Athena SWAN

The School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences is committed to the equality agenda and in promoting women’s careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM). 

In 2015 we were the first school at Bangor University to receive a Bronze Athena Swan award and we were delighted to have received a second Bronze award in 2021.

Dr Jamie Macdonald, Head of the School of Sport, Health, and Exercise Science, said: “The school is passionate about promoting equality and recognizes the need to ensure equal opportunities for our staff and students as well as in the wider sport, health and exercise science field. The Athena SWAN award is also fantastic recognition for our early career researchers who have driven many recent innovative equality and diversity initiatives in our School.”

We have a dedicated self-assessment team who meet regularly and have responsibility for driving the equality and diversity agenda within the school. The team includes: Dr Eleri Sian Jones (Chair), Dr Jamie Macdonald (Head of school), Dr James Hardy, Emily Dunn (PGR rep), Jemma Mason-Powell (PGT rep), Robin Locke (UG rep), Dr Sophie Harrison (post-doc rep) and Mark Chitty (clerical officer).
Below you will find examples of the activities we have been working on during this period:

  • Appointing student representatives to our school self-assessment team.
  • Equality and diversity newsletters for staff and students.
  • Conducting focus groups with staff and students to identify any concerns regarding equality and diversity in the school.
  • Appointing a male ‘Champion for Change’.
  • Increasing visibility of female sport science research.

Staff and student profiles

We have several inspiring female staff and postgraduate researchers in the school (please see our staff page for full list). Here are just some examples:
Dr Vicky Gottwald - Vicky is a lecturer in the school with a passion for skill acquisition and coaching. She is involved in several interesting research projects and supervises a number of postgraduate researchers. She is also the School’s Director of Undergraduate studies, with overall responsibility for implementing our teaching and learning strategy within the undergraduate programmes. Vicky is passionate about sport and is a UKCC Level 4 Basketball coach. She coaches the University’s Women’s basketball team, and has worked hard to create an inclusive and supportive culture in the team.   

Dr Sophie Harrison – Sophie is an early career researcher who completed her PhD research in the school and was appointed as post-doctoral researcher in 2021. She is currently working on the CALIN project, which aims to connect businesses, academia and healthcare across Wales and Ireland, with Bangor University leading on the health and wellbeing theme. This is an exciting project that works across several schools within the college. Sophie’s research interests include sport and exercise immunology, psychoneuroimmunology, sport and exercise nutrition, and female physiology.

Useful links

Here are some useful links relating to activities and initiatives working on increasing equality and diversity in sport:

If you have any questions or want to learn more about the equality and diversity initiatives at SHES, then please contact Dr Eleri Sian Jones (Eleri.s.jones@bangor.ac.uk)

Athena SWAN at Bangor University

Bangor has achieved the Athena SWAN bronze award and is now addressing the issues raised in the Athena SWAN Action Plan.

For more information about Athena SWAN at Bangor University, please click here.