The Equality Charters - Good Practice Initiatives

The new, evidence-based Good Practice Database is for those working to advance gender and race equality in higher education through Athena Swan and the Race Equality Charter.

The database aims to celebrate the breadth of gender and race equality initiatives taking place across the higher education sector and to provide Advance HE members with practical ideas and encourage them to trial new initiatives adapted to their contexts. The initiatives are drawn from recent analysis of selected successful applications. 
Race Equality Charter

Onboarding the Race Equality Charter Journey

06 Oct 2020 | Dr Sammy Li and Sheena Griffiths
Read the blog

Use the search filters below to find Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter initiative application types.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
University of Exeter Medical School: Female professors
University of Exeter
Initiative Theme: Gender balance, Promotion, Recruitment
Target Group: Academic staff
The Medical School was conscious to increase the number of female professors it employed and aimed to achieve this through the inclusion of female profiles in the recruitment campaign for the expansion of the School's professoriate, in order to further encourage applications from potential female candidates.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
University of Exeter Medical School: My Career Zone
University of Exeter
Initiative Theme: Career breaks
Target Group: Postgraduate students
The School's employability team launched its own career development tool, labelled "My Career Zone", designed for postgraduate research students.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
University of Exeter Medical School: University policies
University of Exeter
Initiative Theme: Career development
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
An initiative was put in place to make staff more aware of relevant university policies which could support them during their career.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
University of Exeter Medical School: Work/Life balance
University of Exeter
Initiative Theme: Accommodating caring responsibilities, Work/Life balance
Target Group: Postgraduate students, Undergraduate students
The School offered easily accessible information on support mechanisms for students who juggled family and/or child care responsibilities alongside their studies.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
The John Innes Centre (JIC)
John Innes Centre
Initiative Theme: Promotion
Target Group: Academic staff
A self-evaluation of the institute's promotion data found a strong gender bias against women; during 2010-2013, fourfold fewer women were promoted.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Pharmacy
Queen's University Belfast
Initiative Theme: Accommodating caring responsibilities, Culture
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
The school displayed a clear desire to increase attendance to its general meetings as it was suggested that increased staff attendance would contribute to a more inclusive work place.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Life Sciences: Academic promotions
Keele University
Initiative Theme: Promotion
Target Group: Academic staff
The School recognised that it had seen a limited number of female academic promotions and had very few existing female senior academics.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Life Sciences: Gender balance
Keele University
Initiative Theme: Gender balance
Target Group: Academic staff
The School wanted to improve the representation of women and ensure a female friendly environment, particularly among its external examiners.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Life Sciences: Latest News report
Keele University
Initiative Theme: Culture, Gender balance
Target Group: Academic staff
The School planned to maintain a positive working environment through improving the visibility of underrepresented staff.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Life Sciences: Promotion
Keele University
Initiative Theme: Promotion
Target Group: Academic staff
In order to support the career development of departmental staff, the School developed their staff performance review and enhancement process to include a new policy that implemented the rotation of senior administrative roles every five years (eg Programme Director).
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Life Sciences: Flexible working
Keele University
Initiative Theme: Flexible working, Work/Life balance
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
The School of Life Sciences put an initiative in place to promote an inclusive culture through the support for flexible working conditions, aimed at young families, in particular.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
School of Biological Sciences: Recruitment
University of Edinburgh
Initiative Theme: Recruitment
Target Group: Postgraduate students
A self-analysis of the School's MSc admissions process found that proportionally fewer females were applying for postgraduate study than at undergraduate level.