We are delighted to announce the successful renewal of our Bronze institutional Athena SWAN award.
The prestigious award, given by Advance HE, recognises DMU’s work to advance gender equality. The rigorous process requires a full assessment of the staff lifecycle across all faculties through a gender equality lens, looking at areas such as representation, progression, career journey and the working environment.
Targeted interventions – for example, the Aspiring Academics events and the Developing Diversity programme, and increasing the number of female professors from 16 per cent in 2016/17 to 24 per cent in 2018 – have contributed to our success.
Simon Oldroyd, Executive Board sponsor and Chair of the Athena SWAN self-assessment team, said: “I’m delighted that we have retained our Athena SWAN Bronze award. In May 2015 the Athena SWAN charter was expanded beyond science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine areas to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law and in professional services roles, and for trans staff and students.
“The charter now recognises steps taken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women. The retention of our Bronze award is testament to all the hard work going on in DMU concerning representation, career progression and the environment in which we work.
“My thanks to all those staff in faculties and directorates, particularly those staff in the Athena SWAN self-assessment team, who contributed to our submission document. Now for departmental Athena SWAN awards!”
Advance HE (formerly the Equality Challenge Unit) is a charity which is funded by and provides guidance for the higher education sector. Of the 565 applications for an Athena SWAN Bronze since the assessment criteria were revised in 2015, just over half (55.9 per cent) have been successful.
DMU’s application was supported by a four-year action plan to further advance gender equality. In this we have committed to actions linked to key strategic projects to examine workforce planning and staff development opportunities, and initiatives such as the new DMUWomen network for staff, which launches on Friday 9 November.
Posted on Thursday 25 October 2018