UK WEN has partnered with the Conference of Heads of University Departments of Economics (CHUDE) to deliver a focused event around supporting promotion of female academic economists and encouraging Athena Swan applications from Economics departments on the 20^th of October 2023.

The session, chaired by Dr. Emiliya Lazarova, Chair of CHUDE, began with a presentation by Sally Baden (Advance HE), who provided an overview of the Athena Swan charter for gender equality in Higher Education.  Sally discussed the current landscape of awards in Economics departments, explained the application and review process, and highlighted common challenges and examples of actions to address these, by current award holders. She also drew insights from successful interventions in STEM.

Following this, Dr. Wanyu Chung (University of Birmingham), representing UK WEN, discussed the absence of an economics-specific Athena Swan network for sharing best practices. She highlighted how UK WEN plans to address this gap through the establishment of a working group, aiming to support both new and renewal applications from Economics departments. The overarching objective of this collaboration aligns with UK WEN’s mission in the ‘Action’ initiative to drive cultural change and take meaningful action.

As an initial step in pursuit of this goal, UK WEN has gathered valuable information, including exemplars of past successful applications, available below. If your institution is keen on participating in UK WEN’s forthcoming activities related to Athena Swan, please express your interest by contacting UK WEN’s Communications Co-lead, Dr. Wanyu Chung at w.chung@bham.ac.uk.

All in all, we were fortunate to have a highly engaged audience that actively participated in insightful discussions related to the challenges and recommendations for advancing gender equality, promoting inclusivity, and fostering diversity within the economics profession. This event also signifies the commencement of future collaborative ventures between CHUDE, Advance HE, and UK WEN. You can access event presentations and recordings below.

Event Resources:

• Presentation – Sally Baden (Advance HE)
• Presentation – Wanyu Chung (UoB; UK WEN)
• Recording

Useful links: 

• Athena Swan website for general information, FAQs
  For applicant queries: Athena.swan@advance-he.ac.uk
• Advance HE Connect – members online Athena Swan networking group
  Join up here: Athena Swan Members Network (UK) | Advance HE Connect 
  Charter events programme on Connect: Events | Advance HE Connect 

Successful applications from Economics departments/schools: 

Oxford 2018 Bronze

York Centre for Health Economics 2019  (Silver)

Bath 2020 (Bronze)

Warwick 2021 (Bronze)

Essex 2021 Bronze

Reading 2021 (Bronze) – Action plan

Bristol 2022 (Bronze)

Other publications and resources:

Equality and inclusion – University of Leads