Recruitment of Staff:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Heads of research groups and appointment committees have been made
\naware of the requirements of the university\u2019s equal opportunities policies, and
\nattention is being addressed to the content and structure of advertisements.
\nAs a result of the Athena SWAN assessment process, ECS has established a
\npolicy (agreed at the ECS Board) of positive action, which aims to increase
\nthe female ratio of academic staff, by identifying and actively approaching the
\nbest quality female candidate(s) in the desired area for newly advertised
\nposts. If there is interest, then they are encouraged to visit, engage in contact
\nand where appropriate, apply for the position to subsequently be assessed by
\nthe same criteria as all other candidates. Complementary generic activities
\nbeing considered include for example identifying female speakers for events
\nsuch as seminars which may also be used to create a perception of strong
\nfemale role models and potentially spark interest in ECS in advance of
\nopportunities being advertised. The working and effects of this will be
\nmonitored. The Head of ECS will report on this to the SAT (Action 2.1). We
\ndo not currently have a policy of always having a woman on appointments
\npanels as this would put too much load on our female staff. We will seek to
\naddress this by co-opting women from other units of from HR.<\/p>\n
Support for career transition points<\/strong><\/p>\n ECS diversity committee established a precedent through the career-step Support for female students<\/strong><\/p>\n The student-run organization ECSWomen, has been active for over 5 years Recruitment of Staff:\u00a0 Heads of research groups and appointment committees have been made aware of the …<\/p>\n
\ninitiative in 2010. Female early career researchers who participated in this
\npeer development community valued the investment in their futures, and such
\nwas the recognised success of the programme that it was instigated in a
\ncampus wide-initiative titled \u201cFuture-step\u201d. ECS now understand that the
\nparticular benefits accrued from a local initiative to promote and support peer
\ndevelopment is such, that in 2012-13 we will be reinstating career step for
\nfemale researchers and early career academics with the specific objective of
\nempowering them to discuss and identify personal career objectives; which
\nthe Athena Swan development team see as being complementary to the
\nwider objectives of our team (Action 4.2).
\nOther relevant local initiatives include work led by Professor Luc Moreau in
\nthe Web and Internet Science (WAIS) research group, a successful career
\noriented discussion forum has been established beginning in 2011. Efforts will
\nbe made to disseminate this good practice across the wider ECS community
\n(Action 4.1).<\/p>\n
\nand is promoting women studying in ECS. It is concentrated on continuous
\nsupport of females throughout different levels of their education bringing
\ntogether undergraduates, MSc, PhD and researchers as well as academic 25
\nstaff in ECS. It organizes events which focus on soft skills and employability
\nimprovement such as self confidence classes, CV and interview workshops.
\nBy hosting informal meetings with alumni and special guests over coffee and
\ncake, ECSWomen helps establish strong relationships between females in
\ndifferent areas of experience and gives an opportunity to build a network
\namongst the female students in ECS and sustain a friendlier environment.
\nThe society understands the needs of support to the female students in ECS
\ndue to gender imbalance and addresses the related issues. ECSWomen
\ntakes an active part in conferences promoting females in STEM subjects (for
\ninstance they have reimbursed the travel expenses for a couple of their
\nmembers for going to Birmingham for the HEA Young Women Engineering
\nNetwork Event). From this year, ECSWomen is cooperating closely with
\nTheano \u2013 an organization in UoS gathering all female students in STEM
\nsubjects. Both organisations are complementary and offer a wide range of
\nhighly attended events.
\nThe Electronics and Computer Science Society (ECSS) is a student run
\nsociety for students within the school. The society provides social, academic
\nand sporting\u00a0events separate from the degree program and encourages the
\ninteraction of all those within the school regardless of degree program or
\ngender. As such, the various social events provide valuable opportunities to
\nmeet with those on other courses as well as providing a means of meeting
\nother women in technical programs in a more informal setting. Female
\ninvolvement within the society has been relatively high \u2013 this academic year, 4
\nout of 10 members of the ECSS committee are women. The society also
\nsupports a number of other societies within the school including ECSWomen.
\nBoth ECSWomen and ECSS are strong and self-sustaining so do not require
\nspecific support from the SAT. Both will continue to have representation on
\nthe SAT to ensure representation and coordination.
\nECS supports ECSWomen and ECSS by providing facilities and support from
\nour marketing and business development team to make links with and
\nsponsorship from industry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"