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Social Sciences School of Law

Equality, Diversity and inclusion

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

One of the great strengths of Warwick Law School is the diversity of our Community. We have over 1000 students across eight Undergraduate (UG) programmes, five Postgraduate Taught (PGT) programmes and PhD/Research degrees.

70% Female

70% of our students identify as female, 13% greater than the sector average of 57% (HESR 2019).

64% BAME

64% of our undergraduate students identify as BAME. At postgraduate level, 68% of our taught postgraduate students and 57% of our PhD students identify as BAME.

38% International

38% of our undergraduate students are international from 55 different countries. We actively participate in overseas exchange programmes with partner universities.

Diverse Student Body

The globally diverse nature of our student body is even more pronounced at postgraduate level, where more than half of our Masters and PhD students are international students.

Widening Participation

Warwick Law School values widening participation. In 2022, 20% of our first-year undergraduate students came to us with a contextual offer. We are proud to be a leading department in the University in this area.

Warwick Law School

Our talented staff come from many different countries and backgrounds. We are committed to imbedding principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in everyday practices at Warwick Law School.

Athena Swan Silver Award 2024

The Law School was awarded a departmental Athena Swan Bronze Award in June 2019 and a departmental Athena Swan Silver Award in March 2024. Both awards are recognition of the progress made by the School towards the goal of addressing gender inequalities and embedding inclusive cultures.

The June 2019 Bronze Athena Swan Award was supported by the hard work of the Athena Swan Working Group of Jane Bryan, Becca Kirk, Rebecca Limb, Vanessa Munro, Maria Ovens, and Sharifah Sekalala, plus the collaboration and support of staff and students across the School community.

The March 2024 Silver Athena Swan Award was supported by the hard work of the Athena Swan Working Group of Rajnaara Akhtar, Rose Clark, Lauren Horobin, Robert Horton, Mara Malagodi, and Sharifah Sekalala, plus the collaboration and support of staff and students across the School community. A copy of the successful 2024 Athena Swan Silver Application is available to view.

The Athena Swan Charter, operated by Advance HE, was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment, and the Charter is now used to address gender inequality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.

Decolonising the University

Since its start, WLS has been dedicated to the pursuit of progressive thinking and social justice. WLS remains committed to dismantling racism within higher education and promoting these ideals among our students and staff. We encourage our students to engage with the production and study of law as a contested practice. As part of the School's commitment to Decolonising the University we commit to renewing our curriculum and practices, targeting different forms of coloniality that pervade the curriculum.

WLS Decolonise Project

As part of our efforts to Decolonise the Curriculum we launched the WLS Decolonise Project in 2019. In 2020, we embarked on a yearlong project, with our undergraduate students who held several focus groups in order to craft their vision of what a decolonised law school would look like. Find out more.

Encouraging Diversity in Student Careers Support

Warwick Law School's Career Consultant Valerie Matthews-Lane has put together helpful advice for students of all backgrounds on how to build networks and navigate the employment market.

Accommodation of Caring Responsibilities

Warwick Academic Returners Fellowship
This enables academic colleagues to be freed from teaching and administrative responsibilities upon their return from maternity leave and shared parental leave in order to have space to focus on their research.

Warwick Conference Support Awards
Awards of up to £200 are available from the University to help support the extra care costs associated with attendance at conferences.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee

The Law School's EDI Committee meets at least once per term and includes representation from academic staff, PSS, and students. Any member of the Law School community may raise an issue for discussion by the EDI Committee by contacting the Director or one of the Deputy Directors of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Combatting Unconscious Bias in Staff Appointments

Warwick Law School acknowledges and challenges unconscious bias at all stages of its appointment processes.

With thanks to our colleagues in the Department of Physics, we ask external referees to consider the following when providing external references.

How to Limit Unconscious Bias in references:

In order to limit the influence of unconscious bias within your letter, consider the following:

  • Focus on comparing the nominee with the specific requirements of the position.
  • Avoid using stereotypical adjectives when describing character and skills, especially when providing a letter for a woman (e.g., avoid words like nice, kind, agreeable, sympathetic, compassionate, selfless, giving, caring, warm, nurturing, maternal etc.).
  • Consider using ‘stand-out’ adjectives for both men and women, where appropriate (e.g., superb, excellent, outstanding, confident, successful, ambitious, knowledgeable, intellectual etc).
  • Use the nominee’s formal title and surname instead of their first name.
  • Consider whether your letter unintentionally includes gaps, or doubt-raising, negative or unexplained statements (e.g., ‘might make an excellent leader’ versus ‘is an established leader’).