More departments at Essex awarded for diversity

Essex continues to be recognised for our hard work in creating a more inclusive culture, with two more departments achieving Bronze in the Athena SWAN awards.

The Department of Language and Linguistics and the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE) have achieved Athena SWAN Bronze awards for their hard work towards gender equality.

The Athena SWAN awards were set up by the Equality Challenge Unit to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing gender equality in higher education.

Julia Greenwood, the University’s Athena SWAN lead, said: “The accreditation reflects the hard work that goes on in departments to realise our collective commitment to diversity and inclusion.”

Professor Anthony Vickers, head of CSEE, added: “CSEE is a diverse community of people of all genders, from many varying cultures. This diversity gives us a real power to make wonderful things for society. We are honoured to receive this award in recognition of our approach to the principles of Athena SWAN.”

Professor Monika Schmid, head of the Department of Language and Linguistics, said: “Diversity and inclusivity are the main strengths of the Department and we are delighted to have these efforts recognised in this award.”

Both Departments are implementing challenging action plans which will ensure that they are even more inclusive, respectful and fair.

Seven departments at Essex have achieved an Athena SWAN award already - six achieving Bronze while the School of Health and Social Care currently holds a Silver award.

Julia Greenwood added: “The University is delighted that two more departments have achieved Athena SWAN Bronze awards in the latest award round.”

The University is committed to all schools and departments holding an Athena SWAN Bronze award by November 2020.

However, we will not stop there as we are creating our own internal Diversity Impact Award scheme for our Professional Services Sections which will focus on all forms of diversity.

This article was written by Multimedia Journalism student Jessica Day-Parker