EGEA Team 2023

Individuals and teams across the University have been honoured in this year’s Excellence in Gender Equality award. The team award recognises a team or group of people that are working together to making a positive difference within the gender equality agenda around the University.

See information about the great work of our 'Team' award winners and nominees below...

Winner: Maskulinities Project

photo of Excellence in Gender Equality Team award winner

Nominated for the ‘Maskulinities’ project, a collaboration between the Community Values Education Programme (CVEP), Report and Support (R+S) and Warwick Students’ Union (SU) and was developed to tackle issues of sexism and sexual misconduct within the student community. By delving into the motivations behind this behaviour and fostering male students' sense of responsibility in combating sexism and sexual misconduct, this project focused on male sports clubs, as a way of positively impacting their conduct and well-being.

With an emphasis on student engagement at all stages of development, consultations with female sports club members advocated for active participation from men to drive personal and cultural change and reduce the burden on women. Through a co-creation workshop, attended by 56 male students, the complex and nuanced multi-faceted nature of ‘masculinity’ and the negative impacts of sexism and sexual misconduct on men and women were explored, leading to the development of a 3-part workshop delivered to 24 students from 18 sports clubs. Positive feedback led to expansion of the programme to engage with a greater number of clubs during this coming academic year.

The judging panel said:

This is a really critical project, aimed at a group of people who are quite often left out of the diversity conversation. If we are to reduce gender-based violence this an important step forward. A brilliant idea that turns the normal direction of gender-based initiatives around by challenging men rather than supporting women. A brave and innovative intervention, targeting some of the most entrenched and naturalised areas of behaviour. This has the potential to make a massive difference to campus (and beyond). A very important and innovative concept - Long may it continue.

Read our Internal Communications Interview with the Maskulinities Project Team hereLink opens in a new window.

Winner: Women in Information and Digital Group (IDG): Development and Leadership Programme

Nominated because this addresses the gender imbalance of staff in IDG and in leadership roles, this externally facilitated programme was developed with colleagues in IDG and delivered a 10-week programme of structured content to approximately 90 women over a two year period.

Consisting of a series of interactive discussion based sessions, across ten different identified areas of interest to Women in IDG (including emotional intelligence, strengths and values, women in leadership, imposter syndrome, and confidence and resilience), this programme has enabled participants to build personal and professional skills, gain an understanding of authentic leadership, improve confidence and self-esteem and create an action plan for career development that addresses real challenges. the programme also encouraged attendance by men, in later workshops, and it was clear from the comments that the content was extremely eye-opening in a way that could change long-held beliefs and practices.

The judging panel said:

This is a great programme and has had a huge impact on IDG, laying the foundations for future work for more women in IDG and managers who understand the challenges they face. This leadership and development programme with events is an important project which is clearly making change happen and sounds like a much-needed intervention.

Read our Internal Communications Interview with the Women in Information & Digital Group (IDG) Programme Team hereLink opens in a new window.

Very highly commended: CyberWomen@Warwick

Photo of Excellence in Gender Equality team staff award very highly commended team

CyberWomen@Warwick was nominated as a student led initiative that promotes and celebrates gender diversity in Cybersecurity and fosters a community that prioritises inclusion and strives to enhance gender diversity in this field. Through delivering a series of events and school outreach, including their flagship conference with 200 signups, they are providing opportunities to hear from, and platform inspirational women speakers in Cyber Security from Academia and Industry, offer networking experiences for women and non-binary people, and working with both the current generation and future generation of women and non-binary people to enhance inclusion.

The judging panel said:

This is a fantastic initiative impacting on future and present talent at Warwick and beyond. Really great to see how much engagement has been achieved through the 200+ participant conference, bringing together industry and academics as well as schools outreach work to raise aspirations and challenge gender stereotypes. In terms of ambition and reach, this is all very impressive. A wonderful initiative which stretches significantly beyond campus and has the potential to impact the outlook and aspirations of future students.

Highly commended: Equitea

Photo of Excellence in Gender Equality team staff award highly commended team

Equitea is a forum within Warwick’s Astronomy and Astrophysics group that discusses topics related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) in Astronomy, Physics and STEM. This PhD student-led initiative held monthly sessions, focussing on all ED&I topics, including gender equality in STEM, offering new perspectives into these topics and including best practices for supporting marginalised people in academia. This programme has inspired Astrophysics groups at three Universities to start their own Equitea initiative and was thus nominated for the award.

The judging panel said:

A great project that promotes EDI in Physics/STEM via a monthly forum and is an important aspect of raising awareness through conversation and information sharing. Although this has mainly been working with a small group of people it has inspired other groups at three other Universities to be set up. We look forward to seeing future progress and how this is further supports change in the department.

Highly commended: Thrive - Women's personal development programme

Nominated because this programme, developed in-house and piloted in May 2023, builds on lessons learnt from the successful Sprint programme, and offers support to our female students to build confidence, resilience, and agency in a safe space environment. Thrive welcomes a diverse range of inspirational guest speakers and incorporates a mentoring element to support the students’ personal growth and seeks to cultivate an ethos of women supporting women. At the students’ request, a flexible offer is being developed for 2023-24 and the programme aims to reach 120 women students from a variety of disciplines, through the delivery of 4 cycles of the programme.

The judging panel said:

Clearly an excellent initiative with the potential to change participants' relationship with the institution. Excellent to see a variety of programmes being offered to support personal development and enable participants to grow in confidence in a safe space. It will be interesting to see how this develops and impacts on students at Warwick as it grows to reach 120 women across the institution in 23/24 and into their future careers.

Certificate of Recognition:

Inspiring Women

‘Inspiring Women’ was established to inspire Warwick’s female staff through the provision of events featuring senior female staff, alumni, and high-profile speakers. These events create a safe space for women from all disciplines, grades, and backgrounds, to talk about career progression, being their authentic self and to discuss wellbeing. With 304 staff linked to the Teams channel, members can access and share useful information, advice, and ideas. There are a series of events planned for the year ahead with key themes including Self Care and Grade Expectations and they will shortly be launching an Inspiring Women Students Teams channel.

School of Engineering Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team

The department of Engineering Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team has devised an initiative to provide free sanitary products for staff and students in toilets across their department building. A leaflet was designed and displayed in toilets that informs readers that the products are free and asks people to add more products if they are able to so. Boxes with one or two sanitary pads, tampons, and sanitary liners have been placed in cubicles and are regularly checked for replenishment. The leaflet also has a QR code and weblink that leads to a suggestion form where comments and ideas can be left, and positive feedback has been received.

See nominations for our other Gender Equality Award 2023 categories here.