Athena Swan and Equalities Support

The Athena Swan team assists departments in the Division in promoting gender equality and preparing applications for Athena Swan awards. This includes providing staff and student data; administering surveys and focus groups; running workshops to share best practice; and coordinating initiatives such as training, mentoring schemes (currently on hiatus) and the Returning Carers’ Fund.

Progress in the Division

2022 marks the 10 year anniversary of the first bronze applications from the Medical Sciences Division, and also the moment where all 16 of our departments had achieved a silver award. The Silver award recognises departments commitment to gender equality, to understanding their own culture and context, to actively engaging with their communities and to committing to detailed and ambitious action plans in response to data and consultation, and importantly the impact of their actions.

The Division is committed to providing an inclusive environment which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected, to assist them in reaching their full potential.

Support for departments for Athena Swan and EDI Activities

The divisional office has created several resources for departments to source and analyse data to inform their equality objectives - these can be found here: 

Sourcing data for Athena Swan and EDI

Analysing data

Applying for Athena Swan

Surveys, focus groups and GDPR