Staff Support

Induction

All new staff have a personal welcome meeting from the HoD, and an induction with the department HR Manager, their line manager and other key staff.

Each group has its own events that support integration and we use larger social events such as Christmas, Summer parties, and Away Days, to promote collegiality. Athena SWAN have been involved in the development of a comprehensive induction pack for all new staff members.

Each staff member receives a personalised induction document and checklist highlighting compulsory activities (e.g. Diversity in the workplace).

Events

Athena SWAN organises quarterly socials for academic, teaching staff, and postdoctoral researchers where we introduce new staff, showcase role models, and celebrate our successes.

Training & Schemes

The Department funds training of Professional and Support Staff in line with the needs of the role, the staff member, and the Department. We continue to work on identifying areas for development and easy pathways to achieve positive career development.

The Athena SWAN Proleptic Lectureship Scheme (PLS), was developed by the Athena SWAN team in 2012. The PLS supports Postdoctoral Researchers that hold independent external Fellowships in their journey towards being appointed to a permanent academic posts.

Workshops

Since 2017, Athena SWAN has organised and run a series of highly successful Fellowship Writing Workshops, including mock panels in preparation for fellowship interviews. These combined strategies ensure that our Department has a very high number of fellowships with close to equal number of men and women.

Academic grant writing workshops for staff are organised by the department every two years and are often held on off-campus locations.  

Wellbeing

Wellbeing Workshops

Athena SWAN has been involved in ensuring that a number of workshops are held every year for staff, and are included in the probation period for new staff:

Harassment and Bullying staff workshops

Unconscious Bias workshops Where do we draw the line? Tackling Sexual Harassment Workshop Diversity in the Workplace
Contacts and Advocates: We have Wellbeing advocates and Departmental Equal Opportunities Liaison Officers that can be contacted by staff.

Post-Break Award

The Athena SWAN team set up a Post-Break Award, designed to provide grants after large breaks, such as long illness or maternity leave. The award is meant to help the awardee’s research getting back up to speed once the leave has finished.

Emergency Childcare Award

Athena SWAN also set up an emergency childcare award which provides paid emergency childcare if you are a parent who requires emergency babysitting service.

Flexible Working

Staff are entitled to take paid time off during working hours for antenatal care, e.g. scans, midwife appointments etc. This is the case for both new mothers and partners allowing them to play a full part in an important life event. Staff can also adapt their hours (e.g. flexible working or compressed hours working) to suit their needs (e.g. maternity or carer duties).

Career Advice & Development

Secondments

We actively encourage and support our Professional and Support Staff in considering secondments, short term posts in our or other Departments at the University that are designed to create opportunities for training and for furthering career development.

Appraisal and Training

UCL staff are expected to take part in the Appraisal, Review and Development Scheme. Each staff member has an annual appraisal meeting with their line manager in which they discuss work expectations/contributions, identify development and flexible working needs and review workload.

The Department encourages staff to broaden their knowledgebase and enrol in UCL training which offers an extensive list of varied programmes often run with specialised external companies which can then be added to their training and appraisal record.

Workshops

Athena SWAN has been involved in running workshops to offer students a range of careers advice from representatives in Academia, Industry and the Healthcare Sector.

Recognition and Reward

Staff Promotion

All staff are automatically considered for promotion each year. Athena SWAN has also been involved in making the promotions and appraisal a transparent and regular process and all staff are now automatically reviewed for promotion every year.

UCL Professional Service Awards

We actively promote and nominate our PSS for UCL Professional Services Awards, achieving 7 in the last 4 years.

We celebrate successes of every kind for both staff and students, with a Departmental newsletter, mention on our website and social media pages and prizes (e.g., for student best projects, staff awards and grants successes).