Representatives from BU attended a ceremony to celebrate the university's Athena SWAN bronze award, which recognises BU's commitment to tackling gender inequality in higher education.
BU’s was one of ten awards given at an institutional level this round, with others in the sector recognised at a departmental level. The ceremony took place at the University of Oxford.
Vice-Chancellor Professor John Vinney said : “This is a certainly a moment to celebrate, but also a moment to reflect on what we now need to do to not only deliver our plan, but go above and beyond wherever we can.
“Being a champion for Athena SWAN gives us an opportunity to look at the challenges across the board so we can ensure that everything we do is as joined up as it can possibly be.
“I’d like to thank everyone that’s helped us achieve the Bronze Award status, but would like to highlight that this is now just the start of the journey.”
Athena SWAN is a national scheme focused on supporting, advancing and celebrating positive employment practices for women in higher education and research. At the heart of the scheme is to promote women’s careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) - although this was opened up to other careers such as arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law earlier this year.
The award is valid for three years, during which time BU will be making faculty and departmental award submissions and delivering an institutional action plan aiming for an institutional silver award submission.
More information about Athena SWAN and its commitment can be found on the Equality Challenge Unit website.
