Athena Swan Silver Award

The Division of Medicine received a departmental Athena SWAN Silver Award following our April 2013 application. We feel extremely honored to have received such a meaningful and far-reaching recognition of the efforts made to create a supportive environment that ultimately benefits us all, men and women. The Division’s Athena SWAN team (Ines Pineda-Torra, Prof Raymond MacAllister, Blathnaid Mahony, Prof Ian Zachary, Prof Margaret Ashcroft, Markella Ponticos, Reecha Sofat, Petra Disterer, Slavica Tudzarova, Aisha Carroll, John Hurst, Prof Rachel Chambers and Robin McNaulty) worked very hard for this. We also counted with Prof Jean McEwan and Harriet Jones aid as well as with the strong commitment of the Director of the Division, Prof Raymond MacAllister. We truly believe we have come a long way since this process started. During the past year we dedicated a career workshop and started a mentoring scheme to facilitate the transition of female postdoctoral staff towards scientific independence. The Division now takes a much more proactive attitude towards senior promotions, identifying suitable women that are encouraged and mentored through this process. The Division also appointed Prof Claudia Mauri as the new Champion for Women and allocated funds to support students and staff during their maternity leave. Finally, there has been a dramatic increase in female representation at Divisional events, with a gender-balanced composition of chairpersons and a marked increase in the number of female speakers. Many other issues regarding gender-equality will need to be assessed in the future. However, the first steps have been taken towards a more balanced representation of both genders across the Division.