Athena SWAN Awards Toolkit
https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena
April 2016
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The Toolkit
This toolkit provides an overview of the Athena SWAN Charter and the award application process, plus hints and tips for a successful
application. It is part of the UoB Athena resource at https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena
Who should read it? It’s recommended that all staff sitting on an Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Teams (SAT) read this Toolkit and the
application form, to ensure they are aware of the requirements for a successful award application.
If you have any queries about the Athena SWAN Charter, please contact:
Susan Squire, Staff Diversity Adviser (Strategy and Governance)
Email: [email protected] Ext: 42673
Contents
1. Athena SWAN Overview
4. Self-Assessment Team
7. Writing a successful
application
2. Roles and Support
5. Award application
questions
8. Submitting your application
3. Levels of award
6. Gathering data
9. Celebrating your award
11. Award upgrades and
renewals
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Athena SWAN - Overview
The Athena SWAN Charter recognises and celebrates good practice in relation to gender equality in Higher Education. It focuses on
the under-representation of women in academia, particularly at senior levels, and challenges institutions and Schools to address
barriers to recruitment, retention and career progression. Athena originally focused on STEMM subjects and since May 2015 has
expanded to arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law.
Athena awards are given at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. To achieve an award, a School needs to complete an application form
identifying the gender equality challenges they face and develop an action plan identifying how they will address those issues.
Preparing an award application is a considerable commitment. It involves:
 Establishing a self-assessment team (SAT)
 Analysing staff and student data to identify and analyse trends in the School (e.g. recruitment, promotions, committee
membership)
 Undertaking focus groups and/or surveys to understand and explore issues and School culture
 Reviewing the effectiveness of local practices, such as support for promotions, maternity and return to work, flexible working,
induction, workload models and outreach
 Developing and implementing a SMART 4 year action plan to address the issues identified
Preparing an award submission typically takes around 6 months. Submission deadlines are last working days of April and November.
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Support for School applications
Susan Squire, Staff Diversity Adviser (Strategy & Governance) [email protected]
Please contact Susan in the first instance if you are considering applying for an award. She will:
 Provide advice on the award application process and development of your application
 Provide feedback on draft submissions
 Coordinate UoB award submissions with Athena
UoB Athena resources https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena
The UoB Athena resource has lots of useful information, including examples of successful award applications, application forms, and
policies and guidelines relevant to award applications https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena
The national Athena website http://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/athena-swan/ has details of award holders at other
institutions. You may find contacting or visiting Schools in the same subject area as yours useful.
Athena Tableau Data Reports https://tableau.bham.ac.uk
The Athena Tableau reports provide the vast majority of student and staff data and graphs needed for an award application and can
be found in the Student Restricted and HR Restricted folders. If you don’t have Tableau access, this can be requested through ‘Make a
Request’ at the IT Service Desk.
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Central Athena Working Group
The University has a Central Athena Working Group (chaired by the DPVC Equalities) that meets termly and has a mailing list for
members. The chair of your Athena Self-assessment team will automatically be added to the central group and mailing list. The group
and mailing list are opportunities to share experiences with other Athena leads, raise issues, discuss common problems and undertake
peer review of applications.
People and Organisational Development (POD)
POD support individual and organisational development and provide a range of training and development courses that will help you
achieve your Athena objectives. They can also facilitate Athena focus groups that you hold as part of your award preparation. Please
contact POD’s Athena lead Kate Crane for more information: [email protected]
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Roles and Responsibilities
Heads of Schools are responsible for:
 Ensuring that adequate time (workload allocation) and resources are allocated to the SATs, to enable them to develop a
successful award application
 Providing leadership and support for Athena and embedding its values within the culture of the School
 Ensuring that actions deriving from Athena are supported and implemented by the School
School Self-assessment Teams (SATs) are responsible for:
 Accessing and analysing their Tableau School data
 Undertaking and analysing student/staff consultations
 Completing their award application form and creating and implementing their action plans
Staff Diversity Adviser (Strategy & Governance) is responsible for:
 Advising SAT Leads on the application process and the development of their award application
 Coordinating UoB award submissions with Athena
 Advising the DPVC Equalities on the progress of UoB award submissions
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Levels of award
What level of award to apply for: You have to select the level of award you are applying for. A School’s first award application
is typically for Bronze. Silver requires evidence of the impact of actions and initiatives, so this would usually be for Schools who
have been working on Athena issues for some time.
