Athena SWAN
On 29 July 2022 the department submitted an application to renew the national 'Athena Swan' 'Bronze' award, which we had held since April 2017.
On 28 September 2022 we received official notification that our application was successful, and we are now re-accredited with Bronze status up to 30 September 2027. This is recognition of our ongoing work to improve equality in the department for anyone who identifies as female. This is not restricted to academic roles, but encompasses every area of the department.
As part of our ongoing commitment to equality and diversity, if you have any feedback at any time which you would like to offer, you can do so confidentially by emailing confidential@materials.ox.ac.uk.
Are you committed to advancing gender and intersectional equality?
Can you provide leadership to support the development and promotion of best practice in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I)?.
The department is seeking an enthusiastic leader for our Athena Swan action plan*, who will provide leadership to the Athena Swan Implementation Team (ASIT) to accelerate gender and intersectional equality via student and staff initiatives. The ASIT will be drawn from staff and student members giving broad representation across the structure of the department, and will monitor and assess the department's progress with our Athena Swan action plan and be active in modifying and evolving the plan to make it more effective. The ASIST team will capture viewpoints from graduate and undergraduate students, as well as staff in researcher, professional and technical support and academic roles. We would like to hear from anyone in the department interested in contributing to this activity - and we really mean anyone. There are no restrictions on gender, role in the department, career stage or any other characteristic.
If you have a personal commitment to driving forward equality, diversity and inclusion in the department - read on!
The role includes the following duties:
- working closely with the department's ED&I lead (currently Professor Angus Wilkinson) and HAF (Head of Administration and Finance - Fernanda Haswell-Martin) to ensure a co-ordinated approach to gender equality opportunities for all staff and students;
- with the support of the HAF, providing leadership to progress the department's action plan, monitoring/assessing progress and reviewing/evolving for further action;
- Chairing the Athena Swan Implementation Team (ASIT) with the HAF, determining the agenda for each meeting and evaluating the effectiveness of actions undertaken on an ongoing basis to ensure actions are delivering impact against objectives;
- promoting and underpinning the principles of gender equality within Athena Swan in line with the Division's values of professionalism, integrity, excellent and respect; and
- promoting a strong collegiate structure through development and maintenance of close working relationships with colleagues across the department, Division and the wider University.
Please contact Angus Wilkinson or Fernanda Haswell-Martin with any questions about the role (or if you would like an informal discussion) and/or to lodge your interest by end the of Week 7 (Friday 1 March 2024).
The Athena Swan Action Plan:
