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York’s support of women in science recognised with Athena SWAN awards

York’s support of women in science recognised with Athena SWAN awards

Posted on 30 September 2014

An academic department and a research centre at the University of York have been awarded Bronze Athena SWAN awards, meaning the University now holds awards across all the science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEM) subjects.

York’s Environment Department and the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) have won Bronze awards, under the national scheme which celebrates good practice in recruiting, retaining and supporting the careers of women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) in higher education.

The Department of Physics has also won a renewal for its’ Silver award in the latest awards round. York also holds Gold awards for the Departments of Biology and Chemistry, a Silver award for the Department of Psychology, and Bronze awards for the Departments of Mathematics, Computer Science, Health Sciences, Electronics and the Hull York Medical School (HYMS). The University of York also holds an institutional Bronze award.

Professor Colin Brown, Head of the Department of Environment, said: “We have always striven to provide a supportive and family-friendly work environment and to offer equal opportunities to all staff and students. I am delighted to see this underlying ethos reflected in the Bronze Athena SWAN award.”

Dr Kathryn Arnold, Lecturer in the Environment Department and Chair of their Departmental Athena Swan Committee, added: “As a part-time scientist and a mother, to me this award highlights the progress we have made in attracting, retaining and promoting women in the environmental sciences. We are looking forward to building on this success.”

Professor Maria Goddard, Director of the Centre for Health Economics, and Rowena Jacobs, chair of CHE’s self-assessment team, said: “CHE is delighted with the award, we have a long-standing commitment to equality and the award provides us with the focus, motivation and impetus to achieve our goals. This is a step on our journey, rather than our final destination and we are already working hard on implementing our action plan to the benefit of all staff in CHE.”

The awards ceremony will be held on 6 November at the University of Cambridge.

Further information:

The Athena SWAN Charter is owned by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU). It is funded by ECU, the Department of Health, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council and the Biochemical Society www.athenaswan.org.uk
ECU works to further and support equality and diversity for staff and students in HE across all four nations of the UK, and in the college sector in Scotland. ECU will be launching a pilot of Athena SWAN for higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland on 24 November. For more information, visit: www.ecu.ac.uk
For more information about the University of York’s Environment Department, visit: http://www.york.ac.uk/envrionment/
For further information on York’s Centre for Health Economics, visit: http://www.york.ac.uk/che/