Athena SWAN award for Hull York Medical School

Posted on 10 October 2016

The Hull York Medical School (HYMS) has been recognised for its commitment to women in science with a Silver Athena SWAN award.

The awards are a national scheme organised by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), an organisation that works to further and support equality and diversity for staff and students in UK higher education.

Professor Una Macleod, who led the submission process and will be the new Dean of HYMS in 2017, said: “I am very pleased that the Equality Challenge Unit has acknowledged our commitment to equality with this Silver award.

“We have made, and will continue to make, considerable efforts to ensure equality of opportunity in our recruitment of new staff, our support for current staff with respect to development and promotion, and in influencing the general culture of the School.

“We are committed to establishing a truly equal culture and ensuring impact for our academics, our students and our professional support staff and we will work towards that over the coming years.“

The University of York currently holds 13 separate awards from Athena SWAN.

The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research.

In May 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and 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.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony at the University of Liverpool on 12December.

Further information:

Hull York Medical School (HYMS) is a partnership between the two well-established Universities of Hull and York. Since opening in 2003, HYMS has become known as one of the UK’s most welcoming and inclusive medical schools with a reputation for innovative, inspiring, exciting and rigorous medical education. Set up to increase the number of UK-trained doctors and contribute to improving health services in some of the country’s most deprived areas, over 40% of graduates stay in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Its curriculum is innovative and has a strong focus on learning medicine in community settings. HYMS is developing a strong reputation for training talented clinicians who have excellent skills.
http://www.ecu.ac.uk/