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Our University Strategy to 2030, which was approved by Council in March 2022, positions EDI as central to all our activities as we strive to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation.  

We recognise that gender equity is vitally important to the success of the organisation and strive to take an intersectional approach wherever possible.

We have ambitious aims and objectives to increase our numbers of female academic staff and to provide an inspiring environment at º£½ÇÊÓƵ in which they can thrive.  

This webpage provides a summary of our activities which focus on gender equity. It also demonstrates our commitment to aligning with the Horizon Europe Gender Equality Plan and how our activities align with these requirements.

Professor Nick Jennings
Vice Chancellor and President

1. Be a public document

There is no single document which encapsulates all the work underway to address gender inequality at the University. 

The work is contained in a range of action plans, most notably Athena Swan, The EDI Core Plan and the 2020-21 to 2024-25 Access and Participation Plan. Further information on the EC Gender Equality Themes is provided below. 

2. Dedicated resources

We have an array of resources that are either in full or in part dedicated to progressing our gender equality activity. These include: 

• The Executive Director, Equity Diversity and Inclusion is strategic lead for our EDI activity and a female member of the University Executive Board and University Leadership Group.

• The Deputy Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is also female and supports the strategic and operational leadership of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the institution.

• The EDI Services Team includes a dedicated full-time officer for Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation and the Deputy Director EDI leads on ensuring that the university is compliant with Office for Students regulations to address sexual harassment and misconduct. The team works centrally to facilitate progress on gender equality and other EDI activities across the institution and hosts regular EDI collective forums for all EDI leads to share best practice.

• All schools and most directorates now have Equity Diversity and Inclusion leads, and the institutional Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team includes champions for Athena Swan.

• Governance Forums - An EDI Governance Committee and an EDI Board which oversee and monitor the progression of our gender equality work and implement action plans, respectively. An Equity Diversity and Inclusion (Strategic) Core Plan Board oversees and coordinates activity to progress the universities strategic priorities which include addressing gender pay gaps. 

3. Data collection and monitoring

Strategic EDI core plan targets 

The º£½ÇÊÓƵ EDI Core Plan is a strategic vision including guiding principles and a commitment to anti-discriminatory practice implemented through coherent management and governance structures to be achieved by 2030. The plan has objectives which are supported by KPIs and actions that relate to gender equality. 

One objective is to increase the quality and range of data collected, improve data processes and intersectional analysis by improving rates of declared gender across all levels of staff (as distinct from gender assigned at birth /sex identified) and by identifying intersectional patterns in data collected. 

Another objective is to improve levels of diversity targeting areas that directly impact on student experience and organisational decision making by:

• Improving diversity of academic staff in sex (females as assigned at birth) and declared gender. 

• Improve composition for gender to achieve 50% female membership in every main committee. 

• Improve diversity of gender amongst grant awardees to sector upper quartile. 

4. Gender, Race and Disability Pay Gaps 

°¿³Ü°ù Gender Pay Gap, Race Pay Gap, and Disability Pay Gap are published, along with the details of what is driving the gap and our plans to address and reduce the respective gaps as of 31 March each year.

5. Training

Belonging and Inclusion at º£½ÇÊÓƵ 

Our mandatory EDI training for all staff, Belonging & Inclusion at º£½ÇÊÓƵ, enables delegates to reflect on how EDI issues apply to the institution as a whole and to them as individuals, while also being aware of relevant good practice policies and sources of support. The training includes content on understanding implicit gender bias.  

Our Professional Services and Leadership Development Forums provide regular scheduled training and development sessions with anti-discriminatory principles and practice embedded in the programme contents. 

Springboard - Development Programme for Women  

The Springboard Women's Development Programme is a structured, award-winning course designed to support women as they enhance their personal and professional lives at º£½ÇÊÓƵ. It runs twice a year. 

It aims to build confidence, reflection, action and positivity, encouraging women to take more control of their lives and their careers. It has been running in the University for over a decade and runs twice a year and evaluation shows there have been positive benefits to those who have taken part.

1. Work-life balance and organisational culture

In 2023 º£½ÇÊÓƵ established a strategic organisational change and development initiative, Project Expectations, which included workstreams on embedding the University Strategy & Values, Leadership & Management Development, Development & Performance and Reward & Recognition, with a strong focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion underpinning all of these.  There were the following outcomes from this work: 

• Embedding of the University Values, with an understanding of the need to be and work authentically, creatively, adventurously, collaboratively and responsibly across the University. 

• The establishment of the Leadership Development Forum, ensuring 150 of our leaders had a shared baseline of the expectations of our leaders. 

• The review and redesign of our º£½ÇÊÓƵ Management Programme, with the golden thread of EDI through every session and an increase in the places available to ensure as many managers as possible could benefit. 

• Development and performance reviews that put wellbeing, career aspirations and development at the heart, actively removing barriers to conversations on development and progression. 

• A revised approach to reward, recognition and benefits to enable more in-the-moment recognition activity and provide a broader range of rewards to our colleagues including the Annual Leave Purchase Scheme and the Electric Vehicle Scheme. 

From September 2025 the approach has evolved to the development of our People & Culture Strategy (approved by Council in March 2026) and the introduction of GLOW Conversations (Growth, Learning, Opportunity and Wellbeing), putting colleagues at the centre of these to create a more inclusive and collaborative culture.  Aligned to this work the following have been/are being introduced:  

• Family friendly policies e.g. parental leave is under review with the aim of bringing down the barriers facing women in employment and career development and encouraging greater take-up of parental leave and paternity leave.  

