UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Minutes from the Athena Steering Group Meeting
Held on
Tuesday 7th August 2012
Present:
Mrs S Beaufoy, Mr M Blair, Mrs C Peck, Professor A Rodger, Mrs L Walls, Professor P
Winstanley
Apologies:
Professor T Jones, Professor P Thomas
Matters Arising from the Last Minutes:
Item 2. Athena Submissions
2(iii)
A Rodger has held meetings to discuss Athena submissions with the Departments of Mathematics
and Statistics.

Statistics have indicated their intention to make a submission in April 2013. J Brettschneider
will attend Athena Network Meetings.

A Rodger met with C Series from Mathematics who has undertaken a lot of gender research
within the mathematics discipline.

The meetings scheduled with the departments of Computer Science and Engineering were
postponed by P Thomas. The meetings will be re-scheduled as soon as possible.
Action: Professor Jones to prompt Professor Thomas
Item 4. Submissions for April/November deadlines
4(iii)
WMG were not successful in their Athena Bronze submission. Feedback indicated that a clearer
explanation may be required on what WMG means and how the department connects with
Engineering. The Action Plan also needs to be strengthened. WMG have been invited to resubmit
within 12 - 18 months’ time.
4(iv)
Psychology who had submitted for an Athena Silver award, were awarded at Bronze level. An
issue for all UK Psychology departments is the poor retention rate of female
researchers/academics, with a national average of around 80% female undergraduates but only
20 - 25% female professorial staff. Whilst the Athena SWAN judging panel recognised that there
was a good level of self-awareness in the Psychology submission, they would have liked to see
higher priority being given to tackling the low number of senior women. The panel felt that the
department had not shown sufficient impact to warrant a silver award.
Action: L Walls will be meeting with K Gardner from Monash University on 6th September and will
discuss how these statistics compare with data in Australia.
Item 5. University Initiatives for Athena
5(i)
Maternity Returners
5(i)(b)
S Beaufoy met with S Crookes from Student Support Services to discuss a Student Maternity
Policy. The University publishes a lot of maternity information for students, but currently does
not have a formal maternity policy.
Action: In conjunction with Student Support Services, S Beaufoy will draft a policy for approval.
5(i)(d)
P Winstanley contacted C L Hughes, Chair of Sociology, to discuss the possibility of social science
researchers carrying out gender related projects on some of the issues that have been highlighted
in Athena work.
Action: A Rodger to follow up with C L Hughes to determine if there are existing gender related
projects that could productively feed into Athena work.
5(ii)
Returning Parents Network
5(ii)(a)
S Beaufoy reported that a checklist for employees and line managers on issues relating to
maternity returners is currently being developed. The checklist is being drafted in consultation
with the Returning Parents Network Group. A Rodger noted the need to make sure it is
appropriate for academic staff and research staff where the concept of line manager is not very
strong.
Action: P Winstanley will consult with WMS Welfare and Communications Group to provide
feedback on the appropriateness of the maternity checklists in relation to academic and research
staff.
An additional paragraph about extended paternity leave has been added to the standard
template letters for staff going on maternity leave.
Action: S Beaufoy to forward a copy of the templates to P Winstanley and A Rodger.
Resolved:
That the Minutes of the Last Meeting held on 9th May 2012 be approved, noting actions and completion.
1.
PDRA Transferable Skills Training
To Report:
A Rodger reported that it is essential that postdoctoral staff understand that their future career
depends on a combination of acquired skills and not just on the number of papers they have written.
Resolved:
(i)
A Rodger and S Sparks to meet in September to discuss how best to communicate courses and
initiatives available for postdoctoral staff.
(ii) Departments to be approached to include postdoctoral training and development opportunities
in their departmental induction material.
(iii) A Rodger to forward postgraduate transferable skills training web links to N Rabbani in WMS.
(iv) S Neal (LDC) is investigating the development of a training portfolio for postdoctoral staff.
(v) A Rodger has collaborated with Imperial to organise a Chemistry conference primarily for female
postdocs who want independent academic careers. The conference will be held on 1st/2nd
October 2012, and the lectures will be given by women.
2.
Conference Attendance Fund
To Report:
A Rodger asked that a recommendation be made by the Athena Steering Group for the award of a
recurrent annual budget of £1000 for the Conference Attendance Fund for Childcare costs associated
to conference/workshop/meeting attendance.
Resolved:
(i)
That T Jones should be asked to recommend this proposal to the Finance and General Purposes
Committee.
(ii) That Finance should be asked to advertise the Conference Attendance Fund on their Expenses
webpage.
3.
Communicable Diseases
To Report:
WMS Welfare and Communication Group have asked for further information on the policy on how
long children should be withdrawn from the nursery for illnesses or infections that may or may not
be contagious and how it is determined whether infections are contagious.
Resolved:
A Young is to meet with the Nursery Manager to ask about their on Infectious diseases policy
4.
Submission Schedule for Departments
To Report
(i) Intention to Submit
November 2012
• Chemistry – Gold
• Warwick Medical School – Silver
• Engineering – Bronze
• Life Sciences – Bronze
April 2013
• Physics – Gold
