Equality and inclusion

Athena SWAN in the School of Medicine

The School of Medicine is a member of the Athena SWAN Charter and we have accepted its key principles to improve gender equality. 

We are delighted that the School has recieved a GOLD award in the Athena SWAN Charter following our submission in April 2019.

This recognises our significant record of activity and achievement in promoting gender equality and in addressing challenges across different disciplines. The School has also demonstrated that it is championing and promoting good practice to a wider community across the University and beyond. We have invested much harder work and commitment to developing a range of initiatives to address gender equality, including:

  • An Academic Development Fund (up to £15K per award) to support the maintenance of academic trajectory whilst on a period of leave (e.g. carers/maternity/adoption leave, sickness), or to facilitate re-engagement at the end of the break
  • A guarantee to staff who reduce their hours that they can return to their original hours on request
  • Facilities to support mothers on their return from maternity leave so they can continue to breast feed their babies – an initiative led by members of the Self Assessment Team in the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
  • Creation of the Leeds Female Leaders Network in partnership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (circa 700 members and growing)
  • A reciprocal agreement with the local NHS to honour terms and conditions for clinical staff on the Integrated Training Pathway to support, for example, female clinical academics taking maternity leave – one of the first medical schools in England to offer this
  • Raising awareness of what is considered unacceptable behaviour and how to report it. This is in response to a survey across the School and has been included in handbooks given to all students.