The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research. It was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment.
The Department was awarded Silver in October 2018 and since then the department has made significant progress in many areas such as:
- making changes to the departments recruitment tariffs, in particular removing the requirement for physics a-level, in recognition of the lower proportion of female students studying this subject. The removal of this barrier saw an increase in the number of female UG students from 12% in 2018/19 to 15% in 2022/23.
- streamlining academic recruitment to identify and target exceptional female researchers globally. This focus on diversity contributed to a successful outcome in previous drives, with 4 out of 6 positions filled by women.
- establishment of a new, transparent, communications strategy to ensure all staff and PGR students are kept informed of Departmental, University and external events and priorities, and have the opportunity to input into departmental strategy.
- stronger staff-student engagement & feedback led to top rankings for ‘student voice’ in the National Student Survey (1st in Russell Group, 3rd in UK).
- encouraging student-led teams to take a lead in EDI activities which resulted in them appointing a dedicated EDI officer each year: for example, the Mechanical Engineering based Sheffield Formula Racing team, won the Racing Pride Aston Martin Award for Diversity & Inclusion at the 2023 competition.
Dr Candice Majewski, Department Director of One University, said: “I'm delighted that our silver award has been renewed for another five years. As a department we want to encourage a diverse range of people to study and work with us, and to feel welcome and included while they're here. This award recognises the ongoing progress we're making in identifying and addressing gender-based challenges, and is a testament to the hard work and commitment of all our staff and students.”