Committed to equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all.
The Athena SWAN Charter
The University of Brighton is one of over 80 universities and research institutions which have signed up to the Athena SWAN Charter, which encourages and recognises good practice in the employment of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects in higher education.
Athena SWAN awards
Once an institution has joined the Charter they are eligible to apply for a university-level bronze award, the achievement of which recognises that they have a solid foundation for eliminating gender bias and developing an inclusive culture that values all staff. Once an institution has achieved the bronze award, both the institution and their individual STEMM schools can apply for further awards at bronze, silver or gold level.
University bronze award application
The university has recently applied for the university-level bronze award. The application process involved a major self-assessment of where we are in relation to the six key Athena SWAN principles, and the development of a three year action plan based on this self-assessment. For this purpose we also set up a self-assessment group.
Our application for the bronze award is provided below. We expect to find out whether or not we have been successful by April 2013, and if we do achieve the bronze award attention will then turn towards supporting implementation of the action plan and encouraging and supporting individual schools in applying for their own awards.
Research funding
In 2011 it was announced that medical schools will in the future be required to hold at least a silver award at school level in order to be eligible for certain research funding. Similar requirements may also be extended to other STEMM research funding bodies later on.
Feedback and queries
The university welcomes and encourages feedback from staff or students about our work on Athena SWAN. If you would like to provide feedback or have any other query about this, please contact Helen Tatch, Equality and Diversity Adviser, at ht1@brighton.ac.uk; tel: (01273 64) 2835.
