Athena SWAN in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has held an Athena Swan Silver Award since 2010. During this period, the principles of the Athena SWAN Charter have become deeply embedded within the culture of the School. Examples of our commitment include:

• The introduction of a School-wide policy which faciliatates the relief of teaching/administrative duties for academics returning from maternity/extended paternity/adoption leave, or extended sick leave, for a period of six months on return to work
• The attainment of a 50/50 gender balance of academic presenters within the School's Research Seminar Series
• The introduction of School Teaching Fellowships, which involve the extension of Postdoctoral Research Academic (PDRA) contracts by 1 month to allow PDRAs to acquire teaching experience without negative impact in their research. This scheme is open to both male and female PDRAs, but the School's Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team ensures that there is adequate pro-rata representation of female applicants (e.g., women are proactively encouraged to apply via the provision of a positive statement within post details and advertisement)
• The School strongly believes in the “If you can see it, you can be it” philosophy and ensures female students and staff are part of all outreach activities to provide positive female STEMM role models.