What is Athena SWAN?
Athena SWAN is a national scheme that recognises commitment to advancing women's careers in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine) in higher education and research.
Athena SWAN follows these principles.
- To address gender inequalities requires commitment and action from everyone, at all levels of the organisation.
- To tackle the unequal representation of women in science requires changing cultures and attitudes across the organisation.
- The absence of diversity at management and policy-making levels has broad implications which the organisation will examine.
- The high loss rate of women in science is an urgent concern which the organisation will address.
- The system of short-term contracts has particularly negative consequences for the retention and progression of women in science, which the organisation recognises.
- There are both personal and structural obstacles to women making the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career in science, which require the active consideration of the organisation.
Athena SWAN Awards
Athena SWAN grants bronze, silver and gold awards to organisations who can demonstrate increasing levels of good practice in recruiting, retaining and promoting women in STEMM in higher education.
Sheffield Hallam bronze university award
Sheffield Hallam joined the Athena SWAN Charter in 2008 and gained a bronze university award in August 2010. Our central self-assessment team continues to meet regularly to oversee progress and to ensure Athena SWAN principles and the action plan tie in with Sheffield Hallam's Equality Priorities and Corporate Plan aims and objectives. We submitted our University bronze renewal application in April 2013.
Sheffield Hallam departmental awards
In April 2012, our psychology group and bioscience and biomedical research departments gained bronze and silver departmental awards respectively. Departmental team members collected their awards on 26 September 2012 at a ceremony hosted by Queen's University Belfast. Building on this success, the departments of architecture and planning and engineering and maths achieved bronze departmental awards in April 2013.
What is the impact of Athena SWAN?
The scheme is gaining increasing recognition within and outside the University, meaning that working to address issues impacting on women in STEM is firmly on Sheffield Hallam's agenda for the future.
