Athena Swan within the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Championing and supporting a culture of participation and inclusivity
Two young woman working together on concepts for climate protection - stock photo. Getty 1350038104.

Athena Swan within the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Championing and supporting a culture of participation and inclusivity
The School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (SoGEES) aims to champion and support a culture of participation and inclusivity, and to communicate and raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion. In September 2025 the School proudly achieved a Silver Athena Swan award recognising our progress and success, but also our commitment to continue to address inequalities and to ensure that all members of the School feel safe, included and supported.
Our Athena Swan Self-Assessment team (SAT) discusses, implements, promotes and monitors school level actions aimed at improving the working and learning environment for all staff and students.
For further information about our Athena Swan work, please contact the Faculty EDI Team.
Athena Swan Silver award, repositioned

Our Silver Athena Swan award celebrates the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion accomplishments of the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Our commitment to EDI is central to our School’s identity: our Strategic Plan prioritises the delivery of ‘a safe, welcoming and supportive School environment that enables staff to deliver to their individual strengths for the collective good’. We look forward to implementing our Action Plan in full by 2030.

Jon ShawProfessor Jon Shaw
Head of School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

We are incredibly proud to achieve a Athena SWAN Silver award, which celebrates our shared commitment to gender equality and the hard work of staff and students across SoGEES who continue to shape a more inclusive culture.

Kim WardDr Kim Ward
Lecturer in Human Geography

Key priorities

Since achieving our Bronze award in 2019, our School has demonstrated success in the following areas:
  • The School has prioritised developing inclusive and accessible fieldwork for students and staff through the development of Inclusive Fieldwork Guidance for Fieldtrip Leads and a Fieldwork Resource Bank providing loanable clothing and equipment to students.
  • A key priority has been improving female representation in senior leadership roles and advancing women’s careers; there has been an increase in the number of female academic promotions, the proportion of female programme leads and representation of female staff on the School Senior Leadership Team.
  • SoGEES has supported activities to build a strong inclusive culture; the 2023 staff EDI survey found 78% staff feel their contributions are valued and 81% agreed School leadership actively supports EDI.
Now under our 5-year action plan (2025-2030) we will focus on our key priorities:
  • Student EDI recruitment and engagement
  • Improve recognition, reward and governance of EDI
  • Reduce the ethnicity attainment gap
  • Enhance Professional, Technical and Operational staff development
  • Improve the inclusivity of the staff recruitment process
  • Investigate the declining trend in female foundation student enrolments
 
 

2025 Athena Swan Bronze submission self-assessment team

Kim Ward (Chair), Emily Bradley, Jon Shaw, Simon Ussher, Michael Wilde, Mark Fitzsimmons, Lee Durndell, Zoe Mildon, Clive Sabel, Alison Stokes, Anita Young

Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team

 
 
 
 

Beacon activity: Girls into Geoscience

We are very proud of our Girls into Geoscience outreach initiative which inspires female students to follow careers as geoscientists. 
The programme has won major awards from the Geological Society, in recognition of its achievements in outreach, public engagement and education, and was also awarded a 2023 UoP Vice-Chancellor's EDI award. GiG began in 2014 as an annual -one day event, quickly moving to become two to include a field trip, talks and workshops. Since the launch, 1025 female A-level students have taken part in the programme at UoP.
The proportion of female Earth Science enrolments has increased from 32% in 2018/19 to 40% in 2022/23. During the pandemic, GiG moved online, delivering virtual events to a wider audience making the programme more accessible to international and minority ethnic students. Prior to Covid there were <5% ethnic minority attendees each year but this increased to 19% by 2021. A bursary scheme was set up in 2018 to recognise intersectional inequalities and widen participation from girls with disabilities, from ethnic minority or disadvantaged backgrounds; to date there have been 56 applications. The GiG programme has directly impacted our female enrolment numbers. Since 2019, 106 GiG attendees applied to study at UoP and 42 enrolled overall, 58 of which applied to study geoscience and 24 enrolled.
Girls into Geoscience
The programme has grown significantly and supported the launch of sister initiatives; GiG Scotland, GiG junior at University of Leicester, GiG Wales and GiG Ireland which have seen over 1500 young women attend events. Throughout this process, we have created a network of women in higher education institutes and industry who are passionate about promoting geoscience.

When we started GiG we hoped to show girls how the Geosciences could be for everyone. Twelve years later we haven't just inspired girls to consider the geosciences a subject, we've seen them take geoscience degrees, go on to PhDs, and start exciting careers. We have even welcomed some of our original GiG back to inspire the next generation. Girls into Geoscience remains one of our proudest achievements and we hope one that will continue to inspire for years to come.

Jodie FisherDr Jodie Fisher
IODP Science Office Scientific Communications, Applications and EDI Manager

'If you can’t see it, you can’t be it'. Representation is so important as much now as it ever has been, and a core aim for GiG is to show young women through talks, fieldwork and workshops that you can be whatever you want to be, to knock down barriers and provide role models.

Sarah BoultonProfessor Sarah Boulton
Professor of Geohazards

 
 
 

More EDI resources from the University of Plymouth