Bronze department award criteria: The assessment, action plan and structure for implementing it demonstrates that the
department is working to promote gender equality and to address challenges particular to the School and discipline
Potential award outcomes : Bronze or no award
Silver department award criteria: In addition to the above, the department has taken action to address previously identified
challenges and can demonstrate the impact of those actions
Potential award outcomes : Silver, Bronze or no award
Gold department award criteria: Sustained progression and achievement in promoting gender equality. Gold departments are
beacons of achievement and champion and promote good practice to the wider community
Potential award outcomes : Gold, Silver or no award
Awards are valid for 4 years (post-May 2015 application form), or 3 years if using the pre-May 2015 application form)
Do we apply as a School, department or College?
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Athena ‘departments’ are the equivalent of UoB Schools and we recommend that you apply as a School rather than a College or
collection of Schools. (CoMDS is an exception to this rule, due to funding requirements).
If your School has several departments/units, you should still apply as a single School, but will need to make a decision on how you
present your data and analysis. For example, if there are distinct differences in female representation in each department/unit that
would be masked by School-level data alone, those differences should be drawn out.
When do we submit an award application?
There are two submission deadlines a year – the last working days of April and November.
Athena need to be notified 2 months in advance of the deadline of your intention to submit for an award, (the Staff Diversity Adviser
will do this).
We recommend beginning work on an application at least 6 months in advance of your intended submission date. This will allow you
adequate time to have several meetings of the SAT group, analyse your data, undertake focus groups/surveys and draft your
application and action plan.
Who reviews the award applications?
Award applications are assessed nationally by peer review panels convened by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU). Panel members are
academic and professional staff from Athena-participating universities, plus two moderators from the ECU. Academics from your
subject area or a neighbouring subject area will sit on the panel.
Information about becoming an Athena award panellist is available here: http://www.ecu.ac.uk/get-involved/become-charter-markpanellist/
Results are released typically announced 5 months after an application is submitted. Awards are then valid for 4 years from the
submission date, or 3 years if using the pre-May 2015 application form
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The School’s SAT is responsible for developing the Athena application and, in the longer term, overseeing the implementation of the
action plan. The Chair of the SAT must have a clear reporting line to the Head of School and have the authority to confidently identify
and address the challenges that the School faces.
There is no set number of members of the SAT, but the membership of the group should be as representative as possible:
 Female and male academics in a mix of grades and roles, representing the different stages of the academic career ladder
(particularly early and mid-career)
 Student representation (particularly PG)
 Professional Services representation
 Male and female staff who have experience of balancing careers and caring responsibilities, maternity leave, career breaks
 Your School Equality & Diversity Champion
You will be asked to briefly describe the roles, grades and experience of the SAT members as part of your award application.
We recommend the SAT begin work on an award application at least 6 months in advance of your intended submission date.
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Role of the SAT
Role of the SAT
As noted above, it’s the SATs role to put together the School’s award application by:
 undertaking data analysis
 undertaking student/staff consultations
 drafting the award application and action plan
 overseeing the implementation of the action plan
The SAT may be a stand-alone group or a sub-group of the existing equality and diversity committee in the School.
Athena recommend the SAT meet at least once a term during the action plan implementation phase (i.e. post-award), but would
expect it to meet more frequently in the application preparation phase.
It will help the working of the group if all SAT members read this Toolkit and the award application form in advance, so there is a
common understanding of the aims of Athena and the awards process.
The award application will ask you to describe the workings of the group, the frequency of meetings and the role each member has
played in developing the award application.
