INSTIUTE OF EPIDEMIOLOG AND HEALTH CARE
ATHENA SWAN SELF ASSESSMENT TEAM (SAT)
Meeting Action Points
Tuesday,17 January 2017, 1-2pm in Rooms 706/707, 1-19 Torrington Place
Present: Madiha Sajid (MS) – Chair, Mike Higgins (MH), Richard Marsh (RM),Hitakshi Tailor (HT), Noriko Cable (NC),Shaun Scholes (SS),Annie Herbert (AH), Rachel Harvey (RH)
Apologies:Rebecca Bendayan (RB), Fran Harkness (FH), Aradhna Kaushal (AK),Lauren Bird (LB),Nora Groce (NG),Wulan Wulaningsih (WW),Susie Edwards (SE), Nicola Shelton (NS)
Action1 / Apologies and introductions
2 / Overview of Athena Swan (Mike Higgins)
MH introduced himself as the key contact for IEHC (and for faculty) supporting the activity around Athena SWAN.
The Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care (IEHC) holds an Athena SWAN Charter Silver Award in recognition of its commitment to advancing women's careers. This was awarded in April 2014 and is due for a renewal in April 2017. The deadline for submitting the application is Friday, 28th April 2017.
MH suggested that in order to continue the excellent progress, the Institute needs to fully document and evidence various actions from the action plan and needs to meet more frequently.
3 / Minutes and Matters Arising
MS reported that the SAT committee was still looking for a co-chair and despite several emails sent out by the Institute Director and Institute Manager, no one had stepped forward to take up this role.
MS also reported that due to substantial changes in the organisation of the Institute and due to key staff leaving, some matters were still outstanding from the last meeting including:
-Analysis of gender balance of staff members who had requested incremental progression.
-Updating of action plan
MS also reported that Early Careers Forum seminar series was promoted at Post Graduate induction events and was well received.
The action plan will continue to be reviewed and updated and a driver to recruit and engage staff in Swan SAT initiatives was required.
TG to liaise with RM to provide data so that she can analyse the gender balance of staff members who had requested incremental progression. Outstanding
4 / Action Plan – review and progress
Since Athena Swan activity has been relatively low across the Institute, only a limited update was available.
MS reported that ECF had organised a seminar titled ‘’Parent, Carer, Academic: demystifying rights and support at UCL’’ for 26 January and was expected to be very popular. The session would also showcase a staff member who made use of Shared Parental Leave (SPL). MS to approach this colleague to ask for a case study which could be included on the Institute’s webpages as best practice. RM asked MS to forward the email to him for wider circulation.MS to send slides to RM.
MS also reported that another very successful advice session ‘’Leave Entitlement at UCL’’ was organised by UCL PACT Network and suggested that slides could be published on the Institute’s website. MS to send slides to RM.
HT queried that ‘unpaid’ leave was not discussed as part of the advice session and MH responded that if a staff member is in contract with UCL, then they accrue statutory annual leave (pro rata for part time staff).
RM reported that the Faculty is planning to introduce an ‘Appraisals Season’ in order to introduce more clarity, meaningfulness and consistency in the process as opposed to the previous approach of doing appraisals throughout the year. This will be discussed at the Institute Board meeting next week and if approved, it is likely to be implemented from 2017/18.
RM also reported that IEHC continues to run Careers Advice Surgery for academic and professional staff members. There are 9 sessions planned throughout the year. MH suggested to keep a record of the feedback and use to analyse the usefulness of the surgery.RM to provide collated feedback.
NC suggested that any support from the Institute to maximise the research impact would have a great benefit for our Silver renewal application. RM responded by saying that there were case studies in the REF 2014 which could be used for this purpose.
AH mentioned that Alice Forster from Health Behaviour Research Centre (HBRC), which is a research group based within IEHC, has arranged a workshop on developing fellowship applications. The committee asked AH to liaise further with Alice Forster to see if there was any feedback and to see if a repeat session could be organised.AH to liaise with Alice Forster.
HT noted that the plan for using exit questionnaires had been changed from the initial plan which was to include more questions about promotion and get feedback from those leaving about any other questions that they would like to see in there. The SAT committee had updated the questionnaire. The questionnaire would then be sent to HR to see if they could use this instead of their current one. Terri Goody changed the plan and thought that leaving staff were being asked to complete the form rather than provide input in updating it. Staff were not being asked to complete the form as data anonymity could not be retained. MH asked for the questionnaire to be sent to him.HT to send to MH.
MS reported that substantial input was required to produce an updated action plan. Members are encouraged to engage with at least one or more of the actions outlined in the plan. / MS
MS
RM
AH
HT
5 / Next application – silver renewal
MS confirmed that the Institute will be applying for a Silver Renewal during April 2017.Following points were made by MH with regards to the application:
-Deadline for application submission: Friday, 28 April 2017
-Intention to submit deadline: the deadlines for formally advising by email ECU and the EDI Team of our intention to submit an application are two months prior to the submission deadlines: 28 February 2017for the April round
-Several factors are going to have an impact on the application such as low level of staff engagement, lack of a co-chair and considerable changes coming up in the anatomy of the Institute.
-Thenew director starting shortly should encourage this initiative and ask colleagues to contribute so that there is a balanced range of workload.
-Build momentum in the run up to application deadline
-Look at the application form (MH to send), start allocating tasks and develop a sound case
-Send a draft to MH a week before the submission deadline
-SAT membership needs to reach out beyond its existing pool, both through management channels and via other local networks, user groups, and induction programmes etc. and all members are encouraged to promote this initiative.
RM reported that Faculty Officer, Rikke Osterlund, had been assigned with the task of leading on developing the application. The committee agreed that a sub-committee would be created to work on the silver renewal application. MS, RM and Rikke Osterlund to meet to discuss further. MS to arrange this meeting. / MS
6 / Swan Data Update
SS and NC reported that some data on staff and students was not accessible via InfoView and that more input from academics was required to make this a success.
RM and MH to provide this data.
RM also asked MH to provide data on ‘Coaching & Mentoring’ for IEHC. MH will discuss with Annie Watts and will get back to RM.MH to update RM
RM to inform MH about Institute Board meeting dates to see if Athena SWAN can be discussed on that platform. RM to confirm. / RM
MH
RM
7 / AOB
RM informed the committee that the Academic and Research Promotions Policy is open for all staff consultation and members should take a look at it.
MS to ask for volunteers for note taking at next SAT meeting / All SAT members
Next meetings:
In light of MH’s advice, following meetings have been planned for SAT Committee and participation is encouraged:
Date / Time / Venue
Monday, 30 January / 12:30-1:30pm / Rooms 706/707
1-19 Torrington Place
Monday, 13 February / 1-2pm / Rooms 706/707
1-19 Torrington Place
Tuesday, 28 February / 1-2pm / Rooms 706/707
1-19 Torrington Place
Thursday, 16 March / 1-2pm / Rooms 706/707
1-19 Torrington Place
Tuesday, 28 March / 1-2pm / Rooms 706/707
1-19 Torrington Place
Thursday, 20 April / 1-2pm / Rooms 706/707
1-19 Torrington Place