Equality and inclusion
Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team
The Athena Swan Charter was established in 2005 to promote gender equality in Higher Education and research settings. It has 3 levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold which are achieved through demonstrating commitments (and taking action) to promote gender equality. Within the School of Dentistry, a Self-Assessment Team (SAT) oversees the self-assessment process associated with the Athena Swan Charter application. It is chaired by Vishal Aggarwal, and the committee is purposefully comprisinged of men and women who represent a cross section of staff and, students, and seniority work on an agenda to demonstrate the actions taken to realise gender equality. The School of Dentistry has achieved a Silver Award to date, and is striving for a Gold Award by 2027.
The Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team has five subgroups which are organised by topic. The subgroups collectively work on their assigned action points and hold regular meetings in addition to the monthly committee. View our silver application action plan (2022 – 2027)
The core members of the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team are:
| Subgroup | Name / Role |
|---|---|
| Chair of the Self-Assessment Team | Vishal Aggarwal Clinical Associate Professor in Acute Dental Care and Chronic pain |
| Staff Wellbeing and Positive Working Culture | Colette Nicholas (co-lead) – Business Co-ordinator Nigel Bubb (co-lead) – Lecturer in Dental Materials El Mostafa Raif – Lecturer in Tissue Regeneration Laura Testa – Undergraduate Student Representative Lisa Flaxman – Business operations officer Vishal Aggarwal –Associate Professor in acute dental care and chronic pain |
| Fair and Transparent Ways of Working (co-lead) | Samantha Pye (co-lead) - Business Coordinator Claire Godfrey (co-lead) - Business Manager Jessica Petch - Business Operations Officer Becky Balding - Human Resources Officer Amrit Bhatti Chauhan - Lecturer in Qualitative Methodology |
| Research Training, Leadership and Development | Ruth Kayman (co-lead) - Research and Innovation Manager Julie McDermott (co-lead) - Research & Innovation Operations Manager Reem El-Gendy - Lecturer in Oral Biosciences Thuy Do - Professor of Molecular Microbiology Mohammed Al-Mosawi - Lecturer in Oral Biology Palwinder Kaur – Postgraduate student representative |
| Student Experience and Education (co-lead) | Harriet Boyd (co-lead) – Lecturer in Cultural and Societal Transformation in Dental Education Julia Csikar (co-lead) - Associate Professor in Dental Public Health Leanne Hague – Clinical Teaching Fellow Emma Thomason – Student Education Service Manager Lujain Hamdan – Postgraduate Student Representative Roulla Alghaieb – Undergraduate Student Representative |
| Career Development | Karen Vinall-Collier (co-lead) – Lecturer in Psychology applied to Dental Public Health Samantha Pye (co-lead) - Business Coordinator Sophy Barber - Clinical Lecturer /Hon Consultant Orthodontist Kara Gray-Burrows – Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences & Complex Intervention Methodology Jon Vernon – Research Fellow in Oral Microbiology |
| Mentoring Champiions | Katie Cairns - Senior Executive Assistant Julie McDermott - Research & Innovation Operations Manager Vishal Aggarwal – Clinical Associate Professor in Acute dental care and Chronic pain |
The Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team receives advice and support from the Equality Policy Unit and Faculty HR.
If you would like to join the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team, please email Vishal Aggarwal