Further Athena SWAN success for Oxford

The national scheme celebrates good practice in recruiting, retaining and promoting women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine in higher education.

Departments and units at Oxford achieving bronze status in the latest round of awards are: Population Health; Clinical Laboratory Sciences; Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences; Oncology; Pathology; and Pharmacology.

The Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, meanwhile, has been upgraded from bronze to silver.

That means all departments in the Medical Sciences Division have now achieved awards.

Professor Alastair Buchan, Head of the Medical Sciences Division at Oxford, said: 'We are extremely proud of the efforts and contributions of all members of the division to achieve this important milestone on the road to creating and maintaining an inclusive working environment for all our staff and students.'

Oxford has also successfully renewed its institutional bronze award and has put in place an ambitious action plan with the aim of achieving silver status in the next review in three years' time.

Professor Andrew Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said: 'Our application shows that the University is fully committed to promoting equality and gender issues within the STEMM disciplines at Oxford. This institutional commitment is reflected in the seriousness with which individual academic departments take such issues.

'The process of preparing for the institutional renewal was enormously helpful in taking stock of the University's progress to date and in considering how to improve our performance as an institution. It is our strong intention to build on the progress made thus far, sharing good practice and ensuring consistency of practice across all departments.'

The University now holds a total of 26 awards – six silver and 20 bronze.

The awards ceremony will take place in Durham on 10 July.