Accolades for York's support of women in science
Posted on 17 September 2010
The Departments of Chemistry, Biology and Psychology received their awards at a ceremony at the Royal Society in London. Chemistry received a Gold award, and Biology and Psychology received Silver awards.
Our department has a long-standing and abiding commitment to fairness. This has led to one of the highest ratios of female to male staff in a UK chemistry department
Professor Paul Walton
Professor Paul Walton, Head of Chemistry said: "Our department has a long-standing and abiding commitment to fairness. This has led to one of the highest ratios of female to male staff in a UK chemistry department. In the next few years, the department aims to create an international profile for its work on equality issues."
The Department of Chemistry at York is the only University department in the UK to hold a gold award.
Professor Jane Hill, of the Department of Biology said: "We have seen a steady year-on-year rise in the proportion of female academic staff in our department, and we now have the highest proportion of female academic staff within the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities. For the first time in the department’s history, both the Head of Department and Associate Head of Department are females."
Prof Susan Gathercole, Head of Psychology added: "The Athena Swan initiative has provided our department with a strong motivation to move our long-standing commitment to equity within workplace, both for our scientific and non-scientific staff, into full action. We have introduced policies designed to ensure that our staff can flourish with flexibility and support across all phases of their careers, to the benefit of the individuals, the department, and the University."
The University of York holds a bronze award for the University as a whole.
Notes to editors:
- Athena SWAN charter is a scheme to promote and recognise good employment practice for Universities and research institutes recruiting and promoting women to senior positions in science, engineering, medicine and mathematics departments. The SWAN charter is funded and supported by Equality Challenge Unit and the UKRC.
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