International Women's Day Staff Workshop: 30.06.25

The Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team meet bi-monthly to discuss relevant policies, opportunities, activities and support for staff that relates to our School's commitments as an Athena Swan Bronze award holder. This particular meeting was opened with an interactive workshop, held on Monday 30th June, led by Holly Mills, Gemma Sayer, and SPUR (Scholarship Projects for Undergraduate Researchers) students Ramita Eswarappa and Michelle Amba.

The session lasted for an hour and used collaborative drawing as a creative way to explore issues around gender equity, specifically in regards to the experiences each member of staff participating had in their professional lives and at NTU. We also discussed how we can "Accelerate Action," the International Women's Day theme for 2025.

Themes that were discussed included work-life balance, workplace clothing, ‘academic housework’, juggling responsibilities, role models, flexible working, developing positive cultures, respecting non-working time, creating opportunities for leadership & development, inclusivity, supporting individual needs and empowerment.

We uncovered many interesting topics like the need for awareness and perceptions of working women which we (Scholarship Projects for Undergraduate Researchers students) have analysed and these will feed into the Athena Swan Silver Award action plan as well as our report on Exploring Gender Equity through Collaborative Drawing.

Michelle Amba, Student Researcher