Ahead of celebrating 10 years of Athena Swan in Ireland, we’re sharing case studies of good practice from Athena Swan awardees. Here, Dr Mark Robinson explains how Maynooth University's Department of Biology recognised and addressed issues around work-life balance for postgraduate students, and reflects on the positive results this brought about.
Overview
In 2018 the Department of Biology Athena Swan Committee identified significant issues surrounding work-life balance for postgraduate students in the department. As part of our Bronze Award Action Plan we amended our annual PhD progress forms to include prompts on work-life balance, career development, supervisory frequency and expectations around work hours.
As a consequence of these changes we are gradually shifting the dial, with survey results showing an improvement in postgraduate students agreeing they can strike a work-life balance, up from 31% to 52.7% for women and 20% to 40% for men.
Purpose of the initiative
Postgraduate work-life balance is often considered a complicated issue to address as it is influenced by multiple national, institutional and local factors/policies. We took the approach that while we may be unable to change aspects such as stipend funding levels or employment status, there are likely supports we can implement as a department, within the existing institutional policies around postgraduate researchers.
In Maynooth University postgraduates are considered students and as such details regarding working hours and annual leave are not stipulated in an employment contract. Prior to 2018 all postgraduates had to complete an annual progress meeting with two academic advisors (who are independent from their MSc/PhD supervisor(s)), which ensured adequate research progress was being made.
The initiative
We utilised the existing annual progress meeting structures within the department and amended the forms to include sections work-life balance, career development, supervisory frequency and work hours. The initial changes to the progress meeting forms were made in 2019 and additional changes were introduced in 2022, based off feedback from postgraduates.
The changes were coordinated by the chair of the Athena Swan Committee and the Department’s Postgraduate Student Coordinator, and the proposed changes were evaluated by the Department’s Postgraduate Committee prior to release.
By utilising existing structures this initiative was implemented without additional paperwork for academics and postgraduate students, and this has also minimised the time required to maintain this annual initiative.
The initial changes in 2019 included a specific question on whether the student feels they are achieving work-life balance, as well as a skills-based table to facilitate discussions around career development, including non-academic careers. These are answered by the student and based on the responses this prompts further discussions with the student’s two academic advisors.
In 2022 additional questions were added in order to prompt early discussions (within 3 months of starting a MSc/PhD) between the student and their supervisor(s) on supervisory frequency and expectations around attendance on-campus, core hours and holidays.
Rationale
In 2018 the Department of Biology at Maynooth University surveyed postgraduate students and found that only 31% of women and 20% of men felt they were able to strike a balance between their research responsibilities and their home life. This lack of work-life balance was reiterated as a serious problem by PhD students in subsequent focus groups. Amongst postgraduate students there was a feeling “that they are expected to work very long/unsociable hours… and there are differences in the approach taken individual supervisors/PIs to working flexibly”.
Results
This initiative has leveraged the existing annual progress meeting procedure within Maynooth University to ensure that postgraduates within the Department of Biology have clear expectations around work-life balance. Previously the Department assumed a postgraduate would raise any work-life issues directly with their supervisor(s), however this assumption ignores the significant power imbalance that can exist in this relationship. By implementing these changes the Department has normalised these discussions amongst our postgraduate community and provided a venue for postgraduate students to obtain impartial advise.
The Department is seeing gradual positive changes because of these changes, with survey results showing an improvement in postgraduate students agreeing they can strike a work-life balance, up from 31% to 52.7% for women and 20% to 40% for men (comparing 2018 to 2023 data). Furthermore, in 2023 100% of postgraduates agreed that their research supervisor(s) is(are) supportive of their research and career progression.
Importantly by implementing this initiative the academic advisors have the opportunity to identify issues around work-life balance much earlier, and often before a postgraduate student would fully recognise the issue and seek help directly.
A lot of the time work-life issues escalate over time due to the fact the issue is not recognised and/or discussed openly by the postgraduate student and the supervisor. By prompting these discussions pre-emptive solutions can be identified and actioned early.
Key barriers and facilitators
The key external barrier we faced when planning this initiative was the constraints imposed by funding agencies and institutional policies. A number of work-life balance issues faced by postgraduate students stem from low student stipends, high costs of living, and a lack of time to undertake additional part-time work to cover living expenses.
While we acknowledged these issues, it was important to recognise that as a department we had limited ability to directly change funding agency and institutional policies (beyond advocating for changes).
Within this context a key facilitator was the recognition that, in addition to these policy-level factors, there are small things that occur within the department that also contribute to work-life balance. By utilising an existing structure we were able to implement effective changes with minimal on-going resource commitments.
A final ongoing barrier we face as a department relates to access to detailed data on the postgraduate student experience. While the surveys used to date often ask about work-life balance, they rely on subsequent focus group meetings to obtain detailed feedback.
As we prepared for our Silver Award application it became evident that the information we were obtaining from the focus group meetings was insufficient to identify specific Departmental processes that adversely impact on postgraduate students. As part of our Silver Award Action Plan we plan to collect much more detailed information from our postgraduate student community on procedures that are impacting everyday work-life balance, such as whether expectations for postgraduates to demonstrate in undergraduate teaching labs adversely affect work-life balance.
The future?
While we have seen an improvement in work-life balance amongst our postgraduates we still have much more to do. In our 2023 postgraduate survey data there is high disagreement that postgraduates have sufficient flexibility regarding demonstrating in undergraduate teaching labs.
As part of our Silver Action Plan we require detailed data on areas where work-life balance isn’t improving (e.g. late working hours, time spent on corrections, etc.), in order to design more targeted interventions. We plan to link in with the department’s Teaching & Curriculum Committee to ensure any changes are introduced across the department’s undergraduate curriculum, to benefit all our postgraduates.
Advice for other members
In our experience, the workshops where faculty gave their personal stories and experience of career progression were powerful ways to showcase how developing your career can be challenging but how mentorship helped them achieve their aims. This in turn helped with mentees ‘buying into’ and sticking with the mentorship programme, which led to the increased numbers of applications for promotions (17) and well as the ultimate success of many of these applicants (14 promotions).
Learn more about Athena Swan Ireland and how it could benefit you and your institution.
