Athena Swan Gold award

To achieve gold, the Department had to demonstrate strong evidence of success in promoting and improving gender equality. This work was underpinned by a flagship initiative ‘Using data to drive positive cultural change’, which involved curating timely data for departmental decision-makers before key new decisions were made, ensuring reflective, responsive, and fair departmental decision-making and strategic planning. This initiative was considered as an example of ‘good practice’ in the Transformed Athena Swan Charter Application feedback.

Professor Rebeccah Slater, Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee who led the application said: "Our core belief is that by making data transparent and available to everyone, we can use evidence-based approaches to set strategic priorities, address gender imbalances and take direct action. Ultimately, this led to quantifiable, meaningful, and sustained change.’

Professor Georg Hollander, Head of the Department of Paediatrics, said: "I am truly delighted that our efforts to ensure equality, diversity and inclusivity have been recognised in this way. I am grateful to Rebeccah and the EDI committee who have worked tirelessly to support a change in the Department’s EDI culture. Together with so many others in the department we collectively support an inclusive culture, ensuring balanced representation from men and women in our most senior academic positions, improving gender pay equality and using data-led decision-making to enact change and track the effectiveness of our interventions. There is always more to be done, but our new action plan is bold and there will be more to come over the next five years." 

Across the Medical Sciences Division,16 departments hold silver awards, and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Services was the first department in the University to be granted the top gold award in March 2023. Paediatrics is  the second to achieve gold status.