UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Notes from the Athena Network Group
Held on
Tuesday 23 July 2013
Present:
Sandra Beaufoy, Liz Blagrove, Katherine Branch, Sophie Clohessy, Oliver Cooper,
Alexandra Cristea, Vanessa Goodship, Mia Khan, Alison Rodgers
Apologies:
Emma Anderson, Sue Burrows, Rebecca Freeman, Miriam Gifford, Laura Green,
Wilfrid Kendall, Richard Moffatt, Sharon Neal, Nav Patel, Julia Smith, Leonie Walls,
Annie Young
1.
Matters Arising
(a)
Summer Holiday Scheme
REPORTED: (by S Beaufoy)
(i)
That the Warwick Summer Scheme will run from Monday 22 July until the end of the
School Summer holidays (30 August).
(ii) The ‘core’ day will run from 08:45 to 17:15 hrs and parents can choose to add early
arrival from 08:00 hrs or late pick-up until 18:00 hrs at an extra charge.
(iii) Activities on the general programme include dance and zumba, tennis, climbing, arts
workshops, drums and music percussion, a portable planetarium from the National
Space Centre, Forest School, Theatre, Physics, Lego building and Spanish. The Mad
Science Programme will run in parallel with the scheme.
(iv) Between 30 and 40 children are registered to attend in the first two weeks, and then
in the region of 20-30 per day in the last 4 weeks.
(b)
University Silver Submission
That the University Silver application was approved by Senate and submitted to ECU. The
outcome will be known sometime in September 2014.
2.
ESRC Discussions
REPORTED: (by A Rodger)
That Adrian Alsop from ESRC had visited Warwick to hold discussions on the possibility of
funding a PDRA to investigate the underlying research to explain the Athena data.
RESOLVED:
That ESRC will fund a workshop in early April to investigate the feasibility of the research.
3.
Progress on departmental action plans
(a) Psychology
REPORTED: (by Liz Blagrove)
Mia Khan has replaced Molly Rogers as the Administrator for the department and will, with
Liz Blagrove, progress the Athena Bronze action plan with a view to being ready to submit
for a Silver level award in April 2014. Progress is being made on the Bronze Action Plan, and
although the department is currently going through a lot of changes, Athena work is
becoming embedded as part of the re-structure.
(b) Chemistry
REPORTED: (by Katherine Branch)
Chemistry are currently running a Photography competition ‘Chemistry in action’ amongst
their staff and students with a view to the selected photographs being displayed around the
department. Not only is this seen as a way to engage with staff/students, but also as a way
of brightening up the department. Analysis of the Pulse Staff Survey results is also
underway.
(c) WMG
REPORTED: (by Vanessa Goodship)
WMG is still waiting to hear from ECU with regards to how to move their submission forward
to be considered for a Bronze award. This may be in the form of a panel visit or a
presentation before the Athena Steering Committee in London. Further clarification will be
given by Sarah Dickinson from ECU.
WMG’s Welfare and communications group continue to meet regularly. The last meeting
predominantly addressed issues identified from the PULSE staff survey, most of which
related to line management issues. WMG have recently had an influx of female academics
which is positive, and work should now focus on how to retain them.
(d) Computer Science
REPORTED: (by Alexandra Cristea)
Computer Science submitted for a Bronze award in April 2013, but felt that the submission
was rushed and consultation in the department not as extensive as it could have been.
However it was felt that even if the department is not successful in achieving an award in
this submission round, the feedback received would be beneficial to them for a future
application.
4.
ECU Gender Equity Charter for all disciplines
REPORTED: (by S Beaufoy)
That the ECU will be trialling a new Gender Equity Charter, which will be for all disciplines and
will operate on similar principles to that of Athena SWAN. ECU are currently asking institutions
to nominate two non-STEMM departments to take part in the trial.
RESOLVED:
WBS have indicated that they would like to participate in the trial and have already started to
examine their data. Other non-STEMM departments will be approached to take part in the
trial, with a view to engaging with all disciplines to prepare for the Charter.
5.
Monash/Warwick Collaboration
REPORTED: (by S Beaufoy)
(a)
That it had been proposed that a Senior Women’s Shadowing Program operated at
Monash be trialled at Warwick. The program would aim to enhance the leadership
capabilities of individual women and assist the University in moving towards a more
gender inclusive management structure.
(b)
That Monash have approached Warwick to support a joint online networking tool for
STEMM women at both institutions in the form of an online database. The database
would aim to assist females to network and initiate collaborations with other STEM staff
at each institution.
RESOLVED:
That these items will be discussed at the next Athena Steering Group meeting scheduled for 24
July 2013.
6.
National Profile
REPORTED: (by Alison Rodger)
Part of the feedback given by ECU on the Chemistry submission for a Gold award was that
insufficient time had passed since their Silver award and that their bid for a Gold award should
indicate that they have improved their profile nationally.
7.
Any other business
REPORTED: (by Sandra Beaufoy)
(i) That there are still funds left in the Conference Childcare Support budget. Participants can
bid for up to £100 to assist with child care costs whilst attending a conference or workshop.
(ii) That the Equality and Diversity webpages, which include the Athena pages are currently
being improved.
8.
Date of next meeting
Dates for the academic year 2013/14 will be notified to members of the group as soon as
possible.