Faculty of Environment receives Athena Swan Silver Award
The faculty has been awarded the prestigious Athena Swan Silver certification in recognition of its commitment to gender equality.
Both the Faculty of Environment and Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences have been honoured by Advance HE, which governs the scheme, because of their efforts to create an inclusive working environment through initiatives that support and retain talented staff across academic, professional, and support roles.
The Athena Swan Charter was created to assist institutions like Leeds to meet both equality legislation and the expectations of research funders by using a rigorous self-assessment framework. This helps higher education establishments to find areas for improvement, implement meaningful change, and share examples of good practice.
Athena Swan’s Silver award reflects Leeds’ continued dedication to embedding gender equality in its working culture and demonstrates its desire to build a fair and supportive academic community.
Stephanie Siviter, Athena Swan SAT co-chair for the Faculty of Environment, said: “We’re thrilled to have successfully renewed our Athena Swan Silver Award for the Faculty of Environment – a testament to the incredible dedication, hard work, and collaboration of our entire self-assessment team, critical friends and data experts.
“This achievement reflects how deeply gender equality is embedded in our values and practices, and it energises us as we look ahead with ambition toward a future Gold Award.”
Professor Fiona Gill, Athena Swan SAT co-chair and Faculty of Environment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, added: “The award renewal reflects the range of initiatives the faculty has delivered over the past seven years, spanning student recruitment, support for career development for both professional services and academic staff and enhanced support for staff returning from family leave.
“Over the next five years, we will implement our new action plan to allow us to improve gender equality in the Faculty of Environment still further.”
