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Athena SWAN awards: success for UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences

27 September 2013

Athena SWAN recently announced awards from the April submissions with all six UCL departments who applied being successful in achieving awards.

Athena SWAN awards recognise a commitment to addressing the recruitment, promotion and retention of women in academic STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine) sciences. Submissions are judged by STEMM academics, HR and Equality and Diversity professionals from across the sector.

The UCL Institute for Women's Health, the Institute of Ophthalmology, the UCL Division of Medicine and the UCL Mental Health Sciences Unit all received a silver award. In addition the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences successfully renewed their silver award. The UCL Institute of Neurology received a bronze award.

Examples of good practice from the six successful applications include:

  • Mentoring schemes
  • Maternity mentoring scheme (for parents to access before and after their career break)
  • Maternity returners fund (to be used for consumables, childcare or extra staff)
  • Training, networking and development events for PhD students and Post docs
  • Staff social and networking events
  • Discount negotiated with a local nursery for staff and students
  • Introduction of annual rather than biennial appraisals

In total, nine UCL departments now hold a silver award, and three departments have secured a bronze award. Thirteen departments are planning to apply for Athena SWAN bronze and silver awards in November this year.

UCL applications and links to departmental website can be found on the UCL Athena SWAN website.