Gender Equality

Athena Swan Silver Award

We hold an Athena SWAN Silver Award. The Equality Challenge Unit's Athena SWAN Charter recognises commitment to advancing women’s careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine employment in higher education and research. We are currently working towards obtaining a Gold Award.

The Athena SWAN Charter acknowledges efforts towards advancing women's careers within STEM employment in higher education. 

Athena SWAN is relevant to everyone, not just women in science. Implementing a successful Athena SWAN application requires buy-in from everyone in the School at every stage of the career structure, irrespective of gender or background, for the following reasons:

• To address gender inequalities requires commitment and action from everyone, at all levels of the organisation.
• To tackle the unequal representation of women in science requires changing cultures and attitudes across the organisation.
• The absence of diversity at management and policy-making levels has broad implications.

Although Athena SWAN explicitly addresses the problems facing women, all actions put in place to improve equality and working environment will benefit everyone, especially men who take a role in family life. The key is to change the social norms so that everyone can enjoy equal opportunities and a fulfilling, fair working environment.

IoP Juno Champion Award

The School currently holds an IoP Juno Champion Award, as part of the Institute of Physics' (IoP) Project Juno. The Juno Project recognises departments that demonstrate they have taken action to address the under-representation of women in university physics. 

In 2024, the IoP retired Project Juno and launched an IoP Physics Inclusion Award in its place, the School has submitted an application for this award and results are currently pending. The new Physics Inclusion Award, developed by the physics community with the Institute of Physics, helps us make sure physics welcomes and supports people from all backgrounds to thrive in our brilliant field.

Women in STEM

Together, we strive to build an inclusive environment in Physics that enables everyone to reach their full potential, feel supported, and be recognised for their contributions in our research, teaching and service. We seek to engage, inspire and increase the number of female students and staff in STEM subjects. We are committed to advancing women's careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and physics in higher education and research.

Here we showcase the research and achievements of a selection of inspiring women scientists to highlight the critical role women have played in STEM. To learn more about how Physics and the University of Bristol are supporting women, please follow the links below.

• Gender Inclusion Group
• Bristol Women's Mentoring Network
• WHEN - Women's Higher Education Network