Education, research and innovation (through knowledge exchange and enterprise) are the strands that make up the University's Triple Helix Strategy , which places people at the centre. Our purpose and vision are articulated through our values , including egalitarian and collaborative. Brought together, these elements show our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion throughout everything we do, including research and innovation.
This page sets out how our strategic initiatives, charter commitments and other work are aligned with the requirements and expectations of research and innovation bodies at the UK, European and international levels.
Horizon Gender Equality Plan (GEP)
The University of Southampton is a founding signatory of
Advance HE's Athena Swan gender equality charter
, and has held a
Silver
institution award since 2016. Our
Athena Swan submissions
demonstrate our commitment to advancing gender equality, with detailed assessment of areas for action and a prioritised, measurable and resourced action plan to achieve our goals.
Through our Athena Swan work, the University of Southampton demonstrates it meets the Gender Equality Plan criterion for Horizon Europe as follows:
Public document
The Athena Swan submission is a formal document signed by our President and Vice Chancellor, and has been shared with staff and students across the University. Many of our Faculties and Schools also hold departmental Athena Swan awards, signed by the Dean of Faculty/Head of School, which build on our institutional award with discipline focused plans.
Dedicated resources
The University has invested in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team to support the design, implementation and monitoring of our charter submissions and action plans, as well as delivering the initiatives and resources required to progress organisational change. Every Faculty and School has an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee to translate and communicate institutional plans and initiatives to their areas of teaching and research.
Data collection and monitoring
The collection of gender-disaggregated data is embedded into our processes for the attraction, recruitment, retention and development of our students and staff at all levels. We make much of this data available to all staff through interactive dashboards , and deliver detailed reports to leaders, managers and EDI-focused teams to support the monitoring and evaluation of our gender equality plans.
Training
All staff must complete our mandatory EDI training at induction, while unconscious bias training is available for managers and strongly encouraged for everyone involved in decision making.
Thematic areas
In addition to the mandatory requirements above, the University of Southampton has a long history in actively addressing the following thematic areas recommended by Horizon Europe:
- work-life balance and organisational culture;
- gender balance in leadership and decision-making;
- gender equality in recruitment and career progression;
- measures against gender-based violence including sexual harassment.
The remaining thematic area – integration of the gender dimension into research and teaching content – forms part of our current Athena Swan action plan .
Research Excellence Framework (REF)
The University's Research pages include a summary of our REF 2021 processes and return , including:
- our REF 2021 Code of Practice ;
- an equality impact assessment (EIA) of our selection process for REF 2021.
Last update: 17 January 2023 [AM]