Our Silver Athena Swan action plan outlines the measures we have taken as a department to champion equality for women in the workplace.
Athena SWAN
We are committed to tackling all barriers and challenges to equal and fair participation in higher education and research.
We strive to recruit and retain the most qualified students and staff, foster inclusive and caring working practices (e.g. with a view on work-life balance, child or parental care), and enable individuals to reach their full potential by providing plentiful opportunities for personal and professional development.
Athena SWAN was established by the Equality Challenge Unit in 2005 to advance the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine. In 2015 the Athena SWAN charter was expanded to include other disciplines, professional and support roles and transgender staff and students. Athena Swan aims to encourage universities and colleges to do this through:
- representation
- progression of students into academia
- journey through career milestones
- a working environment for all staff
Lancaster University has held a Bronze Award since 2008, which was renewed in 2012. In 2023, the Lancaster Environment Centre was awarded an Athena SWAN Silver award as a department, in recognition of its commitment to Athena SWAN's charter principles.
We aim to support all our staff to fulfil their potential in a variety of ways including peer support and mentoring. We organize workshops supporting early-career staff (or research students) who aim to become fellows or lecturers, as well as for staff members who aspire to progress to the next stage of their academic careers and ultimately to senior roles.
We aim to be a diverse and inclusive working environment, so we encourage applications from people in all diversity groups.
Celebrating Women
International Women's Day
For International Women’s Day 2022, Dr Ally Gormally-Sutton wrote a blog post Women fighting climate and ecological breakdown in which she talked with some of Lancaster Environment Centre’s inspirational women about their roles in creating a more sustainable future. The answers given were fascinating, insightful, and inspiring, so we share them in full: International Women's Day 2022 Q&A responses. We also published news story Environmental women make their mark in 2019 celebrating the achievements of women in the department.
Women in Science Day
At Lancaster Environment Centre we're privileged to work with some of world's best women in science, from many nationalities, backgrounds and ethnicities. We celebrate this each year on International Women in Science / Women in STEM (science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Day on 11th February. Have a look at the Twitter thread from 2022 (keep scrolling or clicking "show replies" to see all 38 tweets) and images from 2021 (open both images to see all of the faces).
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