School of Engineering

Athena Swan SAT Meeting

27th August 2015

Present:

Professor Colin McInnes (co Chair)

Dr Helen Mulvana (co Chair)

Dr Steven Neale

Simon Wilson, HR Managaer, College of Science and Engineering

Rebecca Cumming, PhD Student, Systems Power and Energy

Professor Margaret Lucas

Professor John Marsh

Apologies:

Dr Kathleen Meehan

Dr Huabing Yin

Dr Katie Farrell

Debbie Goldie

ACTION / ACTION RESPONSIBILITY / STATUS
1 / Discussion of draft report sections
PICTURE OF THE SCHOOL
UG admissions –
It was noted that there was greater representation of F in MD40 intake than standard UG. Is this due to the intervention or a reflection of the gender make up of students with appropriate grades from the schools targeted?
It was decided that columns on charts needed data labels which detailed the numbers involved.
It was noted that there has been a drop off in conversion from offers to acceptances for F in recent years. ML suggested that a leaflet could be prepared highlighting the achievements of F graduates to be mailed out with offer letters. Suggested features include profile of F aero grad at Clyde Space (CM)
PGR admission –
It was noted that there was a peak in M EEE offers in 2014, which may be due to how the JW fellowships were advertised that year.
Admission through GIC –
7-15% F representation is under what might be expected given stats for the school over all, but may be indicative of the regions of the world students originate.
It was noted that it was still important to consider ways to address F under-representation in traditional subjects
Data for national averages needs to be added for comparison.
Stats for reader has been mistakenly added to senior lecturer and should be corrected.
% F data wrong in job family stats and needs to be rexamined
Recent Recruitment -
There has been a rise in the number of F lecturers which reflects the recent round of recruitment. This shows a positive trajectory for the school and should feed through to promoted positions in due course.
All of the recently appointed leadership roles (Dec – 2011/2012) have been M despite several offers made to F candidates. Is there an opportunity to influence conversion of offers to acceptances? Have there been any changes to recruitment processes since the leadership roles and recent lecturer posts? Is the EC probation affecting this?
It was noted that recruitment panels are ‘reflective’ of staff in terms of gender balance. There has been a recent change in requirements to have completed Equality and Diversity training before staff can be part of an appointment panel. Unconscious bias training will follow.
Committees –
It was noted that some of the committee data may not be up to date. It was noted that Angela Busse serves on the IT committee and Louise Evans on the research committee but neither is mentioned.
FLEXIBLE WORKING & CAREER BREAKS
Requests -
Data on was presented by SN but it was noted that official information from HR had not captured all anecdotally recalled requests. This data might be recoverable from Karen Phillips by means of salary forecast.
It was suggested that official data would be more reliable than survey data.
It was suggested that the Action Plan might include plans to highlight the possibility of flexible working and unpaid leave within the school.
Maternity returners –
There were 3 confirmed academic returners from maternity leave in the survey, which does not reflect the true number of staff this must apply to. It was noted that the wording of the survey may have been ambiguous leading some to understand the question as whether or not they had returned from maternity leave since the school restructuring in 2010. Data should be sought from HR.
Work should continue to progress the draft report by each section lead / HM/DG
CM/HM – Action Plan
KF for data / HM to add
HM
HM
DG
SN
KF/SN?HM
All on SAT
2 / Next SAT meeting
A doodle poll is needed to select a date for the next meeting / DG
3 / Next Workshop
The next Athena Swan workshop to present the outcomes of the staff and student surveys should take place in September. / CM/HM