About WinSET @ UoN

The University has had a Women in Science Engineering and Technology Group (WinSET) since 2005. Professor Katherine Smart (Biosciences) is currently Chair of the Group and Professor Katharine Reid (Chemistry) is Vice-Chair. The Group has a broad membership, in terms of Faculty representation and gender balance. Individual Schools have their own Champion or Representative, and information about activity within individual Schools can be found by contacting them. A Project Officer provides dedicated support.

The University of Nottingham is a strong supporter of the Athena Swan Charter. The University gained the Athena Bronze Award in 2006 and since then the institution has made considerable progress in supporting women in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM), in line with the principles of the Charter. This was recognised by the renewal of the Bronze Award in July 2009. Individual Schools within the University have in some cases made progress beyond the Athena Bronze level and in 2008 the Schools of Psychology and the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing both gained the Athena Swan Silver Award. In 2009, the School of Biosciences and the School of Pharmacy also gained the Athena Swan Silver Award. And in 2010 the School of Physics and Astronomy was successful in their Athena SWAN Silver Award submission.

The WinSET Group holds an annual event to celebrate and recognise the role of women in the STEMM subjects. The Group also closely monitors the career progression of STEMM women at their key career transition points, in particular women seeking their first post-doctoral appointment, as well as for those moving into more senior academic roles. The number of external Fellowships awarded to women from STEMM has grown, and we are delighted by the success of our Anne McLaren Fellowships. We intend to build on this success in the coming years. Maintaining balance between career development and life outside academia is also particularly important for women working within STEMM areas and we are working on a number of initiatives designed to address work life balance issues.