Athena SWAN Charter for Women in STEM

The Athena SWAN Charter aims to advance representation of women in science, engineering and technology. It promotes and rewards good employment practice in the recruitment, retention and progression of female academics.

To find more about the principles of the Charter, please visit the Athena SWAN Website. To find out more about the University's Bronze Award, you can visit the Athena SWAN Charter page.

The Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team

The group is set up to assess data involving gender information, policies and procedures in the School and work towards the recognition of the Athena SWAN Bronze Award.

Dr Melanie Britton - Chair (Please contact m.m.britton@bham.ac.uk for any questions or queries)
Dr Phoebe Allan
Dr Dwaipayan Chakrabarti
Dr Lucy Clark
Dr Francisco Fernandez-Trillo
Professor John Fossey
Professor Zoe Pikramenou
Dr Natalie Rowley
Dr Adrian Wright
Tessa Kintail - Secretary

The Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee

The group is set up to deliver actions ensuring equity of opportunity across the School for all its members.

Professor John S. Fossey - EDI Lead
Claire Bonnet - College Representative
Dr Melanie Britton - Athena SWAN Lead
Fiona Clark - Undergraduate Representative
Dr Liam Cox - Deputy Head of School
Bryan Fryer - Operations Representative
Lianne Hill - Facilities Staff Representative
Dr Sarah Horswell - Education & disadvantaged groups
Alisha Miller - Postgraduate Representative
Dr Tom Wilks - Postdoc Representative
Dr Hamish Yeung - ECR Representative
Nicky Gillece - Secretary

How to get involved

Please contact one of the members of the group.

Career Highlights

Francia Allabush

Equality and Diversity events

Current events

To be updated shortly.

Archived events

28th June 2016, Athena SWAN Seminar delivered by Professor Tom Welton, Imperial College London, 13:00-15:00, Haworth 203
20th April 2016, Towards an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, 12:00-14:00, Mechanical and Civil Engineering B01
23rd March 2016, Issues impacting on BME students, and approaches to race equality 13:00, LR2, Arts & Law Building
11th March 2016, LGBTQ inclusivity in HE 13:00-17:00, Room 714/715 7th Floor Muirhead Tower
8th March 2016, International Women’s Day Networking Event 16:30, The Barber Institute.
3rd November 2015, Athena SWAN Seminar 13:00 - Prof. Jane Hill, University of York (Biosciences E102) - "Path to Athena SWAN Gold - Some Reflections from Biology at York"
20th July 2015, Career Talk 09:30 - Prof. Eric Anslyn, University of Texas (Haworth 203) - "Professor Anslyn: Career in Research"
29th June 2015, Athena SWAN Seminar 14:00 - Prof. Paul Walton, University of York (Haworth 101) "Equality for Women in Science: Now, Sometime, Never?"
24th March 2015, Physics International Women's Day Celebration 13:30 - Prof. Yvonne Elsworth, University of Birmingham (The Barber Institute, Lecture Theatre G11) "A Random Walk From Undergraduate to Poynting Professor"
5th February 2015, Athena SWAN Workshop 12:30 - Dr Brendan Burchell, University of Cambridge (Muirhead Tower 710) "Employment and Well-Being: How Much Work Should We Do in the 'Good Life'?"•
30th June 2014 School Seminar Prof. Eileen Ingham, University of Leeds "Research, translation and commercialisation of acellular biological scaffolds"
24th June 2014, 3rd RSC Younger Member Symposium(YMS2014) Prof. Lesley Yellowlees, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry “Identity, Impact and Voice or ‘How did I get here?'”
9th October 2013, Athena SWAN Seminar Prof. Dame Athene Donald, University of Cambridge "Facilitating Women's Progression to the Top"
2nd November 2012, Athena SWAN Seminar Professor Robin Perutz, FRS, "Activities at York" Chemistry College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Staff house
13th September 2012, Athena SWAN Information Event, School of Chemistry
13th September 2012, Women in Science Network Evening, RSC Birmingham and West Midlands, Winterbourne Gardens, UoB
28th January 2012, Athena SWAN Information Event: Data and Activities in Chemistry.

Equality and Diversity Outreach events

Examples of recent Equality and Diversity Outreach events

Please visit the School Outreach and Public Engagement pages for more examples.

