Athena Swan
Our commitment to gender equality
The Adam Smith Business School received the bronze award from Athena Swan in October 2019.
Athena Swan has many benefits to the School and its community. It shows our commitment to gender equality, diversity and inclusion. It is helping us improve our culture, our environment for research and scholarship, student diversity, recruitment, retention and promotion of female colleagues. Reviewing and establishing good working practices around induction, staff development, training and flexible working are all part of an Athena Swan submission.
It is a key part of the School’s strategy to embed equality and inclusion. Working towards Athena Swan bronze has highlighted how diverse teams make better decisions and we aim to have gender balance throughout the School’s leadership and organisation.
The Athena Swan Charter evolved from work between the Athena Project and the Scientific Women’s Academic Network (SWAN), to advance the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and maths (STEMM). In 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work taken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
Athena Swan is awarded by the Advance HE, Equality Challenge Unit and the award is for four years. The submission was prepared and submitted by the School’s Athena Swan Self Assessment Team (SAT).
Athena SWAN application
Adam Smith Business School department application form (pdf)
Information for staff
SELF ASSESSMENT TEAM (SAT)
Our professional services and academic staff leading Athena SWAN for the School
Belgin Okay-Somerville
Survey group
Belgin joined the School in 2017. Her research focuses on various aspects of work, employment and careers, such as job quality, skill utilisation, employability and career development, particularly as they pertain to young workers in the labour market. Belgin has two daughters and a dog.
Bruce McDowall
Staff group
Bruce joined the School as Operations Manager in September 2022 and is responsible for delivery of an efficient and effective suite of operational services. Bruce has a keen interest in diversity and inclusion and creating safe workplaces for all. He has five children and is a foster carer with Glasgow City Council.
Jan Breitsohl
Culture group
Jan is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing and undertakes research on the dark side of social media, corporate responsibility and consumer well-being. Throughout his career, Jan has pursued a strong interest in academic well-being, both as an outcome of how workload models and business school structures are designed, and as a predictor of higher research productivity and more meaningful research impact.
Jan Shearer
Professional services lead / Data group
Jan is interested in gender equality within the workplace and associated polices. She is Engagement Lead for professional services staff, looking to improve equality in the workplace. She is also chair of our social committee, organising events to bring everyone together. Jan loves to bake and go on walks with her dog.
João Paulo Lima
Survey group and Data group
João Paulo Resende de Lima (he/him) is a lecturer in Accounting and joined the Adam Smith Business School in 2022. His research interests mainly include, but are not limited to, Diversity & Inclusion, Accounting Education, and Decolonization.
João is a member of the Qualitative Research and Critical Accounting: A Latin-American Network and Co-founder of Accounting Collective for Inclusion and Diversity [Coletivo Contábil de Inclusão e Diversidade (COLID)].
John Finch
Staff group
John is Marketing Professor and, since 2016, Head of School. He is responsible for the strategic development of the school and line manager to academic colleagues. As a parent, he works flexibly to combine work commitments and family life.
Kirsteen Daly
Staff group
Kirsteen joined the University from school and has extensive professional services line management experience and has responsibilities in various job roles through advancement through the ranks. She joined the Self Assessment Team to contribute to the enhancement of policies to ensure equality of opportunities and career development.
Lovleen Kushwah
Culture group
Lovleen is a Lecturer and the UG Dissertation Convenor in Economics, Senior Advisor of Studies for College of Social Sciences, Complaint and Academic Integrity officer, and Scotland’s Mental Health First-Aider. In addition to her research in International Finance, she is working on Teaching Excellence Initiative, Peer support initiatives, assessment & feedback, and enhancement of student engagement. She has a strong interest in mental wellbeing and currently she is pursuing a Diploma in Integrative counselling. She joined the school in 2015.
Marjana Johansson
Survey group
Marjana did her PhD as a mature student after working in adult education and consultancy. She joined the Business School in 2018. Her research focuses on gender, diversity and equality in the workplace with a particular interest in women’s careers in academia. She is a member of the subgroup concerned with student experience.
Paul Hunter
Staff group
Paul is a lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour having joined the school in 2013. He has 20 years' experience working in Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at a professional and academic level. Paul's research and professional interests focus on organisational justice in high-tech/knowledge-based contexts, stereotype threat faced by women in male-dominated industries, tackling workplace dark-side behaviours, contemporary issues impacting public-sector management, leading successful teams, and post-COVID hybrid working patterns. Paul is a fan of science-fiction and has published two books in the genre.
Pawel Gaska
Survey group
As a data analyst, Pawel collaborates with academic professionals from the School and many institutions including The Scottish Government. Pawel is actively involved in work carried out by the School’s Athena SWAN Self Assessment Team, making data analysis easier, more informative, and available to those that need it most, but also making the outputs more transparent wherever possible.
Rami Alsharif
Culture group
Rami is a lecturer in Human Resource Management at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow where he also gained his Ph.D. in Management. His research interests include organizational trust, perceived fairness, identity threat, stereotype threat, young people and work, young people and crime, and the role of Human Resource Management policies and practices in providing a trustworthy, fair and safe identity-work environment for stigmatized groups to work and produce, and for their talent to flourish. Prior to becoming an academic Rami worked for over four years in the banking sector.
Tanya Wilson
Self Assessment Team (SAT) Chair / Culture group
Tanya is a Lecturer in Economics and undertakes research in Labour Economics and the Economics of the Family. She has been with the School since 2018.