Health Sciences Athena SWAN success signals continued commitment for gender equality
The Faculty of Health Sciences has won a national award for its commitment to advance the careers of women academics and promote equality and diversity.
Health Sciences joins the Faculties of Engineering and the Environment which received the Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) Bronze award in recognition of building a solid foundation for eliminating gender bias and the development of an inclusive culture.
This success follows the award of four departmental accolades in April - the first for the University of Southampton. These new awards demonstrate the University's continued commitment to improving equality for women in science and engineering, and ensuring that no area of its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEMM) research is left behind.
The Health Sciences self-assessment team put together these applications under the guidance of their chair Dr. Cathy Bowen.
The Athena SWAN panel remarked that the Health Sciences' submission ‘clearly reached the required standard for a bronze award'.
Dr. Bowen says: "I am really proud that we have been awarded a Bronze Athena SWAN departmental award. It is a great endorsement of our hard work in nurturing careers in Health Science and the values that we have.
"Our Athena SWAN committee worked fabulously to bring together our submission document and all are committed to progressing this agenda and our action plan through the next few years."
Further academic units and faculties are already exploring the Athena SWAN guidance and considering their own applications in the next year.
The award will be presented at a ceremony to be held at Imperial College London later in the year.