The Nuffield Department of Population Health has successfully renewed its Athena SWAN Silver Award. The award recognises the department’s commitment to supporting and transforming gender equality in accordance with Advance HE’s Athena Swan charter.
Established in 2005 to encourage commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM), the charter now has a broader remit that includes other aspects of inequality. A targeted self-assessment framework helps applicants identify areas for positive action, and supports the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion in our working practices.
Head of Department, Professor Sir Rory Collins, said ‘We are committed to making the department an inclusive and supportive environment in which all staff and students can achieve their potential irrespective of their gender, race, sexual orientation, or disability. The renewal of our Athena Swan Silver Award recognises the significant steps we have taken to achieve this goal. I would like to thank our Athena Swan leads and the Self-Assessment Team who contributed to our renewal application, and all those in the department who work to support equality and inclusivity.’
Since the department’s last Athena Swan Silver Award application, a number of initiatives have been introduced to ensure continued support for staff and students. These include:
- providing additional support for career development through training and mentoring programmes, including personal support from the Head of Department, and careers events for early- to mid-career research staff;
- increasing the number of funded DPhil studentships, and introducing a trainee fellowship for students planning to move into a DPhil programme;
- offering apprenticeships in our laboratories and launching a new fully-funded MSc studentship for a UK student from a disadvantaged background;
- establishing a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) structure to include other characteristics in addition to gender;
- narrowing the gender pay gap to a median of -3%, the lowest in the University, and working to eliminate this entirely;
- continuing to move staff at four years of employment from fixed term to open-ended contracts, wherever possible, resulting in the department having one of the lowest rates of staff on fixed term contracts in the Medical Sciences Division;
- establishing a Data Monitoring Group to support the collection, interpretation and use of evidence to monitor our progress on an ongoing basis and to inform future actions;
- introducing twice-weekly coffee-and-cake sessions to encourage interaction and networking, and a subsidised lunch scheme.
Professor Sasha Shepperd, departmental lead for equality, diversity and inclusion, said ‘The Athena Swan application process provided us with a framework to reflect on our achievements and to identify actions for the future. We have made significant progress in many areas, and will continue to work hard to deliver our ambitious action plan over the coming years.’