Athena Swan within the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

Championing and supporting a culture of participation and inclusivity
Athena Swan within the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

The Athena SWAN Charter is a national initiative that recognises commitment to advancing women's representation, and tackling gender inequality in higher education and research. Originally designed to target improvement for women within science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects and senior positions, it has now been extended to include arts, humanities, social science, business and law (AHSSBL), as well as professional and support staff roles, and for trans staff and students. As part of its commitment to Equality and Diversity, the University of Plymouth is a founder member of the charter. 

The Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences aim to champion and support a culture of participation and inclusivity, and to communicate and raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion. Our Athena Swan Self Assessment (SAT) Team discusses, implements, promotes and monitors school level actions aimed at improving the working and learning environment for academics, professional services staff and students.

Athena SWAN Silver Award 

The Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science hold an Athena SWAN Silver Award, recognising our commitment to champion and support a culture of participation and inclusivity, and to communicate and raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion.In order to achieve the Athena SWAN Silver Award we had to satisfy or exceed a variety of exacting criteria, and introduce ways of working which are sustainable and create an environment for equal opportunity. Our initiatives are wide ranging and examples include: improving the gender balance in meetings and interviews for prospective staff and students; creating mechanisms for promotion which are fair to all genders, and providing crèche facilities for important faculty events.

View our submission and action plan. If you would like to know more about our Athena SWAN work please email the current SAT chair, Dr Helen Watson or our deputy chair, Dr Paul Laurence-Young.


Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team

Lucy Obolensky

Lecturer in Global and Remote Healthcare and co-founder of the Global Health Collaborative. Lucy co-founded Future Health Africa, a UK-based charity which strives for sustainable improvement in the health and wellbeing of people in low-middle-income countries (LMICs), she also supported Sir David Attenborough as he filmed the hit shows Planet Earth, One Planet and Seven Worlds, One Planet

An advocate for global health education throughout all undergraduate and postgraduate training - meet Lucy.

Tina Joshi

Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology in the School of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology Society policy committee member, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Athena Swan Self Assessment Team member, Venus Awards finalist for inspirational woman in STEM 2019.

Finding ways to combat the growing problem of worldwide antibiotic resistance – Meet Tina

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