21st - 22nd April 2016 - The School of Chemistry again hosts the Salter's Festival of Chemistry, with participation from numerous schools across the West Midlands
17th and 19th March 2016 – Dr Mark Read runs spectroscopy and dry ice demos at the BigBang, NEC, Birmingham
1st March 2016 – Dr Mark Read visits Malvern St. James Girls’ School to deliver “Spectroscopy in a suitcase”
15th February 2016 – Dr Mark Read delivers a lecture on the “Spectroscopy of Stars” at Leicester Space Centre
16th September 2015 - Dr Louise Male hosted a "Girls in STEM" workshop in the School of Chemistry
15th July 2015 - Dr Sarah Horswell ran a "Headstart - Materials for Energy" workshop

Archived Equality and Diversity Outreach events

21st - 22nd April 2015 - The School of Chemistry again hosted the Salter's Festival of Chemistry, with participation from numerous schools across the West Midlands
27 June 2014 - Dr Zoe Schnepp was one of this year’s Soap Box Science female scientists presenting to the general public on London’s South Bank. Click here for videos, photos and press coverage of the event.
2 May 2014 – Dr Zoe Schnepp talks to Chemistry World about her work and career. Click hear to read the article.
19 August 2013 – Dr Zoe Schnepp featured in the Independent as one of their Women in Science.
Nuffield Summer Student gets to the final of NSEC - Janie at the Big Bang fair presenting the work that she did in the Schnepp lab.

A group of students with the alginate molecule they built at a recent Girls in STEM Day.

Emily Doyle, a 2nd Year Undergraduate, represented the Chemical Sciences at the RSC Three Counties Show.

Parent/carer resources

Childcare

Nursery and childcare facilities within the University
Note the Oaks nursery has a holiday club for children aged 4-8 years
Nursery fees can be taken from pay before tax via salary sacrifice: contact Tony McKinley for details.

For staff

Student parent/carer resources

Guild of students

Volunteering activities that the students run include:

The University of Birmingham Student Parents and Carers Association offer free childcare every Sunday 11-1 during term time. The Selly Oak Playscheme (SOPS) meet in The Underground in the Guild and offer activities to the children in the local community, promoting good relationships between the University and people from the local area. Email: sops@guild.bham.ac.uk or studentparent@guild.bham.ac.uk
Saturday Morning Play Scheme (SMPS)
Double award winning SMPS caters for children with behavioural problems and learning difficulties. The group organises a whole host of trip and activities for the children, who are all between the ages of 7 and 12.
Email: smps@guild.bham.ac.uk

Children’s holiday activities and sport

University of Birmingham sport
School holiday childcare (King's Camps)- UoB employees get a 15% discount

External links

Tax credits (for working parents etc)
Care-4 website - fully managed electronic childcare voucher scheme

Useful links and resources

University resources

External Resources

The L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science programme and fellowships
The Royal Society of Chemistry is celebrating the diversity in Science with 175 Faces of Chemistry
Women in to Science and Engineering (WISE) – a campaign to promote women in science, technology and engineering
Chemistry – A European Journal celebrated International Women’s Day with an inspiring Special Issue on Women in Chemistry
Research councils UK Diversity Statement
The Royal Society’s Parent Carer Scientist celebrates the diversity of work life patterns of 150 scientists across the UK with the aim of increasing the visibility of people combining a career in science with a family life.
The Daphne Jackson Trust – dedicated to realising the potential of scientists and engineers returning to research following a career break
LGBT Foundation
Disability support in Higher Education
AHEAD – The Association of Higher Education and Disability
Time to change – ending mental health discrimination
Working group for the promotion of Mental Well-Being in Higher Education
The Equality Challenge Unit provide useful resources including surrounding unconscious bias

Funding Links

Royal Society Athena Prize

The Royal Society Athena Prize is awarded biennially (in even years) for “individuals or teams, working in UK academic and research communities, who have contributed most to the advancement of diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) within their communities”.

The recipient(s) of the prize receives a medal and a gift of £5,000 and runners-up will receive a gift of £1,000.

Funding available for participation in National Equality & Diversity events

The EPS Equality and Diversity group, is currently working on a number of exciting initiatives to give greater visibility to the Equality and Diversity agenda within the College. Funding is available to support attendance at national E&D events.

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science UK & Ireland Fellowships Programme

The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science UK & Ireland Fellowships Programme awards five outstanding female post-doctoral scientists a fellowship of £15,000.

The fellowships are open to female postdoctoral researchers working in the field of life and physical sciences, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences. This unique award is designed to provide practical help to aid female post-doctoral researchers in continuing their cutting-edge research. The fellowship can be spent as the fellow wishes; it could buy a piece of scientific equipment, help to cover child care costs or be used to fund conference travel.

Daphne Jackson Trust

The Daphne Jackson Trust supports scientists and engineers returning to research after a career break.

Further information on other research fellowships is available on the School of Chemistry research webpages.