UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Notes from the Athena Network Group
Held on
Thursday 10th May 2012
Present:
Miriam Gifford, Alison Rodger, Sue Burrows, Katherine Branch, Sara Kalvala, Sandra
Beaufoy, Caroline Peck, James Smith, Sharon Neale, Katie Irgin, Faye Emery, Emma
Anderson
In Attendance: Claire O’Leary
Apologies:
Richard Moffatt
1. WMS have been awarded their Athena Bronze Award which they received at a presentation
ceremony at Birmingham University. They were praised highly for being the first Medical School in
the UK to achieve this.
2. As a result of WMS achieving the Bronze Award, Warwick will host a one day Workshop for other
Medical Schools on Thursday 14th June to share best practice and to discuss some of the challenges
WMS faced whilst preparing their submission. Other Warwick Departments are welcome to attend.
The final programme and venue will be confirmed shortly. Speakers include: Sarah Dickinson &
Peter Mason from the Equality Challenge Unit and Dr Tony Soteriou, from the Research and
Development Directorate.
3. WMG have just submitted their Bronze Award application and the Department of Psychology have
re-submitted their Silver Award application. The assessment panels are likely to meet in June.
Physics is preparing their Juno Gold renewal application for submission in July. Sandra Beaufoy and
Sharon Neale have offered to review it.
The University intend to submit for the Silver Athena Award in either November 2012 or April 2013.
4. Caroline Peck has been appointed for 1 year to work with Sandra Beaufoy on the Athena SWAN
submissions and the HR Excellence in Research Award.
5. The Equality and Diversity Committee will be recommending that all STEM departments who
haven’t already applied for an Athena Award do so by the November 2012 submission deadline. As
an action from the University Athena SWAN Steering Group, Tim Jones (Chair) will be writing to all
Heads of Departments to encourage them to start work on their submissions. Membership of the
Athena SWAN Steering Group consists of Tim Jones (Chair), Pam Thomas, Peter Winstanley, Alison
Rodger, Mike Blair, Leonie Walls, Sandra Beaufoy, Caroline Peck.
6. To assist departments yet to start work on Athena submissions, Sandra Beaufoy distributed
relevant departmental Statistical Data and a Framework on the submission process.
Departments should ensure that:

The Action Plan clearly indicates the person responsible for each action.

Applications should show a journey over the full 3 year time frame.

Action Plans should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely)

Sandra Beaufoy emphasised that one purpose of the Athena Network group is to act as a
support mechanism and sounding board for queries about the submission process and to
read through draft submissions. Draft submissions should also be available to all staff in the
department for comments via the departmental intranet.
7. Warwick will be applying for the HR Excellence in Research Award which consists of an Action Plan
detailing good principles and practices undertaken. Warwick is aiming to submit in June 2012. This
submission can also be used as another piece of evidence for Athena SWAN applications.
8. Faye Emery reported that she has the Engineering data but is lacking data to use as a comparator.
It was suggested she look at the WMG application as they had national figures. Submissions from
other universities may also provide comparator data. It was stated that Engineering PDRAs are
difficult to engage because they are on short term contracts. Alison Rodger suggested a monthly
lunch aimed at welcoming new PDRAs to the department may be a way of engaging with staff.
9. Katie Irgin reported that Life Sciences were in the initial stages of preparing the application. The
collation and reporting of the statistical data is likely to be complex because of the amalgamation of
Biological Sciences and HRI and this should be clearly explained in the submission.
10. Sara Kalvala from Computer Science was concerned about the statistical data and how to analyse it.
It was suggested they look at other submissions and how they have presented trends from their
data.
11. All submissions should be in the public domain. All of Warwick’s submissions are on the Athena
SWAN webpage which can be found on the Equality and Diversity webpage of Human Resources.
12. Katherine Branch reported that Chemistry had made a start drafting their Gold Award submission.
Sandra Beaufoy stated that she is writing the Athena SWAN Annual Report and that this may be of
help to the Chemistry submission.
13. Departmental Athena SWAN Focus Groups have usually been renamed as the Welfare and
Communication Group which broadens the remit of the group and encourages men to become
involved. Groups should include key individuals, such as, postgraduate and undergraduate
admission tutors, both males and females from different areas and levels within the department.
SSLCs should be approached for student membership. Sandra Beaufoy is happy to be an external
member on Departmental Welfare and Communication Groups.
14. Sandra Beaufoy and Caroline Peck offered to meet with departments yet to start work on Athena
applications.
15. Returning parents network started in February with an attendance of approximately 20 people. In
discussions with HR, a number of improvements have been agreed:

Production of a flexible working request form

When HR writes to individuals about returning to work a checklist should be sent to them
and the individual’s manager.

Tighten up risk assessments especially in laboratory areas (individuals need to take
responsibility for informing their managers about their pregnancy)

The need for rooms for breast feeding to be investigated.

There was a lack of understanding about additional paternity leave and therefore
information would be reviewed and updated.

HR need to know when people are returning from maternity/adoption leave and it is the
individual’s responsibility to inform HR.

Bob Thomson runs a course for training staff to act as mentors for returning parents.
Availability of this training will be added to the checklist.
16. Date of next meeting to be announced.