Why is Athena Swan good for RCSI?
RCSI is committed to a culture of respect for all who engage with RCSI, including patients, students, staff and the public. Achieving equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded into our organisational strategy and together our goal is to instil a culture of fairness, respect and belonging throughout RCSI.
But how does our involvement in Athena Swan help us achieve that culture?
RCSI renewed its Bronze institutional award in 2023 and developed another four-year plan that will continue to advance our EDI work. The renewal process demonstrated the progress that we have made in advancing equality throughout RCSI. Our priority is to continue to embed equality in university culture and to show impact.
Athena Swan looks at a wide range of areas from governance to education and policy. By committing to embedding Athena Swan in our institution, we are in a state of continuous equality improvement. Athena Swan has helped us to develop more family friendly policies, it examines and measures well-being and work life balance as well providing a framework to help us develop staff and students to fulfil their potential through best practice recruitment and progression strategies. We have committed to improving our education programmes to ensure that our students and staff are healthcare ambassadors for equality and fairness. Training programmes and support initiatives are in place to help us understand inequalities, to challenge inappropriate behaviour and support us when we are faced with these challenges head on. And all of this work is measured and reported on to make sure that we are moving in the right direction. Athena Swan is good for us all and we want everyone to be part of that journey.
