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The former School of History, Art History and Philosophy (HAHP) at the Â鶹ӳ»­ has been recognised for its ongoing commitment to gender equality, with the accolade of an  bronze award.

HAHP’s bronze award – which will be valid for five years, until 2026 – acknowledges the School’s work to address unequal gender representation and the barriers to progression for women.

The HAHP Self-Assessment Team (SAT) were: Vinita Damodaran; Tom Davies; Flora Dennis; Jim Endersby; Deborah Jackson-Smith; Liz James; Jill Kirby; Jacob Norris; Claudia Siebrecht; Tanja Staehler; Kathleen Stock; David Tal; Paige Thompson; and Clive Webb.

They said: “This has been a real team effort that had to be completed during the pandemic, so it’s exciting to finally have it done.

“Of course, the real challenge begins now: to start addressing the inequalities revealed in our report.

“With luck, our bronze award will help provide the basis for the new School of Media, Arts and Humanities (MAH) to make a successful application for a silver award.”

HAHP is the second part of MAH to have gained Athena SWAN bronze; Media, Film and Music achieved it in November 2020.

Feedback on HAHP’s submission highlighted as good practice the creation of an EDI officer role, a senior academic who will be part of the School’s senior management team.

, chair of the institutional Â鶹ӳ»­ SAT, said: “Applications for Athena SWAN awards are a reflection of lots of work and thought put into addressing gender inequality.

“Importantly, they are also a call to action and a signal of our commitment to hold ourselves to the standard of our aspirations as an inclusive university.

“This award is a really well-deserved recognition of our colleagues’ ongoing initiatives in what was HAHP (now part of the School of Media, Arts and Humanities). I would like to thank everyone involved.”

Sharon Neal, Assistant Director of Culture and Inclusion in Human Resources, added: “Gender equality in higher education is about removing the obstacles faced by women, in particular, at major points of career development and progression, to create a fully inclusive university.

“For us Athena SWAN is an important part of the solution to addressing gender inequality at Â鶹ӳ»­. It fits with our commitments to promote an inclusive culture and to close the gender pay gap.

"This latest application really was a team effort and I would like to congratulate the former School of History, Art History and Philosophy, who have made a really positive commitment to supporting gender equality through a number of initiatives.

“We also continue to make significant developments through our gender equality action plan, which brings together all of the institutional-level actions and initiatives to promote gender equality and reduce the gender pay gap at Â鶹ӳ»­.”

All of the STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics) schools at Â鶹ӳ»­ currently have at least a bronze award. Since the Athena SWAN scheme – now run by Advance HE – was expanded to include non-STEMM disciplines, several other schools have been preparing for future submissions.

Â鶹ӳ»­ currently holds an institution-wide bronze award, which has just been renewed for five years.