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End of year message from Alison Johns

17 December 2020

As we near the end of 2020, it is a good moment to reflect on the achievements and progress we have made this year. During 2020, we received 97 applications for Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter awards, holding 30 panels (with 31 further panels planned for the new year to assess the 114 applications received in the November 2020 Athena Swan assessment round). Happily, from the panels held in 2020, 82 awards were conferred – including 3 new Race Equality Charter award-holders. Due to the pandemic, our assessment processes rapidly moved to take place via remote panels to great effect, and I’d like to sincerely thank all our panellists, chairs, applicants and member institutions for your unwavering support and collaboration to make this a success.

We have also made good progress with our transformation of the Athena Swan Charter following the recommendations of the Independent Review. These include:

  • The establishment of a new Athena Swan Governance Committee (ASGC) to oversee and inform the development of the Charter;
  • Updated Charter Principles reflecting how the sector wishes to see the Charter move forward;
  • The extension of current and future award duration;
  • Simplified eligibility prerequisites for universities applying for Silver and Gold awards;
  • A streamlined renewal process;
  • A new process for developmental reviews of draft institutional applications;
  • Updated panel processes for the November 2020 round, including updated training for panel members, an extended ‘year’s grace’ period for unsuccessful applicants, and a new process for supporting ‘borderline’ applicants to undertake minor revisions.

My heartfelt thanks go to our newly established ASGC, who have been meeting monthly since their formation in September. Despite these challenging times, they have gone and continue to go ‘above and beyond’ to ensure that the sector is at the heart of the transformation. I am also grateful for the continued and invaluable input from members of the Independent Review steering group who have continued to support the transformation of the Charter through attendance at a series of transitionary meetings.

Looking ahead to the new year, we will be working with the ASGC to finalise the transformation of the Charter, and in particular exploring and finalising the Charter criteria, application materials, assessment processes, and guidance.

One of the central tenets to our transformation work is ensuring that our members have the opportunity to engage with and input to the development. With this in mind, you can find details below of opportunities to engage with us on the detailed implementation in early 2021. Registration for these events will open via the Advance HE website in January 2021; in the meantime, you can record your interest using the webform below and when the event registration opens, we will contact you to let you know.

We aim to share draft materials with members prior to the engagement events detailed below and to publish the outputs as they are finalised so you can follow the progress of the transformation throughout the new year. It is our goal to have most of the core components published in late Spring 2021, with the transformation fully complete by the end of the academic year.

We will welcome applications under the new Athena Swan framework as soon as the finalised materials have been released, but applicants using the existing framework to guide their gender equality work should not be concerned – we will support applicants using the existing framework up to (and including) the November 2022 assessment round. In parallel, we will support applicants to move to the new framework when they wish, including using short-term extensions where appropriate.

For now, thank you all again for your support and engagement through a year which has been challenging for us all. I look forward to working with you further in the new year, and wish you the very best for a happy and peaceful holiday season.

Date Upcoming events
8 Jan 2021 Publication of a call for interest in future panellist and chair roles (closes Feb 22)
12 Jan 2021 Publication of a call for interest in participating in a survey pilot (closes Jan 25)
22 Feb 2021 Roundtable event (for University-level applicants)
23 Feb 2021 Roundtable event (for departmental applicants)
24 Feb 2021 Roundtable event (for research institute applicants)
25 Feb 2021 Roundtable event (for PTO directorate applicants)
22 Mar 2021 Roundtable event (for University-level applicants)
24 Mar 2021 Roundtable event (for departmental applicant
5 May 2021 Roundtable event (for PTO directorate applicants)
6 May 2021 Roundtable event (for research institute applicants)
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