• Staff Experience Surveys outcomes are systematically analysed against key demographics, presented to our University Leadership Group, and used to inform action plans for each School and Professional Service with the aim of, addressing areas of concern and improving our colleague experience.   

• Leaver information (including exit interviews/surveys) is being reviewed to ensure that this data is used to inform changes to working practices. We have Athena Swan targets to produce annual report on the findings from exit surveys with data disaggregated by gender.  

Staff Networks 

°Õ³ó±ð MAIA - º£½ÇÊÓƵ Women’s Network continues to advocate for change to progress gender equity. 

°Õ³ó±ð LGBT+ Staff Network represents all members of the university community that identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans and any other minoritised sexual or gender identity. The network also welcomes allies of the LGBT+ community and provides a space to ensure that LGBT+ staff are represented, supported, valued and have a structure through which they can highlight where institutional change is needed.

2. Gender balance in leadership and decision-making

º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s recognises that increased gender diversity in leadership will enhance decision making, improve people development and institutional performance while inspiring everyone to challenge pervasive gender stereotypes. º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s commitment to gender diversity in leadership is reflected in our EDI strategy which includes developing a more diverse leadership through promotion, succession planning and targeted mentoring programmes and EDI awareness raising and development programmes and improving our selection and recruitment processes to promote greater opportunity for diverse membership of our senior leadership team. 

3. Gender equality in recruitment and career progression

º£½ÇÊÓƵ recognises that increased gender diversity in leadership will enhance decision making, improve people development and institutional performance while inspiring everyone to challenge pervasive gender stereotypes. º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s commitment to gender diversity in leadership is reflected in our EDI strategy which includes developing a more diverse leadership through promotion, succession planning, targeted mentoring programmes and development programmes for women, such as Springboard, EDI awareness raising, development programmes and improving our selection and recruitment processes to promote greater opportunity for diverse membership of our senior leadership team.  

º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s progress in reducing the gender pay gap is positive and shows a downward trend over the last seven years.   

We have an objective to improve equitable outcomes in our EDI strategy which includes a KPI which set targets against national/sector benchmarks and internal data to decrease inequitable outcomes such as gender pay gaps and monitor via intersectional pay reviews.  

We have specific Athena Swan targets to improve representation of female technicians by creating improve career progression by creating a more attractive work environment e.g. create more job share or part-time opportunities, consider agreed periods of working from home and encourage female technicians to do leadership training.  

4. Integration of the gender dimension into research and teaching content

Gender equality is integral to our research, for example via our: new Flagship Research Institutes, including Women in Sport; Dimensions of Inequality research challenge; and specialisms such as Gender and Security. Our academics - including gender scholars - play an important role in global and sector-specific initiatives on gender, for example, the Global Observatory for Gender Equality in Sport a²Ô»å&²Ô²ú²õ±è;³Ù³ó±ð Inclusive Engineering Excellence Hub.  

We monitor research data for gender (and other protected characteristics) e.g. doctoral researcher intake and completion, and research grant activity. Our Research and Innovation Core Plan, part of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Strategy 2030, seeks to enhance the diversity of gender across our research and innovation grant applicants.  

In addition, we unite women staff and doctoral researchers via MAIA - º£½ÇÊÓƵ Women’s Network and Associate Deans for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Schools share and promote best practice and provide a feedback mechanism. These networks enable gender equality to be embedded into our teaching and research, deepening understanding and building capacity.   

By embedding gender equality considerations in our approach to monitoring and improving the research and innovation culture at º£½ÇÊÓƵ, we seek to ensure a positive, inclusive environment where research and researchers can thrive. 

5. Measures against gender-based violence, including sexual harassment

º£½ÇÊÓƵ is taking the following measures against gender-based violence and sexual harassment:  

Staff are expected to act professionally and ethically at all times, protecting the interests of students, respecting the trust inherent in staff–student relationships, and recognising the responsibilities and boundaries that accompany their role. 

In line with Transparency of Personal Relationships at Work Policy staff are expected to avoid entering into relationships or engaging in behaviour that could create actual or perceived conflicts of interest, unreasonable pressure on individuals or teams, boundary-blurring conduct, or an abuse or perceived abuse of power. 

In any such circumstances, staff are required to declare the relationship to their line manager and disclose any relationship that could give rise to a conflict of interest, perceived bias, or unequal treatment, to promote safeguarding, trust, fairness, and professionalism across the organisation. 

• Launch of Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Awareness Hub (July 25), with clear definitions, policy and support pathways. 

• We have updated our Mandatory Training Policy to include ‘Defining Sexual Harassment and Consent (E6)’ training as mandatory for all staff and students, to achieve compliance and promote a safer campus culture, adopting and embedding consistent messaging across both staff and students. 

• Bystander intervention and consent education launched in the form of ‘Your path’ embedded within staff and student learning platform.  

• We have communication and awareness raising mechanisms across student and staff life cycles to promote reporting (via online portal.  

• We collect, publish and monitor data that covers sexual misconduct, harassment, stalking and domestic abuse. on the prevalence, reporting, and handling of harassment and sexual misconduct. This data-driven approach ensures transparency and informs effective, evidence-based strategies to protect students.  

• HR Business partners have received training from Eversheds to inform understanding of sexual misconduct.