Athena Swan in the Birmingham Business School
Birmingham Business School is proud to hold an Athena Swan Bronze Award, recognising our commitment to advancing gender equality across our staff and student community.
What is Athena Swan?
Athena Swan is a national charter, run by Advance HE, that recognises commitment to advancing gender equality in higher education: representation, progression and success for all staff and students. Originally focused on women in STEMM, the charter was expanded in 2015 to include arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), professional services roles, and trans staff and students.
Our commitment
At Birmingham Business School (BBS), we believe that a diverse and inclusive environment enables everyone, staff and students alike, to thrive, contribute, and reach their full potential. Our Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team works to identify barriers to progression and implement meaningful, evidence-based change across the School.
- Award level: Bronze
- Awarded: January 2022
- Next submission: November 2027
- Governance: Athena Swan sits within the School's Accreditations and Rankings Committee
Our Athena Swan journey
Birmingham Business School holds an Athena Swan Bronze award, awarded in January 2022. This recognises our School-wide commitment to understanding and addressing gender inequality, and to developing a robust, evidence-based action plan for improvement.
What Bronze recognises
Bronze awards recognise that a department has:
- A solid understanding of gender equality issues based on evidence
- Identified priorities and put in place an action plan to address them
- Structures in place to support and sustain this work going forward
Our next steps
Our SAT is now working towards our next submission, building on the priorities identified in our current action plan and continuing to embed gender equality practice across the School.
Athena Swan SAT: Sub-committee structure
Membership spans academic and processional services staff (Edgbaston, UK and Dubai campuses), early career to senior colleagues, including two student representatives.
Our School's EDI Lead sits on the Self-Assessment Team, ensuring close alignment between our Athena Swan action plan and wider School equality, diversity and belonging priorities.
Equality and opportunity for all only mean something when everyone can see how decisions are made. At BBS, we are committed to openness that recognises the whole person, not just gender, so every colleague and student can trust that the door is open to them.
SAT Oversight Group
SAT Oversight Group
- Ambika Sharma Solanki (BBS Athena Swan Lead)
- Stef Cope (BBS Athena Swan Co-Lead)
- Scott Taylor (Mentor and Chair)
- Julie Whiteman (BBS EDB Lead)
Governance, policy and institutional processes
Governance, policy and institutional processes
Scope
- Policy
- Leave
- Pay gap
- Workload
- Recruitment
Career progression, mentoring and development
Career progression, mentoring and development
Scope
- Mentoring
- PDR
- Training
- Research funding
- A2B
Student pipeline, attainment and progression
Student pipeline, attainment and progression
- Fuk Ying Tse
- Kelly Smith
- Veselina Stoyanova
- Rotating student representatives
Scope
- UG-PG-PGR pipeline
- Attainment gaps
- WIBS
Culture, inclusion, voice and lived experience
Culture, inclusion, voice and lived experience
- Heather Jeffrey (Dubai campus)
- Giulia Achilli
- Hui Li
- Emily Pickering
Scope
- Focus groups
- ED&I training
- Dubai lens
- Decolonisation
Professional services and operational experience
Professional services and operational experience
- Emma Johnson
- Simon Pettifor
- Bushra Chughtai
- Annette French
Scope
- PS recruitment
- Progression
- Workload
Athena Swan is not a badge we hang on the wall. It is a commitment to look honestly at who does the work, who gets the opportunities and who feels heard, and then to change what we find. Our next award has to reflect what every colleague and student actually experiences at BBS.
Our Action Plan
Our action plan sets out the specific, measurable steps Birmingham Business School is taking to address gender inequality, based on evidence gathered by our SAT.
Get involved
Get involved
We welcome input from all staff and students. If you have ideas, feedback, or would like to support the Athena Swan BBS SAT, please get in touch.