The University's Athena SWAN work is led by Dr Sally Jackson, Chief People Officer and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. The team meets regularly to oversee progress and to ensure our action plan aligns with the University's equality objectives and strategy.

The university strategy, Transforming Lives, was launched after extensive consultation in February 2017, and ambitious new Equality Objectives followed in July 2017. These are at the centre of our work on equality and diversity, including work towards the Athena SWAN charter mark.

Specific deliverables have been identified to address gender equality relating to the career pipeline and the student lifecycle. The targets focus on priority areas such as increasing the representation of underrepresented genders in particular subject areas. We have also committed to targets for the advancement of women into senior roles and to creating an inclusive environment for transgender and non-binary staff and students.

Athena SWAN Award documents

"We were delighted to be awarded a silver AS award in recognition of our gender equality work in our department. The award has provided a stimulus to further work around equality of opportunity, for example in career development, which is benefiting all staff."
Dr Susan Laird, head of the Department of Biosciences and Chemistry

Contacts and further information

Please contact the equality, diversity and inclusion team - diversity@shu.ac.uk