuss the issues within the department.
Provide clear guidance to staff on
responsibilities.
29
7.
Explore funding
opportunities for women
returning from
maternity/adoption leave
8.
Review of Departmental
induction documentation
9.
PULSE Staff Survey
10. Fixed-term (FT) versus
open-ended (OE) contracts
To obtain funding to buy-out the teaching
duties of women returning from maternity
leave in order for them to resume their
research interests and to re-establish their
publication profile.
To continue to refine and produce separate
induction material for each category of staff
to ensure that appropriate information is
given (i.e. more teaching information to
academics staff).
To discuss the PULSE survey results widely
within the department. To address any issues
raised by this discussion from the results of
the PULSE staff survey—due out within the
next few weeks.
To determine why women are half as likely
as men to be on OE rather than FT contracts.
Department,
Funding
Agencies,
University
1–2 year
Investigation into possible sources/schemes
that might supply funding.
HR Administrator
Staff within
department
3–6 months
Work already begun.
All staff
Dependent
upon what is
highlighted
This is done by the head of department.
HR Administrator,
staff
3 years
Discussions in career interviews and exit
interviews.
Six monthly career reviews with FT staff.
11. Post doctoral researchers
Ensure post doctoral researchers feel part of
the departmental structures and activities.
Executive
Committee,
Academic Staff
1 year
12. Mentoring encouraged for
Investigate how to set up formal mentoring
for all early stage researchers and to make
mentoring available for other staff.
Executive
Committee,
Academic Staff
1 year
Discuss with Postdoctoral Researcher Forum
to what extent they wish to have academics
involved in the forum and how it can be used
for a variety of different purposes.
Executive
committee and
postgraduate
forum.
6–12 months
Ensure undergraduate, postgraduate and
staff gender data are available.
Undergraduate
office, post
graduate office,
HR Administrator
12 months
all staff
13. Explore how to use the
Postdoctoral Researcher
Forum to support
involvement of PDRs in
departmental activities.
14. Improve statistical data
collection to always include
gender data.
Monitor and attempt to determine why women
are less likely to be on EO contracts than men.
Work on role of PG certificate in Transferable
skills as a guided mentoring programme.
Support new departmental postdoctoral
researcher forum.
Six month career review meetings are being
offered to fixed term contract staff. The effect
of these meetings will be monitored with staff
via the post doctoral forum. Discussions will be
implemented regarding other staff.
Discussions on the role of the postdoctoral
forum in departmental life.
Current efforts being made to collect data
more effectively; need to encourage more
University assistance.
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9. Any other comments
[…Deleted due to confidentiality issues]
A number of members of staff are seconded to other areas of university activity and the department
accommodates these commitments.
The current Head of Department, Professor Peter Sadler, is due to finish his 3-year term of office on 31
July 2010. The new Head of Department will be Professor Mike Shipman who has therefore been named
as the contact for this application. Even after his term has finished, Professor Sadler will continue to work
closely with Professor Shipman to ensure that that the Actions specified in this application are achieved.
Professor Shipman is also fully committed to the principles on which this application is based.
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