Equality, diversity and inclusion in engineering and physical sciences

Athena SWAN is a global initiative run by Advance HE which aims to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research. Athena SWAN awards are given to institutions and departments/schools to recognise their commitment to advancing women’s careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

We are proud that, to date, Bronze awards have been awarded within our schools as follows:

• School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
  • Chemistry
• School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering
  • Computer science
  • Electrical and electronic engineering
• School of Mathematics and Physics
  • Mathematics
• School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences
• School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Environment and sustainability.

Our Physics department is a member of the Institute of Physics equality and diversity initiative Project Juno, which recognises physics departments that promote gender equality at all levels and foster a more inclusive working environment.

The department has been awarded the prestigious Juno Champion status, receiving commendation for initiatives such as using feedback from the staff survey to inform the promotion process and introducing new, mandatory EDI training for undergraduates.

Learn about other University-wide accreditations, awards and schemes.

EDI Student Award

In May each year, final year students are invited to nominate either themselves or another student for the EDI Award which is presented at Graduation. A monetary prize is awarded to the student who has made the most significant contribution to enhancing or supporting equality, diversity and inclusion.

This may include, but is not restricted to:

• Introducing and running events/activities
• Peer support/mentoring
• Creating effective resources (eg. digital, literary, artistic)
• Volunteer work of relevance to the student population
• Contributing to curriculum or module design
• Setting-up or contributing to societies
• Acting as a positive role model who consistently champions EDI
• Achieving impact and reach externally as well as internally
• Demonstrating innovation in EDI activities.

One previous winner, as one of the only Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Peer Support mentors, increased visibility of Student Support services to other BAME students. They were also involved in several other mentoring schemes across the University during their time at Surrey, winning the Learning Through Experience Certificate and the Student Life Mentoring Award. They advocated for further student life mentoring services and acted as Wellbeing and Inclusion Officer for the Pakistani Society.

Another previous winner raised awareness of neurodiversity in STEM by founding and co-chairing neurodiversity networks, managing the ‘Neurodiversity at Surrey’ blog, putting together a library curation project and founding the ‘Neurodivergent in STEM’ project. They curated a list of neurodiversity resources, contributed to training programmes and held various positions of responsibility, representing neurodiverse students.

School EDI groups

Each of our schools have an EDI group where staff and students come together to discuss issues and ideas relating to EDI.

The groups meet regularly and report into the Faculty EDI Committee which sets related strategy and policy.

We believe that everyone has a responsibility to champion EDI in the Faculty and across the University but if you are interested in starting an initiative or getting involved in our EDI groups, the Faculty would love to hear from you.

EDI representatives encourage feedback from others, communicate others’ experiences and report back any changes that this feedback effects.

If you are interested in being a student EDI representative, please email fepsedi@surrey.ac.uk.