July 2020.

In April 2018, Advance HE commissioned an independent review of Athena Swan. The final report of the Steering Group on the review of the Charter was published in March 2020. In May 2020, Advance HE responded to the recommendations of the review. In July 2020, members of the Independent Steering Group published an open letter to Advance HE, to which the Chairs of the University's Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team and Gender Taskforce have responded as below:

The University of Warwick has a long-standing commitment to increasing gender equality and ensuring we work towards a more equitable working environment because we value this as the right thing to do. This is reflected in our holding an institutional Athena Swan Silver award and 6 Silver and 11 Bronze awards at departmental level. We are aware of the press release from the Independent Review Group that recently proposed reforms to the Athena Swan scheme, stating that

"Regretfully, the Independent Review Group no longer has confidence in Advance HE to implement the reforms which are required to the scheme, or in their continuing ownership of the scheme."

While we expect this to raise a range of issues, this will not deflect us from our institution-wide action towards gender equality.

Professor Kate Seers, Chair Institutional Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team

Professor Jo Collingwood, Chair Gender Task Force