Athena SWAN award

A woman wearing a face mask works in a lab in a blue lab coat - she is focussed on something in her hands
Athena Swan bronze award logo.

The Crick has successfully renewed our Athena Swan Bronze award until March 2030. The award signifies our commitment to addressing gender inequalities in career access and progression at the Crick.

What is the Athena Swan Charter?

The Athena Swan Charter is a gender equality charter mark for UK higher education institutions. Initially founded in 2005 to tackle the unequal representation of women in STEM employment, it has since grown and expanded its scope to consider equality and diversity more broadly across all academic disciplines.

The Crick's Athena Swan award

We received our first Athena Swan Bronze award in 2019 in recognition of our commitment to gender equality, having been assessed on the following:

  • Evidence of leadership and senior buy-in
  • Self-assessment undertaken by a representative team
  • Demonstration of progress against the priorities identified in the 2019 Athena
  • Swan award application
  • Evidence-based assessment and recognition of the key issues affecting gender equity and creating an inclusive culture
  • An action plan that addresses issues found 

A bronze award means that we have demonstrated:

  • An assessment of gender equality in the institution
  • A four-year plan that builds on this assessment
  • The development of an organisational structure to carry these actions forward

Areas to address

We know there is more to do, and our five year action plan seeks to address the following areas:

  • Increasing the proportion of female senior scientific staff
  • Maintaining and developing support for our early and mid-career scientists' career progression, ensuring no gender differences in outcomes
  • Improving our recruitment data, and developing our recruitment processes, so that we can understand and address any differences in recruitment by gender, disability or ethnicity
  • Developing our culture so that it is inclusive for all
  • Increasing our support for parents and carers
  • Improving and standardising EDI data reporting and analysis
     
We are delighted to have renewed our Athena Swan Bronze Award, underscoring our ongoing commitment to advancing gender equity at the Crick. This achievement is a testament to our collective efforts in fostering an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. We look forward to continuing this progress and further strengthening our commitment in the years ahead.

Candice Cross

Chief People Officer

Candice Cross head shot