Institute of Cancer Sciences Athena SWAN News

Christina Halsey

Dr Chris Halsey

Silver award application update

Work on the ICS silver Athena SWAN award application is nearing completion. We have finished our second draft and are now making final edits and incorporating feedback suggestions. The application process involved systematic collection & analysis of staff and student data, evaluating the impact of initiatives brought in since the ICS received its Bronze award in 2016 and formulating new actions for future progress. We are pleased to see evidence of positive impact and hope this will reflect well when our application is submitted on April the 30th.

We have some exciting initiatives planned for 2019.  

ICS Vision

The overall aim of our Silver award actions are for ICS to represent a world-class working environment which values team science, work-life balance, well-being and maximising the potential of all staff regardless of background or job family.

We hope you agree that this is a good aspiration! We look forward to working with all staff and students to achieve this over the coming years. One of our key initiatives to support this is to expand the Athena SWAN committee to create a new committee called the VOICE (Visibility, Opportunity, Inclusion, Career development and Equality), we will be putting out a call for new members of this committee shortly so please get involved.

Staff Survey

We would like to thank everyone who took part in the staff and student surveys in December-January. It gave invaluable information for our application and has shown real progress over the last 4 years. A full summary of the Survey results will be posted on the ICS Athena SWAN website soon.

International Women’s Day event 8th March

Thanks to all those who came along to celebrate IWD with us in the WWCRC Café area. Excellent cakes were enjoyed by all.

Women in Research Network (WiRN) workshop on ‘Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing’ School of Psychology, University of Glasgow ran this workshop for us on the Garscube campus. This successful event was open to all ICS staff on Wednesday 27th February.

This event provided a range of information and workshop activities relating to the mental health and wellbeing of staff in our institution. The topics and activities were wide and varied, so as to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, focussing on how we deal with stress and setting out ways in which we can stress-bust and increase our overall quality of life with short, 15-minute contributions by the School of Psychology and School of Education lecturers on sleep, stress and mindfulness, pilates and dance and circus skills.

Programme:

Dr Maria Gardani: Are you losing sleep? Struggling to achieve a good night’s sleep can affect your physical and mental health and your overall quality of life. Get some tips on how you can improve your zzzz’s to feel better and look better. Disclaimer – If you are currently under the care of a health practitioner for mental health problems (e.g. bipolar or major depression disorder) please seek advice before attending.

Prof Lawrence Barsalou : This section will cover the psychological mechanisms that produce stress, an overview of strategies for working with these mechanisms, including a brief introduction to mindfulness. Disclaimer – If you are currently under the care of a health practitioner for mental health problems (e.g. psychosis) or have a history of trauma, please seek advice before attending.

Dr Catherine Lido: Do you have a bad back or joints, or just want to get fit after the holidays? Need to manage some stress levels? Come along and find out what Pilates can do for you. All fitness levels welcome, any comfy clothes will do.  Disclaimer – If you are under the care of a health practitioner for a medical condition or injury, please seek their advice before attending.

Dr Chiara Horlin: Dance and circus skills have all the obvious health benefits of participating in any physical activity. But with extra special added bonuses. Whether you want some ‘me time’ or like to spend time with others, an alternative type of fitness can help develop unique spatial skills, new social circles, and introduce you to diverse and inclusive communities outside of academia. Experience the physical expression of pure joy and tomfoolery with some 1960s go-go dancing and a killer playlist, and challenge yourself to learn some new circus tricks to impress at parties. Chiara will be joined by Scott Craig for the introduction to circus skills. Scott is Head Coach at Aerial Edge and studied Formateur en Arts du Cirque at Ecole Nationale de Cirque in Montreal.

You can find more information on the members of staff contributing to this event at:
https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/psychology/ and https://eaac.info/scott-craig/

ICS Mentoring Workshop organised by Oliver Maddocks was held on 20th February

For more information on the ICS Mentoring Programme click here



Career Development Sessions were held on 21st and 28th March and hosted by Prof Nicol Keith

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Thursday 21st March
Understanding the Open Research,  Knowledge Exchange and Impact landscape and its relevance to academic careers
This workshop covered:

  • Why do universities care so much about open research, knowledge exchange & research impact beyond academia?
  • What’s in it for you?
  • Solving problems that matter
  • Working with others outside academia

Thursday 28th March
Grant application clinic
This top-tips workshop covered:
•             The nuts and bolts of how funding committees work and what they are looking for.
•             How to develop your ideas and CV to maximise the chances of success.

 

The Athena SWAN committee is eager to get more participation from early career researchers.  If you would like to get involved and join the committee, please contact Chris Halsey for more details: chris.halsey@glasgow.ac.uk

 

 

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First published: 31 October 2017

<< April 2019