Summary of Athena Swan Action Plan

The SoM Athena SWAN Action Plan was put in place Nov 2017 and runs for three years to Nov 2020, at which point actions will be reviewed in line with the renewal of the School's Athena SWAN Bronze award.

The Athena SWAN Action Plan is an expansive and indepth plan covering all policies, procedures, and initiatives that could effect gender equality within the School. Broadly, the actions fall within five categories:

1. Communications- these actions focus on improving communication and building networks across the School’s various national sites, and keeping everyone informed of SAT activities, opportunities to get involved, or how to avail of training or other activities.
2. Student matters- these actions are centred on bettering the experiences of students within the School. Actions include engagement with postgraduate students to better understand their experiences and supports that would be useful, and establishing and communicating a postgraduate maternity policy.
3. Career development- these actions are focused on helping our staff understand the university structures, requirements and standards for progression within their career path, and importantly to provide supports to facilitate all our staff in achieving their goals. Actions include establishing structures and supports to facilitate career development (staff and students), creating a tailored mentoring scheme (for each career level), and the introduction of improved and informative School of Medicine-specific induction events.
4. Culture- these actions intend to address data from our 2017 survey and focus groups, which demonstrated that improvements are needed within the School. A series of initiatives (including Active Bystander Training) will be introduced that are focused on eliminating unsupportive and inappropriate language and behaviour, and aimed at ensuring that all of our diverse staff and students feel supported, valued, recognised, and included.
5. Women’s representation- these actions are focused on increasing the visibility, and celebrating the achievements, of women in our School to ensure our students see and have access to female role models in all career roles. Actions include increasing the representation of women within Grand Rounds sessions, ensuring committee workloads are fairly distributed between women and men, and hosting an annual event focused on celebrating women within medicine.

These Actions fall under the SoM Athena SWAN Bronze Award conferred in April 2018. The School's Athena SWAN Action Plan is a live document and the self-assessment team monitor and adapt the actions as needed over the years of the plan. If you have questions or suggestions for the Athena SWAN self-assessment team please contact somnuigsat@nuigalway.ie