Athena Swan Gold Award for Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology

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The University of Liverpool’s Institute for Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology (ISMIB) has been conferred an Athena Swan Gold award – making it one of just six Universities or Research Institutes in the country to currently hold the Gold rating.

A Gold award recognises significant and sustained progression and achievement in promoting gender equality, a well-established record of activity coupled with data demonstrating continued impact and sustained efforts to champion and promote good practice to the wider community.

The Athena Swan panel commended the Institute's proactive efforts and sector-leading practices. Tangible progress in key areas demonstrated a solid foundation for advancing gender equality.

The panel highlighted a number of ISMIB practices and initiatives in their assessment, including:

    • Strong involvement of the senior leadership team in Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Wellbeing (EDIW) initiatives, with EDIW being a regular agenda item across committees.

    • Student equalities forum and biannual EDI away days.

    • New career pathways for Research Technicians and professional development.

    • Maternity pay top-ups for Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs).

    • Support for staff with caring roles.

    • Efforts to enhance trans and nonbinary inclusion.

    • A Data Scholarship Initiative.

These and other initiatives have led to positive outcomes including:

  • Increased women's confidence in reporting issues.

  • Higher EDI training participation.

  • Improved promotion rates for women and technical staff.

  • Positive impact of intersectionality-focused initiatives (for example, for neurodivergent individuals).

Professor Sonia Rocha, outgoing ISMIB Executive Dean said: “This incredible achievement by the institute has been a true collaborative effort and a testament to all the colleagues that have contributed to us having such a great culture. Of course, we are not perfect, but we strive to continually improve. This has been one of the best achievements of my tenure as Executive Dean, demonstrating that an engaged team can work wonders.”

Professor Tony Marson, current ISMIB Executive Dean said: “I’m delighted that ISMIB has been awarded Athena Swan Gold. Pulling the application together was a gargantuan effort undertaken by the large team in a truly collaborative manner. This is all highlights the really positive culture that has been developed, and puts us on a trajectory for continued success.”

The ISMIB Athena Swan project team said: "The collaborative approach leading to this achievement has been at the heart of the project. This included a team collating and analysing data, a team analysing the current culture and previous action plans and a team thinking up new innovative ideas. This along with supportive and proactive leadership and sub group work of Mental Health and wellbeing and EDIW meant that the information we needed to write the application had been obtained and worked on across the Institute. This collaborative approach will continue through our sub groups into rolling out the Action Plan. This application really was a team effort and a lot of people should be very proud of their achievement."

The ISMIB leadership team would like to thank Athena Swan Academic Leads Professors Mike Speed and Eithne Costello-Goldring, Project Manager Katharin Lawlor and all involved in the working groups.

ISMIB brings cutting-edge research into all areas of biology, at all scales. Its research and teaching uncovers new discoveries in biological and biomedical systems. The Institute is tackling important societal problems, from improving crops to creating new diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions across many diseases.

The Athena Swan Gold award is valid until 31 January 2030.