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Women in leadership and management project Prof Janette Atkinson j.atkinson@ucl.ac.uk Sarah Guise s.guise@ucl.ac.uk (Equalities and Diversity Officer, HR Policy Team) Slide 2 adult vision behaviour & EEG/ VEP (electrophysiology) - normal development paediatric developmental disorders adult brain imaging (fMRI) also: Head of Research Department of Developmental Science (Div of Psychology & Language Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences) UCL Co-ordinator Athena SWAN. Chair SWAN Athena Advisory: women in Science, Engineering, Technology (medicine, maths, built environment) Prof Jan Atkinson Visual Development Unit (UCL & Oxford) Women in leadership and management project Slide 3 High density steady-state VERP recording EGI Geodesic sensor net 128 channels Measure distribution of brain responses, eg to coherence of form & motion patterns, in normal development and developmental problems (e.g. very premature infants) Women in leadership and management project Slide 4 Brief History of Athena SWAN in UCL: 2003-4 JA suggests to Provost that Gender Equality Issues are incorporated into White Paper 2004 JA joins UCL into ASSET survey - 12 talks in depts / PGIs, contacts 45 SET department administrators - good UCL response ~ 500 SET staff (20% of total) highest in UK universities 2005 JA sets up AAG (Athena Advisory Group) & SWAN SAT (Self Assessment Team) 2005 Provost Champion- SWAN Charter as Founder Signatory 2005-6 SWAN Charter (Bronze) submission and award 2007 JA, one of two appointed by Provost to take strategic responsibility for Gender Equality Scheme, submitted to Government 2008-9 UCL SWAN charter renewal (Bronze) & four SWAN Silver awards: Div of Psychology & Language Sci (8 depts/institutes) MRC Lab of Molecular Cell Biology Dept Chemical Engineering Dept Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering Slide 5 Women in leadership and management project three key areas for womens career development: getting in (first academic post) getting back (after career breaks- maternity/paternity leave/carers responsibilities,) getting on (promotion and leadership) Slide 6 UCL has set up relatively successful initiatives to improve career development (particularly for women) in all of these areas (e.g. flexi-time, life/work balance, paternity/maternity schemes, returners work load teaching versus research, mentoring) over past few years Slide 7 However, there are still rather few female professors across the whole of UCL, compared to women at earlier stages of their career. There is a low % of women on most of the main executive committees of UCL and only a small increase over the past 3-5 years. Slide 8 Women in leadership and management project 15 17 19 % female Slide 9 Women in leadership and management project The Provost has asked Prof Jan Atkinson to lead on a project UCL Women in Leadership and Management: To build on the success of the UCL Athena SWAN Charter Award (Bronze renewal) and four Athena SWAN Silver Charter awards in 2009 - to work towards a Athena SWAN Charter Silver award for UCL as a whole in the near future. To increase the number of women across the whole of UCL in SET and non-SET departments with the aspiration, knowledge, skills and experience to apply for and get senior management roles in UCL To identify any identifiable organisational or procedural barriers to the appointment of women to management and leadership roles in order that they can be addressed. Slide 10 Women in leadership and management project Methodology Consultation across UCL to gather experiences and perceptions and to understand the key issues affecting women in the University. JA will talk to: Faculty Deans and their Senior Management Teams Women currently in senior academic management positions Researchers whose work relates to gender in the workplace (e.g. Prof Virginia Valian: F/M leadership styles, business argument for diversity and equality) Lay members of Council who are themselves distinguished women who can add insights and be supportive of the project. Slide 11 Women in leadership and management project Areas of potential focus Creation and leadership of an advisory group interested in improving the number of women at senior levels within UCL. Consider developing champions in each faculty to lead the examination of womens issues locally. Review the work in the departments/divisions which were successful in SWAN Silver Award applications identify the lessons learnt and support new depts for SWAN submissions Identify any barriers in UCLs recruitment, promotion or work- life balance arrangements that may militate against women progressing their careers or lead to bias in decision making. Link with the work of the Research Staff Sub-Committee of the Academic Appointment and Promotion Committee on the career progression of women researchers Learn from best practice in other universities, especially amongst the Russell Group Slide 12 Women in leadership and management project Can something be done to speed up the process of gender balance and equality ? Possibilities: Make mandatory - all significant meetings/gatherings to be in family- friendly hours (start: 10am or after, finish: 5pm) Create Female Ambassadors in faculties/institutes Adapt membership/terms of reference of major executive committees so that new recruits to committees are female/male to move towards a 50: 50 ratio. Universities to include in career advice, information on womens career prospects (relative to proportion entering) Government to extend subsidized nursery schemes to before/after- school/half term / holiday schemes for all. Government research grants to be extendable in time to accomodate career breaks (absence of specialized researcher) Slide 13 Women in leadership and management project Issues to discuss: Current senior staff reflect academic recruitment 15 years ago. Should women be fast-tracked to improve balance? Are men and women differentially prepared to put themselves forward for promotion and management? Can/should senior roles reflect a more family friendly culture? - children at school half the day, half the year - senior staff may have caring responsibilities (on the increase) Do women bring a diversity benefit to decision and management processes, apart from issues of equity? Can mentors/circle of advisors develop women for senior management roles? Faculty female ambassadors? Reverse mentoring? Im looking to current senior groups for suggestions/actions Slide 14 Suggestions as to how you can assist me in this project ? Deans/ Directors, Hs of Ds, DEOLOs take this information back to your department/institute (virtually- email or department meetings) Discuss Ambassadors for women- Senior women to advise women in faculty through the Women in Leadership and Management Advisory Group UCL Women in L& M If your department does not have a SWAN Charter, discuss setting up a SWAN Charter Self Assessment Team (SWAN SAT) to put in for a charter (Sarah Guise and I, plus departments already with SWAN Charter Award hopefully to assist over this) Departments with a SWAN Award already, aim for a GOLD Charter Encourage members of your departments to feed back their thoughts and ideas (in confidence if they would prefer) on the issues raised to myself and/or Sarah Guise Slide 15 End Thank you for your time