Athena SWAN Gold Award
The University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Engineering is the first engineering department in the country to be awarded an Athena SWAN Gold award – an accreditation which rewards excellence in advancing gender equality across higher education and research.
The University of Nottingham holds Athena Swan Institutional Gold Award status, the first time this has been achieved by a university since the Athena Swan programme was launched in 2005.
Athena SWAN is a national gender equality charter issued by the Advance HE, which recognises work to improve equality and diversity in universities and colleges.
It was established in 2005, initially to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).
In May 2015, the charter was expanded to include arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students, and now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
The Athena SWAN Charter is based on ten key principles around the equality agenda. The University of Nottingham was one of the first institutions to join Athena SWAN, committing to adopting the charter’s principles within its policies, practices, action plans and culture.
We want to encourage more girls and women to fulfil their potential, whether you’re interested in studying or working in engineering or architecture. We’ll support you whichever path you choose from undergraduate and postgraduate study to research, academia, technical services, administration and management.
We believe that diversity in engineering is a necessity, because diverse teams bring together different perspectives and approaches ensuring that solutions can be for the many, rather than a few.
Significant achievement
A Gold award recognises significant and sustained progression and achievement in promoting gender equality, a well-established record of activity coupled with data demonstrating continued impact and those departments that champion and promote good practice to the wider community.
On achieving the Gold Award Status back in 2020, Professor Sam Kingman, the faculty's then Pro-Vice Chancellor said:
I am delighted we have achieved this standard, it is the work of many colleagues over a number of years. Of course this is a milestone in our work and we continue to focus upon making Nottingham a better place to work for all students and staff.
The Faculty’s work on the Technician Commitment; the EPSRC funded STEMM-CHANGE: Uncovering Barriers to Inclusivity and Transforming Institutional Culture project; and trans inclusivity were all a fundamental part of its gold-winning submission.
The Faculty’s Athena Swan Gold Submission in November 2019 set out the context of the faculty at that time (and statistics) and set a four year Action Plan with associated key outputs, milestones and success criteria. The scope of the Action Plan was wider than addressing gender equality, also covering other protected characteristics. This plan has now been extended to 2026 and is updated to remain fit for purpose.
Download our Athena SWAN Gold document