Gender Equality
The department is committed to realising gender equality among our staff and students and to promoting good working practices for all genders. In 2017, a new Women in Materials Science (WiMs) network was launched and the group meets regularly to discuss and address issues. Visit the WiMS facebook group for more information. The Equalities and Diversity Committee actively monitors and implements actions working towards all aspects of gender equality, and the university gender pay gap reporting can be found here.
Athena Swan
In 2016, the department was awarded the Athena SWAN Bronze Award in recognition of our sustained progress in ongoing work to improve gender equality. The award represents commitment to advancing the careers of women and non-binary people, particularly in research and academia within science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine. The award is not restricted to academic roles, but now encompasses every area of the department. Athena SWAN has recently transformed to also tackle the barriers faced by LGBT+, BAME and other marginalised groups.
The department is committed to:
- Improve the representation, progression, experience and success of female students, staff and academics
- Assess department practices and policies to eliminate any room for gender inequality, including conscious and unconcious bias
- Increase transparency about how harrassment and bullying are addressed by raising awareness of our variety of support networks
- Ensuring female voices are heard
- Continually re-evaluate how we can improve gender equality by listening, analysing and taking action
The next submission is due in January 2022 and the application for an award is being lead by the Equality & Diversity Committee. If you have any feedback you would like to offer, you can do so confidentially by emailing confidential@materials.ox.ac.uk.
The department's current action plan can be downloaded here.
Women in Materials Science Network Launch 2017
