Athena SWAN What are the judges looking for

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Athena SWAN What are the judges looking for?

• Dr Esther Haines, University of Cambridge

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General Points

• Communication
• Senior or high-level commitment
• Data and statistics what do these reveal? 
• Self-reflection and honesty
• Engagement

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General Points

• Clarity
• Context
• Rationale
• Evaluation

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Picture of the department

• Two main purposes
• Set the scene give the judges an idea of the
  situation in your department.
• Demonstrate that you are actively monitoring the
  situation.
• Use common sense if statistical data are not
  appropriate, e.g. due to small numbers, explain
  how you do monitor
• If data are not available, explain why
• Are there any factors that might affect your
  numbers, e.g. proportion of overseas students

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Picture of the department

• Presentation - example

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Picture of the department

• Presentation - example

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Picture of the department

• Interpretation
• What do the data show?
• Benchmarking
• HESA
• Athena SWAN website (under About the Charter)
• UKRC for Women in SET (on request)

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Initiatives to advance and support women

• Departmental rather than university wide
• Why?
• What problem are you addressing?
• What do you expect to achieve?
• What?
• Effect?
• Not everyone will be addressing every issue -
  explain choices.

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Impacting on individuals

• Focus on how initiatives, culture of department
  have impacted on an individual woman.
• E.g. support for returners, support for flexible
  working, suppprt from mentor or network
• What was done? How did it help?

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SETspecific initiatives

• Activities not covered in previous sections

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The self-assessment process

• Who is on the self-assessment team?
• How does it operate?
• How did it engage with the department?

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Action Plan

• What?
• Why?
• What problem does it address?
• What do you expect to achieve?
• Who?
• When?
• Is it realistic? Are the resources required
  available? How does it fit with your gender
  equality scheme?
• A plan focussing on a few major issues will look
  more achievable than a list of unconnected
  activities.

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Other comments

• Any special comments

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Conclusion

• Explain
• Context what is right for your situation?
• What was done?
• Why? What worked? What didnt?
• What are you going to do?
• Why? How? What is its expected impact?
• Coherent plans to tackle a few major issues are
  likely to have more impact that piecemeal
  activities spread across many concerns.