Our recent renewal of the Athena Swan Bronze Award shows that IER has progressed on all gender equality indicators since its last award. This progress is just one of the positive results from the renewal. Progress is especially seen in the area of staff work-life balance, which was a key issue in the previous application. Nearly all staff now respond favourably to their work-life balance situation now compared with only one in three in 2018.

IER has been awarded a Bronze Athena SWAN Award in recognition of its efforts to promote equality, representation, progression and success for everyone working within the Institute.

Professor Clare Lyonette, along with Catherine Vassallo, IER’s Administrator, led the Athena SWAN submission with support from the Self-Assessment Team (SAT). Clare and Catherine are delighted with the award which is a testament to the incredible hard work and effort by all involved.

Clare said:

‘We are proud that the Equality Challenge Unit has recognised us in this round of awards and we are now looking forward to fully implementing our Action Plan. We have a dedicated team of staff who will be working together to make sure that the impetus is maintained over the coming months and years’.

She added:

‘The Athena SWAN submission included new data collection and analysis and led us to reflect upon our processes and practices more closely, particularly with a new intake of early career researchers in recent years. We will strive to ensure that they, and all staff and students, are equally recognised and have equal opportunities to thrive in a busy and demanding research-only environment’.