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Athena SWAN awards

Bridging the gender gap in UK science

Nature volume 478, page 36 (2011)Cite this article

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Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, has broken new ground for gender equality in the sciences in a letter to the UK Medical Schools Council on 29 July. She will make it a requirement for academic departments applying for funding from the English National Institute for Health Research to hold the silver award of the Athena SWAN (for 'scientific women's academic network') Charter. We urge other funding bodies, including the UK research councils and the Royal Society, to follow suit.

The charter recognizes good employment practice for women in UK science, engineering and technology (SET). It is supported by the Equality Challenge Unit and the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, UK

    Athene Donald

  2. University of Oxford, UK

    Paul H. Harvey & Angela R. McLean

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  1. Athene Donald
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  2. Paul H. Harvey
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  3. Angela R. McLean
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Correspondence to Paul H. Harvey.

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Competing interests

P.H.H. has sat on an Athena SWAN judging panel. A.D. and A.R.M. have no direct involvement with Athena SWAN.

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Donald, A., Harvey, P. & McLean, A. Bridging the gender gap in UK science. Nature 478, 36 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/478036b

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  1. Paul Harvey

    The awards do not "guide parents". The wording at proof stage was: "The awards promote gender equality and career development, for example, by encouraging improved mentoring and by helping parents to partition their time between academic and family life.".

    I do not have a competing financial interest &#8211 I was not paid for working on a panel and did not claim my travel expenses.

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