The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine in higher education and research and was expanded in May 2015 to aim for gender equality for all staff in all subject areas in academia, in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. 

This is the first Athena SWAN award the School has received, and it represents an important milestone in their considerable progress on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) as well as indicating important work still to be undertaken. The Athena SWAN panel commended the application for having a strong commitment and buy-in from senior leadership,a clear governance structure for EDI and a critical approach to its analysis of gender inequalities’.  

The Bronze award involves presenting a 5-year Action Plan which will guide future work in the School to address gender equality and EDI in areas of career progression, culture, and working environment. 

Commenting on the award, Dr Emily Danvers who, with Dr Jessica Beck led the award, alongside current EDI lead Alka Townend said:

"We feel this is an important achievement for our School and a recognition of the work all our colleagues have done around EDI. It is simplistic to think a school like ours which is numerically female dominated has ‘got things right’ when it comes to gender equality. This award forced us to interrogate our practices and cultures, specifically in terms of how gender operates intersectionaly, with other aspects of our students and colleagues’ identities and experiences. Importantly, we recognise that this award is not the end point but place from which to grow further."

Professor Simon Thompson, Head of the School of Education and Social Work, said:‘

"This is fantastic news for ESW which recognises the significance and impact of the hard work done so far towards advancing gender equality and inclusion. Colleagues should take great pride in achieving the Bronze Award as the first stage in celebrating and building upon the positive culture our staff and students have created. As a whole school we are committed to ongoing work to promote gender equality to ensure we are a place where inclusion and social justice are foregrounded in all that we do. We are always ready to learn from others, seek feedback, and make necessary changes, so we look forward to building on both the award and the need to embed our action plan”