SHU staff attended the Athena SWAN awards ceremony on 16th July to accept awards on behalf of the University and Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI). The story below provides an account of what happened on the night and why this is so important to Hallam.
Athena SWAN awards ceremony 16th July 2018 Swansea University – Advance HE Equality Charter Awards.
The Athena SWAN charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the carers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM). In May 2015 the Charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), in professional and support roles and for trans staff and students. The Charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
Sheffield Hallam University has been awarded a bronze level award and the department of Engineering and Maths with the Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) has also been successful in achieving the bronze level award.
At the ceremony in Swansea there were 96 award winners, which included 74 bronze awards, 21 silver awards and 1 gold award. This represented a 64% success rate for submissions by universities across the UK in the November 2017 round. Sheffield Hallam University was awarded a bronze institutional award which recognises that we have a solid foundation for eliminating gender bias and developing an inclusive culture that values all staff. We have a comprehensive four-year action plan associated with the award which we plan to make considerable progress with implementing over the coming year, including engaging all departments in working towards the Athena SWAN principles.
Aloma Onyemah (Head Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) and Nicola Woodroofe (Chair of University Gender Operational Group) received the award on behalf of the University, from Sir Paul Nurse, Director of the Francis Crick Institute and Nobel Prize winner in 2001. He is a patron of the Athena SWAN Charter and in his talk he highlighted the principles of Athena SWAN and he highlighted that higher education should make use of the entire human capital, and address the loss of women in the pipeline. He said we should focus on practical solutions that have an impact on gender equality. Also receiving a bronze award on behalf of the Department of Engineering and Maths and the Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) was Dr Karen Vernon Parry, who together with Dr Emma Carter in the Dept of Engineering, led their Departmental Athena SWAN submission.
These are the first awards under the new criteria which now covers all genders, all subject areas, all staff and students. The charter also recognises the intersection of gender with ethnicity for our staff and the impact this may have, and, how the University will provide an inclusive environment for trans staff and students.
The programme for the event highlights an area of good practice from award winning departments and institutions. For the SHU university award, the good practice identified was ‘Student journey mapping which explored the lived experience of transgender students form outreach activities through to alumni’. For the Departmental award, the good practice identified was ‘Creation of a shared space home for Mathematics staff and students’.
Please contact the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team if you have any questions or would like to be involved with gender equality work at the university.
0114 225 3499
www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/equality-and-diversity
@SheffHallam_EDI