Athena Swan

Our Athena Swan Award

We are delighted to announce that the School of Engineering has been successful in achieving a Gold charter mark following our January 2025 application.

This is the highest honour for exceptional and sustained commitment to gender equality in higher education and research.

The award recognises the School’s long-term strategic efforts to embed inclusive practices, support underrepresented groups, and build a diverse, equitable academic environment.

The School obtained a Silver charter mark in 2019 and a Bronze charter mark in 2013.

Our Commitments

• Advancing gender equality in academia by addressing the loss of women across the career pipeline and the absence of women from senior academic, professional and support roles.
• Addressing unequal gender representation across academic disciplines and professional and support functions.
• Tackling the gender pay gap.
• Removing the obstacles faced by women, in particular, at major points of career development and progression including the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career.
• Addressing the negative consequences of using short-term contracts for the retention and progression of staff in academia, particularly women.
• Examining gendered occupational segregation and elevating the status, voice and career opportunities of any identified under-valued and at-risk groups.
• Mitigating the gendered impact of caring responsibilities and career breaks, supporting flexibility and maintaining a healthy 'whole life balance'.

Our Athena Swan Gold Application

Here we are sharing the redacted version of our Athena Swan Gold ApplicationLink opens in a new window.