Equality, diversity and inclusion

The School of Physics and Astronomy is committed to creating an inclusive environment that supports equality and diversity. The School aims to achieve fair and equal representation for all, enabling all members of staff and students to contribute and reach their full potential. All staff operate under the University's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

The School is against any kind of discrimination and harassment on any basis, including but not limited to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. For more information on what constitutes bullying or harassment, please see the University's advice and support web page.

If you need to report or talk with someone about issues relating to equality and diversity, please get in touch with either the School's Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion or the Head of School. These are the current members of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

The Report and Support tool is available to report any concerns you have related to wellbeing, bullying, discrimination, abuse, assault or harassment of any sort. You can report anonymously or using your contact details. If you provide your contact details, a member of staff will be able to contact you to help provide support. This tool can be used by students, members of staff, members of the public or visitors to the University.

The Mediation Service is available to students, staff and members of the public, experiencing disagreement or conflict, who would prefer a less formal method of discussing University-related disagreements and grievances. The service is also available for groups or teams.

The Mediators are staff members from The University of St Andrews who have undertaken formal mediation training accredited by Scottish Mediation. Several Post Graduate students have also qualified in Mediation. Mediators act impartially and separately from University Schools and Services. They are solely interested in helping those engaged in the service reach a mutually acceptable solution.

Mediation is a confidential, informal, voluntary, self-determined and without prejudice process. If you or someone you know is involved in a disagreement that is in its early stages or has reached an impasse, please contact mediation@st-andrews.ac.uk for an informal chat about how the mediators can help.

In 2017, in recognition of the School's commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, the School was awarded Juno Champion status by the Institute of Physics and was awarded an Athena SWAN Silver Award.

The School of Physics and Astronomy is determined to foster an inclusive environment that promotes equality and values diversity. The School has published a Code of Conduct (PDF) .

We encourage anyone to come and talk to a committee member if you have any problems with aspects of life within the School, University or academia more broadly. However, you may also use the feedback form to provide anonymous feedback or complaints. The form is submitted directly to the School Director of E&D by email. Where necessary and appropriate details will then be shared with the Head of School, selected members of the E&D committee, Human Resources or Student Services. Note that serious complaints will be acted on to the best of the School's abilities even if they are made anonymously.

Motivation

Improving the wellbeing of School staff and students is a priority for the School EDI Committee and Management Group. While many aspects of our academic, teaching and support work provide us with great personal satisfaction, other aspects can cause stress. Some thrive in a working environment that can have long-hours and great flexibility, however, these features may be a significant source of stress for others. Wellness can be impacted by prejudice and discrimination, and minority groups may have lower wellbeing than the majority group.

Most of us have many competing pressures for our time, from e.g. the University, our research groups, our teaching, our national standing in undergraduate league tables, and our internationally competitive research fields. While acknowledging that we are subject to external pressures and have to work within those constraints, there are actions that we, as a School, might take to increase the wellbeing of everyone. We organise various School activities focussed on staff and student wellbeing, and our 2017 Juno action plan (and 2021 renewal) included items to try to address the long-hour culture. During the global Covid pandemic there are significant additional challenges to our mental wellbeing. Here we take stock of the current situation, provide a plan for future School-level activities, as well as useful resources for individuals and group leaders.

Taking stock: data and current activities

While it is difficult to obtain data on the actual working hours of staff, analysis of the School aggregated TRAC data suggests that academic and research staff are working (pre-Covid) an average of ~50 hours per week, with 30% of that time spent on teaching activities, and 60% on research. This is significantly higher than the normal expected 36.25 hours/week. During the teaching semester, staff are reporting a little over 30 hours per week spent on teaching alone. There is significant variation in this, with individuals reporting anything from normal expected hours to 70 hours/week. As academic staff do not in general report holidays or days off it is impossible to know how many days are being taken. However, it is generally anticipated that most take well below the 39 days (nearly 8 weeks) of Annual Leave entitlement for most staff.

Recent staff surveys have shown that while the majority of staff are happy with their workload and work-life balance, a significant number are not. For example, in the University staff survey 2017, which included all staff and students who teach, 24% of respondents in Physics and Astronomy disagreed or strongly disagreed that "it is possible to maintain a satisfactory work-life balance in this employment"; and in the School survey 2016, 17% of academic staff respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that "my workload is appropriate".

Supported by a recent nationwide increase in public awareness of mental health problems, "wellness" coffee mornings and lunches in the School have attempted to bring the topic of personal wellbeing and mental health into the open. These have included presentations from Occupational Health, and discussions led by student services. Activities have also been organised for Physics undergraduates, including a "wellness wall", visits from working dogs and a PhysSoc Insight special edition podcast. The School has trained "Respect at work" listeners, to provide initial contact points for people experiencing bullying or harassment. Posters around the School advertise their existence as well as suggesting routes by which people can raise issues.

While circumstantial evidence is that staff and students are becoming more aware of the importance of good mental health, assessing whether any of these activities are having a positive impact is difficult. Some staff feel they have no option but to work long hours, and this became all the more acute in the covid pandemic. Some staff feel that coffee mornings and emails about wellness are misplaced, given what they are being asked to do by the School and/or University. Within the constraints that the School is unable to magic up more staff, or fix the academic career structure, what more can we do to improve student and staff wellbeing?

Personal Wellbeing Action Plan

Personal Wellbeing Action Plan (PDF)

Personal Wellbeing Action Plan (Word)
Athena SWAN started with the Athena Project and the Scientific Women’s Academic Network (SWAN) advancing the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) in higher education. It has been expanded to include arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL). Athena SWAN covers professional and support staff and also transsexual staff and students. Levels of the award are Bronze, Silver and Gold.‌

The School of Physics and Astronomy is committed to providing an inclusive environment promoting creativity, originality and the wellbeing of staff and students. It has held an IOP Juno Champion status and an Athena SWAN Silver Award since 2017.
- Women in Science at St Andrews (WISSA)
- University page on Athena SWAN
- University page on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- University page on Health, wellbeing and community involvement
- University policy on Flexible working – Guide to the Flexible working policy of the University, please see Appendix B for types of flexible working arrangements.
- Are you OK? (PDF) – A pastoral guide for undergraduate and postgraduate physics and astronomy students.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Wellbeing Action Plan

Athena SWAN and Juno

Resources