The Athena Swan Charter is a national recognition of work to foster gender equality across higher education, and this award showcases the successful efforts made within the department to address these challenges.
The Self Assessment Team responsible for crafting the Athena Swan application along with its action plan, was composed of thirteen staff members and three students. The School of Architecture's forthcoming action plan endeavours to address five pivotal areas of focus, emphasising the integration of diversity and inclusion across different levels and from an intersectional perspective. This involves a strategic concentration on supporting career development processes, enhancing the implementation of workload allocation through thorough reviews and improvements, advancing provisions for mental health support, raising awareness of university processes and support regarding sexual harassment, and actively working to enhance diversity in both student and academic staff recruitment.
This recognition highlights the School of Architecture’s commitment to fostering a robust culture of equality, diversity and inclusion, and points to the concerted efforts of the Athena Swan Self Assessment Team towards fortifying these principles. Looking ahead, our proposed five-year action plan is designed to implement tangible measures to further the commitment to an intersectional approach to gender equality within our School."
Dr Iulia Statica
Athena Swan Lead for the School of Architecture
We are delighted that the School has achieved an Athena Swan Bronze Award. This marks a significant step in our work to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion. The process has involved a dedicated team led by Dr Iulia Statica and has enabled us to evaluate our School's progress in this area in a constructive way. We look forward to working together on our ambitious programme of change over the next 5 years."
Professor Renata Tyszczuk
Head of School of Architecture
The award marks the first milestone in our continued efforts to achieve sustained progress in championing equality and inclusion within the School and the wider community.