Gender equality award for School of Sport and Service Management

The School of Sport and Service Management has achieved a Bronze Award from Advance HE’s Athena SWAN Charter in recognition of its commitment to gender equality.

The charter exists to promote equality in representation, progression and success of staff and students in higher education. The School has a long history of providing gender parity with its founder, Fraulein Dorette Wilke, establishing a training school for women and girls in physical education in 1898.

The Athena Swan Award is valid for four years in which time a robust action plan will be implemented to further progress gender equality.

The School joins the University of Brighton’s Schools of Applied Social Science, Environment and Technology, Pharmacy and Biomolecular Science and Brighton and Sussex Medical School in holding a school-level Athena SWAN award.

The University of Brighton has held an institutional Athena SWAN Bronze Award since 2013 and in 2016 became one of only a handful of higher education institutions nationally to achieve an institutional award under the new expanded charter.

Professor Tara Dean, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, is Chair of the Athena SWAN Steering Group and is University of Brighton’s Gender Equality Champion.

She said “I am delighted that another one of our Schools has secured Athena SWAN recognition. In order to receive the award, Schools need to provide evidence through robust self-analysis of how they engage, support and develop staff and students and devise an action plan to help them work towards their goals of gender equality.

“The Athena SWAN team worked incredibly hard in preparing their application and the whole school community were positively engaged with the process. These awards are an endorsement of our commitment to gender equality in our working practices across our broad subject portfolio.

“We continue to enhance our policies and practices to promote a culture of equality and inclusion and aspiration among our staff and our current and future students.”