uk resource centre for women in science, engineering and technology - athena swan sub-site

 

The Charter developed out of the work of SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) developed by London Metropolitan University.  The idea for a Charter emerged from a SWAN Conference in October 2002 and has been built on within the network as a bottom-up initiative.  The SWAN Charter won the Institute of Physics prize in the 2003 Royal Society Athena Awards.

 

The development of the Charter was originally made possible by the support of the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET (UKRC) and with funding from the European Social Fund under the Equal initiative.  The future is now secured by continued support from the UKRC and also from Equality Challenge Unit.

 

The Athena SWAN Charter was launched on 22 June 2005 at the Institute of Physics.  The event was attended by around 60 delegates representing a range of universities, organisations and professional societies.

 

Ten founder members committed themselves to ‘the advancement and promotion of the careers of women in science, engineering and technology in higher education and research, and to achieve a significant increase in the number of women recruited to top posts’.  Since then another 36 universities and research institutes have joined the Charter.