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Award application form questions
The Bronze application covers the following areas:
1. Letter of endorsement from Head of School (500 words)
2. Description of the School (500 words)
3. Description of the self-assessment process (1,000 words)
4.1 Student data (1,000 words)
- UG, PGT, PGR application/offer/acceptance, degree outcomes by gender
4.2 Academic staff data (1,000 words)
- grade, fixed/open contract, leavers by gender
5. Supporting and advancing women’s careers (6,000 words)
- Key career transition points for academic staff (recruitment data and processes, induction, promotion data and processes, REF)
- Career development for academic staff (training, appraisal, career progression support)
- Flexible working and managing career breaks for academic and Professional Services
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staff (maternity arrangements/returners,
parental leave, flexible working, part-time to full-time)
- Organisation and culture (working culture, committee membership, workload models,
social gatherings, role models, outreach activities)
6. Action Plan (no word limit)
- Outlining the actions you will take over the next 4 years to address the issues identified in sections 4-6
In addition, Silver award applications also cover:
 Transition of technical staff to academic roles
 Career transition points, training, appraisal and career progression support for Professional Services staff
 2 case studies demonstrating the impact of Athena activities on staff
Copies of the Bronze and Silver application forms are available here: https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena/resources
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Gathering data
Athena panels are interested in both quantitative and qualitative data. The application form asks for specific sets of quantitative
student and staff data, but the expectation is that you will also undertake consultations with your staff and students to deepen your
understanding of key issues and to demonstrate that students and staff are being encouraged to engage with Athena’s gender
equality objectives.
Quantitative data https://tableau.bham.ac.uk
The Athena Tableau reports provide the vast majority of student and staff data and graphs needed for an award application and can
be found in the Student Restricted and HR Restricted folders. If you don’t have Tableau access, this can be requested through ‘Make a
Request’ at the IT Service Desk. If you need support with using Tableau and/or downloading the data and graphs, please contact the
Staff Diversity Adviser, Susan Squire [email protected]
In addition to the Tableau data, the Staff Diversity Adviser will provide data on maternity leave/returners and training uptake. Schools
have responsibility for identifying the following locally-held data: paternity leave uptake and instances of flexible working (other than
part-time working, which is included in the Tableau data).
Whilst quantitative data is an important part of the application, please note that a significant section of the form also asks you to
describe the practices, processes and culture within your School.
Qualitative data
The SAT has responsibility for developing and analysing consultations (surveys and focus groups). Examples of survey questions are
available here https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena/resources POD are available to support and facilitate Athena focus groups.
Please contact Kate Crane [email protected]
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Writing a successful application
What do you need to evidence?
Athena are ultimately focused on the recruitment, retention and progression of women in academia. They want to see an honest
analysis of male and female career trajectories, identification of the key points at which women’s progress begins to falter (the ‘leaky
pipeline’), an analysis of why this is, plus a robust plan to address these issues.
Athena tell us panels consider the following when assessing an application:
 Senior commitment – is there evidence of senior commitment to Athena in the School?
 Effective analysis of the data – what trends does the data show, are issues identified and actions linked to them?
 Self-reflection and honesty – are challenges recognised and appropriate steps taken to address them?
 Engagement – have staff and students at all levels have been engaged and involved in the application’s development?
 A robust action plan – does this address the issues raised in the application? Applications succeed or fail on the strength of the
action plan!
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Hints and tips - general:
 Allocate adequate time and resources to the different sections of the application – a common mistake is dedicating months to
data analysis and leaving consideration of policies, practices and culture and (crucially) the development of the action plan to
the last few weeks
 Try not to fall into the trap of justifying where you are now – Athena value an honest assessment of the issues you face and a
strong commitment to addressing those issues via your action plan
 Athena award panels assess up to 6 applications in a sitting, so make the application an easy, well-presented read
Make use of the resources on the UoB Athena intranet, https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena read other submissions, contact
departments at other institutions and submit your draft for peer review with them or with members of the UoB Central Athena
Working Group.
Hints and tips - writing the application:
 Data should be used to identify key issues and trends and form the evidence base/rationale for developing your action plan
 Use qualitative data to enhance your quantitative data analysis and to develop your narrative in terms of ‘why’ a trend exists
and ‘what’ you will do to address it
 Embed actions within the application – where an issue is identified in the narrative, include a brief description of the actions
that will be taken to address it and cross-reference to the action plan
 Follow the recommended word counts included in the application form
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Try to avoid:
 Using sector data as an aspirational benchmark or assuming that being in line with sector averages is evidence that all is ok –
under-representation of women is a sector-wide issue, so national benchmarks are a minimum standard
 Dismissing or not analysing an issue because low numbers mean the quantitative data isn’t ‘statistically significant’ – try to find
other ways to explore issues
Hints and tips - writing the action plan
An action plan template is available here: https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena/resources
 The action plan is key to your award success . Athena tell us that a strong assessment form with a poor action plan will usually
fail. Make sure you allow plenty of time to draft your action plan – don’t leave it to the last week!
