Women have been traditionally underrepresented in the discipline of computer science, but we are working hard to ensure that access, opportunities and support are open and available to all.

The Athena SWAN Charter is a part of the Equality Challenge Unit and stands for a set of 10 key principles which encourage a fair and empowering workplace for all. UCL Computer Science is proud to be a part of Athena SWAN and continuously works towards embodying these principles.
Department of Computer Science was awarded Athena Swan Bronze in 2012 and Athena Swan Silver in 2015. The Athena Swan charter encourage advancing the careers of women in a range of field in higher education and research, e.g. STEMM, arts and humanities, but also gender equality amongst the professional and support staff and trans staff and students.
The Department of Computer Science has been committed to work in ensuring that the students and staff feel supported in their career progression, and that the working environment is inclusive, family friendly, fair, and allows all to feel supported and welcomed. For our work on advancing careers of our female academic staff, in particularly the progression from early career researchers to permanent academic position, we were awarded a European Minerva Award in 2017.
The Department offers a range of resources for support of students and staff and these are described in our Silver application for different groups. See below for an overview or contact us directly at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for a comprehensive list or if you have specific questions.
Resources
- Taught students
UCL and UCL-CS handbooks can be found at http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/current-students/handbook/index.shtml
Emergency childcare: UCL CS provides you with paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who needs to run to the office and needs emergency babysitting service.
Please contact us at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for details- PhDs
Please follow our social media pages – we do organise many events for early career researchers and PhD students to interact and socialise. PhD students are also encouraged to attend the CS Athena SWAN Fellowship Writing Workshop – see updates on this page or via Twitter and UCL mailing lists.
Emergency childcare: UCL CS provides you with paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who needs to run to the office and needs emergency babysitting service.
Please contact us at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for details- Postdocs and Fellows
Fellowship and grant writing workshop: we have set up a fellowship workshop that runs twice per year; please follow our updates on this page or via FB, twitter and UCL mailing lists. BEAMS maintains a list of currently available fellowships, found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/sites/research/files/fellowshipslist-november-2019.pdf
Emergency childcare: UCL CS provides you with paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who needs to run to the office and needs emergency babysitting service.
Please contact us at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for details- Academics
We are currently working in making as transparent as possible our promotions and appraisals processes. Don’t miss out our updates on the UCL-CS website and our social pages.
Emergency childcare: UCL CS provides you with paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who needs to run to the office and needs emergency babysitting service.
Please contact us at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for details- Teaching staff
Advice, training and support for teaching staff is provided by UCL Arena on their website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/professional-development/ucl-arena
Emergency childcare: UCL CS provides you with paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who needs to run to the office and needs emergency babysitting service.
Please contact us at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for details- Professional services and TSG
We are currently working on identifying areas for development and easy pathways to achieve positive career development. Further advice, training and support for Professional Services can be found via UCL Arena on their website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/professional-development/ucl-arena/arena-open-all-staff/arena-professional-services
Emergency childcare: UCL CS provides you with paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who needs to run to the office and needs emergency babysitting service.
Please contact us at women-in-cs@cs.ucl.ac.uk for details