The Equality Charters - Good Practice Initiatives

The new, evidence-based Good Practice Database is for those working to advance gender and race equality in higher education through Athena Swan and the Race Equality Charter.

The database aims to celebrate the breadth of gender and race equality initiatives taking place across the higher education sector and to provide Advance HE members with practical ideas and encourage them to trial new initiatives adapted to their contexts. The initiatives are drawn from recent analysis of selected successful applications. 
Race Equality Charter

Onboarding the Race Equality Charter Journey

06 Oct 2020 | Dr Sammy Li and Sheena Griffiths
Read the blog

Use the search filters below to find Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter initiative application types.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Prize criteria
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Career development, Culture
Target Group: Postgraduate students
The department demonstrated a clear commitment to maintaining achievable prize criteria for both male and female students in order to ensure gender balance between its prize recipients.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Family friendly events
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Culture
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
With the aim of creating a more inclusive environment, the department increased the amount of family friendly events that occurred, and ensured that these events were scheduled for the weekend or a bank holiday.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Career mapping
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Culture
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
The department aimed to promote an inclusive and supportive enviroment through the adoption of a career mapping philosophy.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Workload
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Work/Life balance
Target Group: Academic staff
The discussion of workload satisfaction was introduced in appraisals for academic staff, in a clear attempt by the department to monitor and encourage open conversations about this issue.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Contracts
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Career development, Work/Life balance
Target Group: Academic staff
The department wanted to see a substantial number of staff moving from fixed term to open ended or permanent contracts, and ensure that there was no significant gender disparity on either contracts.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine: Flexible working
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Flexible working
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
In its submission, the department demonstrated a commitment to ensuring its staff had a clear understanding of flexible working policies and the process to request it.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Retention
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Retention
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
The use of exit interviews or questionnaires was strongly encouraged in order to better understand why staff left the department and to identify trends. An online questionnaire was set up first, and from 2014 onwards, face-to face interviews were conducted for all leavers, with the exception of staff overseas who were interviewed over Skype instead.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine: Career Development
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Culture, Flexible working, Work/Life balance
Target Group: Academic staff
Training and career advice workshops, such as 'Career Development' and 'Women in Science' seminars were arranged to discuss issues of managing work/life balance, career progression and flexible working.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine: Culture
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Culture
Target Group: Academic staff, Professional and support staff
A redesigned survey was used to assess changes in staff attitudes, with regards to the perception of the department as a workplace and effectiveness of its action plans. The survey was redesigned after its initial conduct in 2012 in order to include additional questions, reduce vagueness of staff answers and gain a greater depth of knowledge on the attitudes of part-time staff members.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Gender balance
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Gender balance, Promotion
Target Group: Academic staff
The department identified a gender imbalance on its committees and governance panels, and decided to review the representation of female staff. This led to recommendations for demographic changes within these decision making bodies, carried out through the promotion of female staff to academic titles.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM): Recruitment
University of Oxford
Initiative Theme: Recruitment
Target Group: Academic staff
The department wanted to improve the way it advertised job vacancies to female applicants, particularly senior level roles. A Director of Training and Engagement role was given to a female researcher to support and encourage the active recruitment of other women.
Athena Swan Good Practice Initiative Image
Norwich Medical School
University of East Anglia
Initiative Theme: Gender balance
Target Group: Academic staff
The School placed a strong focus on improving women's transparency and visibility on the School's senior committees, such as their Supporting Excellence Equality and Satisfaction for All at Work (SEESAW) committee.