Athena SWAN

"I’ve made a conscious effort to give myself permission to take a lunch break in the last couple of years. When I’m in the office, it’s often an opportunity to enjoy the company of colleagues and talk about non-work-related topics – always time well spent! When I’m at home, I can prepare a healthy lunch or go outside or hang laundry or just mindfully/mindlessly stare out the window…

Breaking up the working day like this means that even if I am very busy, dedicating time to other activities can make the workload feel less overwhelming and reminds me that there are other, just as important, things “to do”. And some valuable work-related thoughts do occasionally appear when I’m away from my desk!" 

 Magda Zasada

A key success in this area is our work to improve parental leave equality for staff on fixed-term contracts. In collaboration with Dr Carys Banks, the School of Health Sciences Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team identified a critical gap in the University’s enhanced maternity leave provision. While staff on fixed-term contracts were technically eligible for enhanced maternity pay, in practice they would be required to repay the enhanced portion if their contract ended during the leave period, leaving them effectively ineligible.

The Team gathered evidence from peer institutions (King’s College London, Leeds, and Edinburgh), which had more equitable policies, and worked in partnership with the University’s HR and EDI teams to advocate for change. In May 2021, the University Executive Board approved a new, fairer parental leave policy, ensuring that all staff, regardless of contract type, could access enhanced maternity pay without fear of financial penalty.

Dr Banks spoke powerfully about the personal impact of this policy change at a Self-Assessment Team meeting in December 2021 and later represented SHS at the University-wide Athena SWAN symposium in May 2023. This achievement demonstrates the power of local action to drive institutional change and is a standout example of ASIT’s collaborative and values-led approach.

I set aside some time this September to revisit the core EDI modules and complete the new training on sexual harassment and misconduct. While it’s easy to assume we remember the key messages, going through the modules again was a powerful reminder of the need to regularly reflect on our own assumptions, behaviours, and biases. The training highlighted how these issues often show up in subtle, everyday ways, and how important it is to be able to recognise and respond to them. It reinforced that creating a respectful and supportive environment is a shared responsibility—and that being inclusive isn’t a one-time effort, but something we all need to keep working on, together.

Professor Katriina Whitaker

As part of our commitment to women's health, we have recently launched a cross-university working group that focuses on 'Women's health: from menstruation to menopause'. The group meets bi-monthly, and current actions include: developing an annual calendar of events that raises awareness and understanding; utilising existing menopause practices as inspiration to develop support for menstruation and menstrual related conditions; and speaking with staff and students across the university to understand individual needs and learn how people want to be supported in this space.