Queen Mary University of London’s Institute of Dentistry has attained a Bronze award for the first time in the Athena SWAN scheme, which recognises excellence in recruiting and progressing women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM).
Queen Mary has also successfully renewed its institutional Bronze award.
The Institute of Dentistry’s award recognises several key measures in encouraging equality, including the School of Medicine and Dentistry’s mentoring scheme for women, changes to core working hours, support for postdoctoral research assistants, and greater recognition of the need to support staff returning from long term leave, including maternity leave.
Three out of four Centre leads within the Institute are women, including former Dean Farida Fortune, Sarah Murray and Wendy Turner.
Professor Mike Curtis, Dean of Dentistry, comments: “The Institute of Dentistry is very proud to be given the recognition of an Athena SWAN Bronze Award to mark our achievements to date.
“We acknowledge that there is much more to do but we now have a fully developed action plan to further our ambitions in this important area of equality and diversity and support future applications to Athena SWAN for enhanced award status. I would particularly like to thank Dr Mangala Patel and her team for their excellent work over the last year in developing this application.”
All of Queen Mary's STEMM Schools now hold an Athena SWAN award. The School of Medicine attained Bronze in October 2013 and the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences received Queen Mary’s first Silver in 2013.
The School of Physics and Astronomy has Juno Practitioner status, given by the Institute of Physics for its recognition in addressing under-representation of women and encouraging better practice for both genders.
The achievements highlight QMUL’s continued commitment to improving the development of all staff at the university.
A record 125 applications were received by the Equality Challenge Unit in the November 2013 submission round with a 71 per cent success rate.
The Athena SWAN programme is run by the Equality Challenge Unit to advance women's careers and promote equality in science, engineering and medicine.
For more information about gender equality at QMUL, including The Women in Science and Engineering Society (WISE), visit http://www.hr.qmul.ac.uk/equality/gender/index.html
Visit http://www.hr.qmul.ac.uk/equality/athenaswancharter/index.html to find out more about QMUL’s Athena SWAN charter.
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