BU has been successful in achieving the Athena Swan Silver Award, recognising our sustained progress and deep commitment to advancing gender equality and building an inclusive culture across BU
The Athena Swan Charter, developed by Advance HE, recognises higher education institutions for their work to advance gender equality across academic and professional services, for students and staff alike. BU’s Silver Award marks a significant step forward, building on the foundations established through our previous Bronze accreditation.
Carly Stewart, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Health, Environment & Medical Science, who led the submission said: “I'm incredibly proud that BU has achieved Athena SWAN Silver recognition, reflecting the commitment, care and determination of colleagues across the university over many years to create a more inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.
“While we will take a moment to celebrate this achievement, we also recognise that gender equality is not something that is ever fully complete. There is still more to do, particularly as we continue to navigate significant change across the sector. Athena SWAN has helped us listen, learn and understand where we need to improve, and our focus now is on turning those insights into meaningful action.
“Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this journey. This recognition belongs to all those who have championed inclusion, challenged us to do better and helped shape a more equitable future for our staff and students.”
This achievement reflects the progress made across the university in embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into our culture, structures and everyday practices. It also recognises the strength of BU’s evidence-based approach, alongside a renewed focus on robust planning, delivery and monitoring of impact.
Over recent years, BU has demonstrated clear progress in several key areas, including:
- Reducing the gender pay gap, with notable improvements between 2018 and 2024. Our 2025 gender pay gap and bonus gap are at their lowest levels since we started reporting in 2017. In 2025 the median gap was 10.8%, a 12.5% reduction from 23.3% in 2017
- Increasing women’s representation in senior leadership, including growth in female representation on the University Executive Team and Board
- Supporting women’s career progression, with strong outcomes in promotion success rates. We have also supported 45 aspiring women leaders through the Advance HE Aurora leadership programme over the last two academic years
- Our ever-growing staff networks provide peer support, foster a sense of wellbeing and help inform and enhance our health and wellbeing support. Two examples are the development of an online menopause hub with line manager guidance and training, and enhanced paid carers leave.
A key factor in achieving the Silver Award has been BU’s reflective and forward-looking approach. We’ve demonstrated a clear trajectory of improvement, learning from previous actions and refining our approach to create a more focused, strategic and measurable action plan.
Central to this is a renewed emphasis on:
- Delivering a more targeted and achievable action plan
- Strengthening monitoring and evaluation to better understand impact
- Embedding inclusive practices, such as flexible working and structured support for staff returning from leave
- Continuing to build an inclusive culture supported by data, staff engagement and strong governance.
We will continue to build on this success, with an ambitious action plan focused on further improving gender equality and ensuring that inclusive practices benefit all staff and students. The priorities in our new action plan are:
1. Embed inclusive leadership and local accountability for gender equality
2. Increase representation of women and underrepresented groups in senior roles
3. Close gender pay gaps and ensure fair progression for all staff groups
4. Promote a values-led culture of belonging and psychological safety
5. Normalise flexible working and strengthen carer support
6. Accelerate intersectional career development for underrepresented women and staff
7. Expand gender-inclusive outreach and strengthen the STEMM academic pipeline.
The Athena Swan Silver Award is not only a recognition of progress so far, but also a commitment to sustaining momentum and delivering continued positive change across BU. Thank you to everyone involved in making this milestone possible and we look forward to continuing our journey towards greater inclusivity.