• Computer Science – Bronze
• Maths – Bronze
• Statistics – Bronze
• University – in light of the shortage of STEM departments currently at Silver level, a
recommendation will be made to the Equality and Diversity Committee for the University to
submit for a Silver institutional award in April 2013.
5.
University Silver – Quick Wins
To Report
The Group need to investigate possible ‘quick win’ initiatives that could be included in the University
Silver submission.
S Beaufoy met with a staff member from Queens at Belfast, who are currently the only Silver
institutional award holders. The meeting was to determine what they believed were the key
elements that contributed to them receiving the silver award. It appeared that one of the key criteria
appeared to be for sufficient STEM departments to hold Silver level awards.
Received
S Beaufoy distributed a booklet produced by Belfast that highlighted some of their initiatives - ‘Work
Life Balance’ leaflet and ‘Good Practice in Schools’ booklet.
Action: S Beaufoy asked the group to consider the documentation and to comment on the
appropriateness of any of the initiatives that could be utilised at Warwick.
Resolved
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
6.
The success of career break schemes should be added to the University’s Silver submission, as
these are already embedded into the culture of the University.
The webpages for the University Athena work should be up-dated and information made more
prominent.
Details of career break schemes should be added to departmental induction material.
Monash Initiative
To Receive
S Beaufoy distributed a document on gender equity initiatives implemented at Monash University for
information.
Resolved
(i)
The group to consider the initiatives and to comment on the appropriateness of utilising some
on them at Warwick.
(ii)
7.
L Walls to meet K Gardner from Monash in September and will ask for more information on
these initiatives.
Athena SWAN Annual Report
(i)
S Beaufoy has completed the Annual Report and would welcome feedback from the Group.
Action: S Beaufoy to send to the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Group for Chair’s action
prior to the next meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee.
(ii)
8.
Once approved, S Beaufoy to forward the Annual Report to the following for dissemination:
a. Athena SWAN Network Group
b. Equality and Diversity Committee
c. Departmental Equality and Diversity Representatives
d. Upload file to Warwick Athena website
Any Other Business
(i)
Athena SWAN Budget
To Report:
That there is a need for a general Athena SWAN activities budget to cover items such as
workshops, general Athena initiatives and catering costs of meetings.
Resolved:
S Beaufoy will put together a case for a general Athena SWAN budget.
(ii)
Maternity Policies for Postdoctoral Researchers
This item was discussed in Matters Arising above.
Action: P Winstanley will ask a recently qualified WMS graduate with children to comment
on the employee and line manager maternity checklists and the additional paternity leave
paragraph added to the standard template letter. She will also be asked to comment on the
barriers she experienced whilst trying to study and care for children. P Winstanley to
feedback to S Beaufoy.
(iii)
Nursery Provision
To Report:
WMS Welfare and Communication Group have asked for clarification on the flexibility of the
University Nursery for staff who are delayed in collecting their children.
P Winstanley also reported that a request has been made for parents to have access to the
reserved parking area for visitors at the Gibbet Hill site, to assist staff who make trips to the
university nursery during the day.
Resolved:
C Peck and A Young to meet with the Nursery Manager to discuss issues raised:
 waiting list
 sliding scale of costs
 do students get priority
 Infectious diseases policy and its implementation
C Peck to draft a paper summarising school holiday activity schemes organised by other
Russell Group Universities for school age children during school holidays. The paper should
include details on Warwick’s Nursery provision throughout the year. Once approved by the
group the paper should be sent to N Owen, Deputy Registrar for consideration.
(iv)
Professorial Salary Gap Analysis
a. M Blair to review the promotion paperwork.
b. A Rodger raised the issue of how to recognise collaborative work within the Annual
Review process. There is evidence to show that women prefer to work collaboratively
rather than alone, but currently there is no mechanism within the annual review, or
other related procedures, to provide credit for this. M Blair to include prompt in annual
review form about collaborative and team work record.
P Winstanley reported that the Medical School take a formulaic approach to grants for
example the Principal Investigator being attributed 66% and the co-investigator being
attributed 33%.
The preferred method suggested by A Rodger is to let the scientists decide themselves
and to put their decision on the funding application form that accompanies grant
application forms sent to RSS.
c.
P Winstanley asked if a box could be added to the Annual Review form which instructs
reviewers to ask whether the reviewee has thought about applying for promotion.
Resolved: This would need approval at the Staff Academic Committee. If agreed the
changes could be made for the next annual review round in January 2013.
(v)
Distribution of Minutes
Requested
P Winstanley requested permission for the Minutes of the Athena Steering Group to be
circulated to members of the departmental Welfare and Communication Groups.
Resolved:
Permission was granted that the minutes of Athena Steering Group meetings be made
available to departmental Welfare and Communications Groups.
9.
Date of Next Meeting
Thursday 27th September 2012, 11.30 am – 12.30 pm in CMR0.1