Psychology wins University’s first Athena SWAN Gold award for advancing gender equality

The University of Exeter’s Psychology department is the first in the university to receive an Athena SWAN Gold award – the highest accolade available under the charter to recognise commitment to advancing gender equality. The Athena Swan Charter is a framework used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research. It was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment.

To obtain gold, a department must demonstrate excellence in representation, progression, and success for all genders. Exeter is only the 7th Psychology department nationally to achieve the accolade, and the award celebrates sector leadership in gender equality, diversity, and inclusion and evidence of sustained, measurable impact.

Professor Rajani Naidoo, Vice-President and Deputy-Vice-Chancellor (People and Culture) at the University of Exeter, said: “This is a phenomenal achievement from our Psychology department, and we’re extremely proud. Quite rightly, these Gold awards are hard to obtain – the department has had to demonstrate excellence in both commitment and impact in advancing gender equality. It’s a hugely important issue for us at Exeter, where we hold 12 Athena SWAN bronze and silver awards. We want to continue working towards achieving the highest standards of gender equality and excellence across the University, helping to create a fairer society more widely. A huge congratulations to everyone involved in securing our first Gold.”

In making the award, the governing body Advance HE recognised the department’s long commitment to developing gender equality Head of Department for Psychology Professor Joanne Smith said: “We’re so proud of this award, which really reflects the culture we’ve built up in Psychology over many years. We’ve put a number of measures in place to advance gender equality and to support our staff, and we’ve sought to embed and nurture this ethos at every level of our activity. We take real pride in being a truly inclusive and forward-looking department, and I’m delighted for everyone involved that our commitment has been recognised at this level.”

Areas of good practice highlighted by the Advance HE panel include the department’s:

· Detailed analysis of how workload is allocated, looking at gender and other characteristics, representing good practice and “supporting transparent, equitable workload distribution.”

· Introduction of a scheme where academics can apply to take a rest from delivering a module to allow them to focus on other activity, which judges described “particularly innovative”, in offering staff protected time to engage in research and other scholarly activities, and “contributing to a positive and inclusive working environment”.

· Progress on decolonising the curriculum to ensure genders and ethnicities are properly represented in teaching materials, work judges viewed as “forward thinking and influential”.

· Leadership of neurodiversity initiatives which were highlighted as “sector leading.”

· Regular writing retreats to support academics, which the judging panel said “created a positive research culture, encouraging cross-departmental collaboration and additional support to junior colleagues”.

· ‘Inclusion Cafe’ initiative, which was noted to “provide a safe and welcoming space for staff to discuss lived experience and systemic bias”

Professor Jo Bowtell, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter, said: “The Athena SWAN charter is incredibly valuable in holding universities to account, and provides a rigorous framework for us to demonstrate our commitment to gender equality. To achieve gold, Psychology has developed and implemented some fantastic initiatives that are creating the truly inclusive environment our students and staff expect and deserve. We look forward to working with colleagues in Psychology, to share their learning and best practice and across the Faculty and University to continue to improve our impact in this area.” View the full list of the University’s Athena SWAN accreditations.