Athena SWAN is an initiative that’s about
gender equality and thinking about gender
equality across universities but in particular
it arose through issues relating to gender
equality in the sciences and I think that
you sometimes do need initiatives like that
to really make people stop and think.
So we have put equality, diversity and inclusion
at the heart of the University’s strategy
and I think it’s really important that it’s
there. First of all, I think as a really clear
signal that we absolutely value diversity
in all of its glory.
It is actually about how do we take on board
different views, different opinions, different
ways of saying things, different experiences,
and use all of that fantastic breadth of experience,
knowledge, skills, to then enable the University
to be
the best version of itself that it can be.
You hear people talking about working in environments
where they feel that their views, their ways
of being, their backgrounds are valued. That
makes for both a great working environment
but it also delivers great things for the
people that you are trying to do things for.
I think raising the profile around equality,
diversity and inclusion is really one of the
most important things that you can do and
so I think it’s really important that we
talk about it, we acknowledge we don’t always
get things right but then we take that on
as both individuals, teams and the leadership
of the University and really start to think
about, well what are we going to do to make
sure that there is equality of opportunity
and that we enable people to feel that they
have a voice and a stake
in what happens at this University.
