The transformed UK Athena Swan Charter

The framework used to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research has undergone a paradigm shift from prescription, to autonomy and flexibility.

Diversity monitoring data and the UK Athena Swan Charter

We have revised our data monitoring guidance to give more clarity when collecting data that relates to sex as a protected characteristic and the Equality Act 2010, and when collecting data for work to create a wider inclusive culture.

Equality Charters and Freedom of Speech consultation

Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech are now explicitly referenced in the Charter, and Advance HE will be publishing new guidance for institutions in early autumn. This provides a mechanism to support universities so that Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom can be appropriately considered and embedded through the Charter.

Key enhancements of the transformed UK Athena Swan Charter 

Below are the key areas of the Athena Swan framework that have undergone a transformation.

Interviews

Athena Swan panel Chair members Sarah Guerra, Director of Equality Diversity & Inclusion at Kings College London, Matthew Gooch, Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at University of East Anglia and Mariella Giancola, Head of Human Resources at British Antarctic Survey talk about their involvement in the transformed UK Charter.

We also interviewed Emma Hughes, Equality Advisor at Swansea University about the Athena Swan Charter.

What is your involvement with Athena Swan?

I have recently been appointed an Athena Swan panel reviewer, for the first time. As a HR Equality Advisor, at Swansea University, I provide professional expertise to institutional and departmental Athena Swan applications and help embed the Charter principles into everyday processes.

What changes do you want to see made for gender equality in higher education and research?

The removal of structural inequalities for all gender identities across higher education and research, to ensure all staff and students have the opportunity to succeed and thrive throughout their career/education.

How do you think the transformed Charter will make an impact on gender equality?

It's really encouraging to see more of a focus on support, and an increase in providing guidance to institutions in the transformed UK Charter. In order to make real progress for gender equality, in higher education and research, it’s important that we all work together across the sector to share best practices and to learn from each other. The transformed UK Charter provides us with a mechanism for doing so.

Examples of transformed Athena Swan Charter applications

We are very grateful to the following members for allowing us to share their successful transformed Athena Swan Charter applications and a summary of their panel feedback. The feedback is shared to support members to read the applications in context and identify what the panel saw as some of the key strengths and weaknesses of the application.

• University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences - Silver departmental renewal application
  See the application on the department’s website and read their feedback

• Imperial College London, Business School - Bronze departmental renewal application
  See the application on the department’s website and read their feedback

We will providing further examples of successful transformed applications once we have the relevant permissions in place to share them.

Note

Under the Transformed Charter applicants are requested to present all mandatory datasets in the application appendices. However, some applicants for the January 2022 round, who had already begun writing their applications before being aware of this requirement, were given permission to include some data within the main body of their narrative so while you may see this in the applications here, normally all data should be included in the appendix.

Transformed Athena Swan Charter principles

Transformed Charter principles were published in November 2020. Members are invited to consider and commit to these new principles ahead of submitting their first transformed charter application.

Download and complete this letter to be printed on your institution/department/directorate/institute’s headed paper and return to Athena.Swan@advance-he.ac.uk

The transformed UK Athena Swan Charter pilot schemes

As part of the transformed UK Athena Swan Charter we have developed a new culture survey that provides departmental applicants with a common approach to assessing their culture and identifying key gender equality challenges. Departments from Higher Education Institutions, who are planning to run the culture survey in 2021/22, have had the opportunity to join the pilot scheme. The pilot aims to:

• Provide support to early adopters of the departmental culture survey in running the survey and analysing their findings;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the survey as a tool for assessing how inclusive a member’s culture is for people of all genders;
• Identify any further support or guidance members may need in surveying their staff and evaluating their culture. 

Pilot participants will be provided with support in implementing the culture survey, networking opportunities and opportunities to provide feedback to Advance HE, via a range of workshops between November 2021 and June 2022. The outcome(s) of the pilot will be published in autumn 2022.

We have also developed standalone PTO Directorate UK Athena Swan application forms, which is a significant step in ensuring the Athena Swan charter promotes gender equality across the breadth of higher education. Professional, Technical and Operational Directorates, who are planning to make a submission prior to the end of the 2022/23 academic year,  have had the opportunity to sign up to piloting the new application forms. The pilot aims to:

• Provide support to early adopters of the PTO directorate framework in using the framework and achieving Athena Swan awards.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the PTO directorate framework and ensure it is fit for purpose for wider use.

Pilot participants will be provided with support in adopting the framework, networking opportunities and opportunities to provide feedback to Advance HE, via a range of workshops between November 2021 and November 2023. The outcome of the pilot will be published in early 2024.