UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Notes from the Athena Network Group
Held on
Monday 7 th
April 2014
Present: Sandra Beaufoy, Liz Blagrove, Katherine Branch, Sue Burrows, Oliver Cooper,
Alexandra Cristea, Jen Henderson, Wilfrid Kendall, Claire Martin, Richard
Moffat, Charlotte Moonan, Sunita Palmer, Alison Rodger, James Smith, Sandy
Sparks, Annie Young
Apologies: Ann Dixon, Suzanne Evans, Vanessa Goodship, Nav Patel, Naila Rabbani, Julia
Smith, Orkun Soyer, Charikleia Tzanakou
In Attendance: Gareth Bennett for item 2
1.
Matters arising
No matters arising
2.
WBS Academic Balance Model
RECEIVED: (G Bennett)
G Bennett gave a presentation on the WBS Academic Balance Model, outlining its main principles as well as detailed information on the model itself. The Model covered Research, Teaching and Administrative duties.
RESOLVED:
G Bennett to provide a copy of his slides for the group, and also agreed that if departments were interested in discussing the model in more detail, that they could approach him in the first instance.
3.
Work Shadowing Programme
REPORTED: (by A Rodger)
That a draft on the Work Shadowing Programme documentation has been
That the draft be sent to the Group electronically.
4.
Demystifying Promotion Event developed and would be circulated to the group for comment.
RESOLVED:

REPORTED: (by S Beaufoy)
That feedback from the annual ‘demystifying promotion’ event has been very positive. The date for the event next year has been set for Thursday 12 th
March
2015, 12:00 – 15:00 hrs in MOAC.
5.
Proposed Changes to the Conference Support Scheme
REPORTED: (by S Beaufoy)
(i) The London Mathematical Society has made enquiries with regard to how we operate the Conference Childcare Support Scheme and in particular how we perceive the tax situation around such a scheme. They have requested permission to signpost other institutions to our webpage explaining the scheme.
(ii) As the fund is sponsored by the Faculty of Science budget, do we allow staff from non-STEMM departments to submit for funds and do we also formally extend the scheme to professional staff FA6 and above?
RESOLVED:
That other Chairs of Faculties be approached to see if they would be willing to contribute to the scheme so that the scheme can be widened to include all disciplines and academic and professional staff.
6.
Progress on Departmental Action Plans
(i) WBS
REPORTED: (by O Cooper and J Henderson)
Recruitment data has proved problematic to collect and is still not correct.
This is primarily due to composite adverts for a range of academic positions, which are then tied to one post number, making it difficult to track applications for particular jobs. In addition, HR have also had a number of systems dealing with recruitment that are incompatible with each other, making the data collection more difficult.
(ii) Computer Science
REPORTED BY: (A Cristea)
(a) That the department will have another version of their submission ready for viewing within the next few days.

(iii) Statistics
REPORTED: (by W Kendall)
The action plan is continuing to progress. Have been focussing efforts on a mentoring scheme for academic staff not on probation.
(iv) Physics
REPORTED: (by S Burrows)
(a) That Physics are still waiting to hear if their Athena Silver Renewal submission has been successful.
(b) That the department wants to focus on maternity issues for research staff and will look to the University for guidance.
(v) Warwick Medical School
REPORTED: (by A Young)
(a) That the Welfare and Communications Group continues to meet monthly, but will focus on one or two issues at meetings rather than continuously work through the Action Plan.
(b) That WMS hopes to go for Gold in April 2015 – and are aware that they need to do something nationally to raise their profile to enhance their chances for Gold level.
(vi) Chemistry
REPORTED: (by K Branch and C Martin)
(a) The department is still finding it a challenge to get gender/admissions data.
(b) That statistics were being produced on career destinations for chemistry students.
(vii) Life Sciences
REPORTED: (by C Moonan)
(a) The action plan is progessing albeit slowly.
(viii) Psychology
REPORTED: (by L Blagrove)

(a) That Psychology has been focussing on student satisfaction and other activities – some of which feature on the Action Plan.
(b) The department feels it is likely to be ready to submit for their Silver award in November 2014.
7.
Any Other Business
REPORTED: (by Sandy Sparks)
(i) That staff annual reviews are currently taking place and staff should be encouraged to take responsibility for their reviews, ensuring that progress on their objectives are reviewed again with their reviewer at six months.
(ii) That the Learning and Development Centre offers a variety of personal and professional training sessions to research active staff.
8.
Date for next meeting
The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 6 th
May 2014 at 12:00 hrs in the MOAC meeting room.