Gender and inclusion award for Heriot-Watt’s School of Social Sciences
Heriot-Watt University’s School of Social Sciences is celebrating a new milestone in its commitment to equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion.
The School – which is the University’s largest faculty – has received a prestigious Bronze Award under the Athena Swan Charter – an internationally-recognised framework to advance gender equality in higher education and research.
An Athena Swan Bronze Award demonstrates an institution's or department's ongoing commitment to addressing gender inequality, promoting inclusive working practices and meeting equality legislation requirements.
We look forward to seeing our vision for a more just and equal future come to life, both within the school and in our impact on the broader global community.
Dr Jennifer Meggs, Assistant Executive Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Heriot-Watt’s School of Social Sciences, said: “We are incredibly proud of this accomplishment – and equally excited to move forward with implementing our five-year action plan, which will focus on gender equality, widening participation, mental health, harassment and bullying, and workload issues.
“We look forward to seeing our vision for a more just and equal future come to life, both within the school and in our impact on the broader global community.”
The Athena Swan Charter was established in 2005 to advance women's careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education. The Charter now addresses gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women. Since 2015, the Athena Swan remit extends to staff and students of all genders and disciplines, including professional services staff.
Dr Meggs said the Athena Swan Bronze Award reflected the dedication and hard work the School of Social Sciences team had put into areas including data collection, policy reviews and navigating through ongoing transformations to improve equality, diversity and inclusion.
Special thanks and congratulations go to Dr Katharina Lefringhausen and Dr Monica Tamariz – co-chairs of the School’s Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team – Rhona Feist, the School's Athena Swan Partner; Dr Linda Buchan, Director of Accreditation at the School of Social Sciences and the School’s Accreditation Officer, Jill Robertson. Dr Meggs also thanked the School’s “fantastic” team of staff and students for their “unswerving dedication” to achieving this benchmark for the School and University.
Heriot-Watt’s School of Social Sciences is internationally recognised for the quality of teaching and research and specialises in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in business, languages and intercultural studies and psychology.
The School includes Edinburgh Business School, one of the world's largest providers of postgraduate business education, and Heriot-Watt’s Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies and Department of Psychology.