Our Department of Life Sciences was awarded Silver in the Athena Swan charter by Advance HE in May 2026. In 2022 the merger of two departments formed Life Sciences, and as the first Athena Swan submission since, this Silver award is a testament to the collaborative community which has grown over the past four years.

Professor Sarah Bailey, who co-led on the submission, said:

I am delighted that our Department has achieved the Athena Swan Silver Award. This recognition reflects the sustained commitment and collaboration of colleagues across the Department over many years.

The award acknowledges the progress we have made particularly through strengthening career progression for women, including education-focused colleagues, and enhancing support for parents taking leave.

Today, 30% of our professors are women. The numbers only tell part of the story. Meaningful change takes time and has been achieved through the cumulative impact of many sustained actions: strengthening our appraisal process to focus on career development, improving transparency around promotion criteria, encouraging colleagues to pursue opportunities that align with their career aspirations and providing tailored support and feedback throughout the promotion process.

While celebrating this success, I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to implement our Athena Swan action plan. As our recently merged Department continues to evolve, a key priority is continuing to build a culture where everybody feels supported, valued and has a sense of belonging

Feedback from the Advance HE review panel commended the department for seeking regular feedback and engagement from staff, alongside providing a range of activities to build a sense of community.

The review panel were impressed by the department’s formal embedding and resourcing of equity and inclusion work through the Workload Allocation Management System, which “assigns transparent workload credit to EDI roles and committee participation”.

View the Department of Life Sciences submission here.

Professor Charareh Pourzand, Associate Dean (Community, Culture and Inclusion) for the Faculty of Science, added:

I am delighted that Life Sciences has achieved the Athena Swan Silver Award and received such positive feedback from the assessment panel. This achievement reflects the Faculty's sustained commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion, while the accompanying action plan provides a rich source of good practice that will help strengthen our forthcoming Institutional Athena Swan application.

The Advance HE Athena Swan Charter was originally launched to garner commitment from organisations to advance workplace equality for women in science, technology, maths and medicine (STEMM) in higher education and research. The Charter has since expanded its remit to support wider inclusion and equity, including intersectional inequalities, professional services staff, and more. The charter aims to develop positive cultural change at institutions through evidence based and data backed initiatives.