UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Notes from the Athena Network Group
Held on
Thursday 7th May 2015
Present:
1.
Kim Adams, Claire Algar, Sandra Beaufoy, Liz Blagrove, Sue Burrows, Jo Davis,
Maryanne Heafey, Amy Hanson, Sara Kalvala, Charlotte Moonan, Sunita Palmer,
Deepa Patel,
Minutes from the meeting held on 5th April 2015
Minutes of the meeting held on 5th April 2015 were approved.
2.
New Athena Paperwork
REPORTED: (S Beaufoy)
Key points were summarised from the guidelines that the ECU provided for the new
amalgamated Athena paperwork launched at the end of April.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
A letter of commitment from the VC will need to be submitted to the ECU prior to
the November submission date.
STEM departments who have existing Athena awards will have the choice as to
whether to renew using the ‘old’ form or use the new form for submissions from
November 2015 onwards. This option is available until November 2016 when all
submissions/renewals will then need to be made using the new form.
The new form covers professional and support staff.
All Non-STEM departments will have to use the new form.
Awards using the new form will now be valid for 4 years from the submission date.
Any failed submission will have 1 years grace to resubmit and improve the
application.
Any department wishing to submit in the November round will need to notify S
Beaufoy or C Algar at least 2 months prior to the submission date as ECU require
advance notification of intended submissions.
If you wish to submit you application in colour you will need to provide 10 copies of
the application to ECU within 5 working days of the submission deadline.
The word count is as follows:
10,500 Bronze
12,000 Silver
If you feel you have a justifiable reason and wish to request additional word count
you can apply to ECU.
In the new form the word count can be split between sections as long as the word
count is displayed at the end of each section.
Word count includes:
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All body text
Footnotes and other types of references
Any standalone text or included in tables or graphs
The following are NOT included in the word count:
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Tables and graphs providing they do not include standalone text or prose. Any text
included within the table should only make sense within the context of the table or
graph (e.g. titles and data labels).
Action Plan
Details of the self-assessment team: these can be displayed as a table using a
maximum of 20 words for each team member.
Appendices are NOT permitted and would be removed from the submission.
DO NOT include links to further information – nothing will be considered that is NOT
in the submission.
j)
Panels are particularly keen to see examples of innovative and inventive good practice.
k)
Panels will expect to see evidence of gender-specific measures and commentary and
evidence on how initiatives have in particular benefited women
l)
Data
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Data can be presented in whichever way applicants feel most explanatory and
appropriate (tables and graphs), as long as they clearly highlight trends and draw
these out in the narrative.
Data should correspond to the section heading, and present at least three years of
data preceding the submission.
Where data is not available, this should be explained with reasons given (and, in
most cases, a relevant action).
Read each section of the relevant application form for the EXACT data requirements
for that section.
Percentages and raw numbers should be presented both in tables and within the
narrative.
Graphs and tables should be clearly cross-referenced to the narrative and relevant
section number and trends should be evaluated.
Data should be compared with the national benchmark data.
Where data is used to inform a particular action point, the rationale and the actual
action point should be embedded in the narrative and cross-references to the full
action plan. The panel will look at how effectively data, evaluation and action plans
have been linked.
If applying for Silver, it is important to demonstrate any evidence of impact to date.
Consider the size of the graphs and text in the tables, it should be easy and clear to
read and understand.
If using benchmarking data in the application, make it clear which benchmarking
data source has been used, for example, the Higher Education Statistics Agency
(HESA), and the timeframe the data refers to.
5.
Any Other Business
a)
S Beaufoy advised that the consensus point to obtain this year’s data is 1st
August. It was agreed that it would be useful to be able to obtain all data
from the Systems Teams by mid-August.
ACTION: S Beaufoy to speak to Anne O’Rourke and Sam Cole to see if this is
feasible.
6.
b)
C Moonan circulated copies of the webpage that has been created in the
School of Life Sciences sharing case studies for career progression for support
staff.
c)
S Beaufoy to discuss with Jobs.ac to enquire about the cost implications of
using the Athena logo on advertisements.
d)
C Moonan suggested departments collaborating on national events that can
then be used on submissions, instead of lots of departments duplicating
efforts. It was suggested that this is discussed in departments and all ideas
be sent through to S Beaufoy and C Algar to discuss at a future meeting.
Date for the next meeting
The date of the next meeting is Thursday 25th June 2015, 12 – 1pm, MOAC