Sydney University cops SAGE Athena SWAN Bronze Award

25 / 09 / 2019

By Marwa Nassar - -

The University of Sydney has copped the SAGE Athena SWAN Bronze Award, as part of its commitment to the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) initiative. SAGE is a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

Thirteen Australian institutions have been recognized for their efforts to improve gender equity and diversity, receiving Athena SWAN Institutional Bronze Awards as part of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) initiative.

“Receiving the Bronze Award is a fantastic achievement for the University and demonstrates our commitment to changing our culture so that every person is valued for the contribution they make to our collective success,” said Dr Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor and Principal.

“The critical reflection we had to undertake to develop our application and embed Athena SWAN principles has been a real catalyst for change. It has also improved our understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion issues in the University. The University’s SAGE Self Assessment Team worked hard to develop our award application and I thank them for their efforts.”

The University of Sydney has achieved the Bronze Award in the second cohort of SAGE member institutions from the higher education and research sector to complete the Athena SWAN Institutional Bronze process.

“The Bronze Award recognizes an institution’s work to set solid foundations for their journey to transformative change; it sets them on the course to Silver and Gold awards,” said Dr Wafa El-Adhami, Executive Director, SAGE.

“This follows the inaugural accreditation of 15 organizations in December last year, and I extend my sincere congratulations to all awardees for their commitment to gender equity in the higher education and research sector in Australia.”

“During the SAGE process, which has been strategically supported and championed by the University’s senior leadership, we have developed and will implement an ambitious four-year, data-driven Action Plan to improve workplace culture for all staff,” said Professor Renae Ryan, from the School of Medical Sciences and Academic Director of SAGE.

Key areas of focus highlighted in the SAGE Action Plan include increasing targeted recruitment of women and underrepresented groups at senior academic levels; continuing our work towards a fair, equitable and transparent promotions process; building on the excellent foundation of parental leave available to staff to remove remaining barriers to access and flexibility; and continuing our focus on improving workplace behaviors and institutional culture.

“The importance of getting this right goes beyond our staff and the culture of our organisation,” said Professor Ryan. “Here at the University of Sydney, we educate around 70,000 students per year from across Australia and around the world. We have an opportunity to not only educate our students in their speciality areas but also to create global citizens, with a thorough understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion to support innovation and progress as well as improve our societies by empowering women and girls to achieve their full potential.”