 Awards panels want to see that actions address the issues and challenges identified in the application narrative, so ensure that
that narrative and action plan ‘match up’ and cross-reference between the two documents
 Action plans should be SMART
 Avoid too many actions that involve ‘looking further’ into an issue – it can appear as if you are putting off a difficult issue,
haven’t allowed enough time to analyse it, or are hoping to ‘explain it away’ through further data analysis
 The action plan covers 4 years, so ensure the actions cover that period and aren’t completely front-loaded. This demonstrates a
long-term commitment to Athena.
 Be specific with dates – avoid ‘ongoing’ in the timescales column
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Hints and tips - writing the supporting sections
Letter of endorsement from HoS:
 It’s vital that this demonstrates senior support, commitment and investment in Athena
 The letter should demonstrate how Athena’s values and your action plan activities will be embedded and resourced in the
School, as a long-term, sustainable activity
 Where possible, it should outline specific activities/actions undertaken by the HoS to promote Athena and gender equality
Description of the SAT and the SAT process:
 Identify the members’ roles in the SAT, how time involved in the SAT is included in workload allocation and how each member
of the SAT represents the wider School, (e.g. grade, experience, work-life balance arrangements, caring responsibilities)
 State how often the team has met, the focus of the meetings, how the team communicate with each other (e.g. regular email
updates outside of meetings) and detail consultations with students and staff
 Describe the reporting lines to senior leadership in the School, e.g. is Athena a standing item on the School’s key decisionmaking committee? (Hopefully, ‘yes’!)
The work doesn’t stop once the application is in. To be credible, you also need to detail:
 How often the SAT will continue to meet
 How it will monitor the implementation of the action plan, including how it will interact with other key School committees to
achieve this
 How you will keep staff and students updated on Athena activities
 Succession planning if membership of the SAT changes
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Submitting your application
Submission deadlines and fees
Application deadlines are the last working day of April and November. Athena will email the University 2 months before the deadline
asking for confirmation of submissions to help them organise award assessment panels, which the Staff Diversity Adviser will confirm.
Application forms and action plans should be submitted in PDF format to [email protected]
Athena charge a fee of £500 per submission. The cost will need to be met by the School and Athena will contact you regarding this
once your application has been received.
If your application is not quite ready, you can hold off submitting it until the next deadline in 6 months’ time. As results from one
round are announced just before the deadline for the next round, putting in a premature application that fails means you will not
have chance to re-apply until 12 months after your initial submission.
Results
Results are typically announced 5 months after the submission deadline. Athena will provide you with feedback on your application
as part of your results.
If you achieve an award, you’ll receive a certificate, electronic award logo and an invitation to the next Athena award ceremony. Your
award is then valid for 4 years from the submission deadline, or 3 years is using the pre-May 2015 application form.
If you fail to achieve an award, the panel feedback will provide pointers as to how your application can be improved. You can then
reapply in the next application round, which will typically be 12 months on from your original application.
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Celebrating your award
 Athena will supply an electronic award logo that can be used on your intranet or website and in your School promotional
materials
 It’s good practice to create a dedicated Athena page on your School intranet or website, including a copy of your award
application, contact details for the SAT Chair and details of relevant policies and practices
 A School event to celebrate your success will acknowledge the hard work of the SAT team and establish the importance of
Athena to the School, (plus good evidence for your next award submission!)
 The Staff Diversity Adviser will let the Marketing and Communications team know of awards successes and arrange for an item
to appear in University communications
Going forward …
Gaining an Athena award is an important first step. You now need to ensure your School undertakes and implements the actions you
have committed to. The SAT needs to keep meeting on a termly basis - and/or have its work overseen by a School equality and
diversity committee - and lead on the implementation of the action plan. Making Athena a standing item on the Schools’ key decisionmaking committee is one way of ensuring it does not slip off the agenda.
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Award upgrades and renewals
 Your current award is valid for 4 years from the submission date, or 3 years using the pre-May 2015 form. To maintain your
Athena status, you need to apply to renew your current award or apply for a higher level of award by the end of the 4 or 3
years.
 You can apply for an award at any time during this period, but will have to allow sufficient time to evidence progress against
your current action plan, and/or evidence of the impact of your action plan activities if you are upgrading to a Silver award.
 The criteria for the different levels of award can be found here.
 Bronze and Silver award application forms and Bronze and Silver renewal award application forms are available at
https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/athena/resources , (please note that renewals have their own specific application form).
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