Advance HE is pleased to announce that it has appointed 21 new Chair and 61 Reviewer panellists for the transformed UK Athena Swan Charter, formed of EDI experts from across the higher education and research institute directorate.
Over the past year, the Equality Charters Team has worked closely with the Athena Swan Governance Committee to develop improved systems and processes that form the foundations of the transformed UK Charter. This includes revised roles for panel members with increased training, guidance and role support - a full description of which can be found in our updated terms of reference.
Alison Johns, Advance HE Chief Executive welcomed the new panellists and said: “We are delighted to have been able to appoint extremely well-qualified individuals following a competitive selection process from a very strong group of applicants with significant academic and professional equality, diversity and inclusion experience.
“Following the recommendations in the Independent Steering Group Report, our main effort in the Athena Swan transformation has been on streamlining processes and reducing burden while retaining the Charter’s rigour, quality and impact.
“We very much look forward to working with the new panel chairs and reviewers. We share their determination that the newly transformed Charter builds on and sustains its undoubted impact in supporting and advancing gender equality in higher education and research.
“The panels will play a critically important role as they take up their responsibilities when the revised Charter is rolled out this summer.”
Sara Mole, a new Athena Swan Chair and UCL Envoy for Gender Equality, said: “I am pleased to be able to offer my skills and experience in decision-making for Athena Swan awards in order to extend gender equality with the UK higher education sector.”
The transformed UK Athena Swan Charter has been communally revised to support the inclusion of all gender identities. It better enables applicants to adopt an intersectional approach to their gender equality work. It has expanded to benefit Professional, Technical and Operational directorates – all while reducing administrative burden, providing greater flexibility to adapt to applicants’ contexts and offering enhanced support for those making an application.
Find out more about each new panel Chair and view the full list of Reviewers for the transformed UK Athena Swan Charter here.
If you have an interest in applying to be an Athena Swan panel member, please look out for our next recruitment round due to take place early in the new academic year.