{"id":9947,"date":"2023-03-06T10:31:47","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T10:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=9947"},"modified":"2023-03-06T10:37:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T10:37:00","slug":"gender-equality-in-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2023\/03\/06\/gender-equality-in-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Equality in Higher Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A national charter mark recognising work to address gender inequality has been retained by the School of Mathematical, Physical & Computational Sciences (SMPCS) at the University.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AthenaThe Athena Swan<\/a> award scheme, run by Advance HE, recognises work to support and transform gender equality within higher education around the world.<\/p>\n

SMPCS<\/a> was praised for its feedback gathering process around parental leave for staff and student experience, its mentoring system to aid promotion and progression, and its work to increase the number of women leading its research projects.<\/p>\n

This work allowed the School to successfully bid to renew its Silver charter mark, which was awarded in January 2023 and runs for five years, to January 2028.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewProfessor Andrew Charlton-Perez, Head of SMPCS, said: \u201cWe have so many incredibly talented women among the scientists and students in our School, and we are pleased to have progressed our ambitions to increase this number and provide the right support to aid career progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank all of my colleagues who have contributed to this work, both in the current award cycle and throughout the last 15 years.<\/p>\n

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“I am proud of this collective commitment, which is a big reason why our School continues to make strong progress on gender equality.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Future priorities<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The School actively managed the renewal process, which offered them an opportunity to engage widely with staff to raise awareness of the issues and to embed the Athena SWAN principles<\/a>, including that of fairness for all.<\/p>\n

The renewal process included a staff and student survey and analysis of data to ascertain the real impact of the School\u2019s action plan since the 2017 award and the creation of an action plan for the next five years.<\/p>\n

The key priorities that the School will seek to address in their future action-plan are:<\/p>\n