The Faculty of Medicine Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (ED&I) Committee works hard to promote equality across the Faculty for both its staff and students. The committee regularly consults with faculty staff and students to identify ED&I objectives, which it is supported in delivering by the University’s ED&I Team. Membership of the Faculty of Medicine ED&I Committee includes:
Information on the committee members
I work full time as Head of Commercial for the Wessex Institute, Faculty of Medicine. The flexible working hours and level of trust I'm given by the University, including some home working, enable me to juggle a busy home life and my other responsibilities outside of work, whilst progressing my career at the University.
Karen is a trained medical secretary working as part of the Faculty Operating Service, within the Faculty of Medicine. She has a multi-layered role providing administrative support for the Academic Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology team based in the Princess Anne Hospital: dividing her time between PA duties, support of the undergraduate curriculum for O&G and the Athena SWAN committee. In addition to working for the University for more than 30 years’ Karen is a qualified counsellor and member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, works as a volunteer counsellor for a local charity and a committee member for a local, not for profit, membership organisation.
‘I feel very fortunate to work alongside inspiring colleagues and students within the Faculty who are committed to equality and inclusivity’
Kathy is Associate Professor in Sociology as Applied to Medicine and leads the portfolio for undergraduate programmes on the Athena Swan committee. She has been involved in university diversity-related issues since 1986 while undertaking her MA at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, where she sat on the President’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women. She is a committed feminist whose research and teaching address themes related to social justice. Kathy has especially enjoyed supervising research students on topics including diversity teaching in the undergraduate curriculum and the experience of refugee students. She is a committee member of the University’s Staff and Postgraduate Asylum and Refugee Network (SPARN).
Head of Faculty Operations and a Member of University of Council. In previous role within NHS and DH involved improving health literacy across disadvantaged groups, diversity projects in East London including introducing flexible working practices for clinical staff. Worked on national public health issues amongst disadvantaged teenagers and LGBT groups. Adrian is married with two teenage children.
Alexander Melhuish (Equality Charters Adviser) supports departments across the University with their Athena SWAN submissions and aligning their action plans to the University Strategy and business plans. He is an experienced Athena SWAN panellist and has worked in the ED&I team since 2010. He is also a Harassment Contact for the University, and lives in Southampton with his husband.
I’m a Senior Research Fellow in Cancer Sciences. My wife and I both work full time, so I appreciate the flexibility of academic work, which allows me to attend school meetings/awards ceremonies etc. for my 5 year-old daughter, then make up the time in the evenings. I have had one period of maternity leave while working at University of Southampton and I used my accrued annual leave to work a part-time phased return over the following 4 months.
Miriam Santer is Associate Professor in Primary Care Research at the University of Southampton and a GP in Bournemouth. She joined the Athena SWAN Action Committee in support of helping everyone regardless of background or gender to achieve their career potential while maintaining a work life balance.
“Early in my career my mentor told me that I had a right to pursue a career as well as a family life. The ability to work flexibly and support from colleagues has helped make this possible.”
I am a government funded research fellow in HDH. I have 2 wonderful girls aged 3 and 5 and a wife who like me loves her work. Though we have not yet achieved perfect equilibrium we as a family have been greatly helped by the high degree of trust that has allowed me flexibility in managing my working patterns.
I am an Associate Professor in Breast Surgery working both within the university and the NHS clinical team. Along with Paul Elkington I support the clinical academic portfolio on the Athena SWAN committee.
“As an surgeon I am keen to support training of academics and particularly within “craft” clinical specialties such as surgery”
I am the Athena SWAN Project Manager. I have four grown up daughters. The family friendly policies at the university have meant that I am able to achieve a healthy work-life balance.
I am an Associate Professor in Public Health with a particular research interest in maternal and child health. I teach undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Faculty and lead the portfolio of intersectionality on the Faculty’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. I also co-chair the mini-Athena SWAN committee for the Academic Unit of Primary Care and Population Sciences. I act as a mentor within the Faculty of Medicine’s Mentoring Scheme. I have worked part-time and full-time throughout my career and experienced the challenges posed by balancing a successful academic career with family life and responsibilities. I feel passionate about providing support to minority groups to reach their full potential.
"Working here, I don’t experience conflict between my two life roles as an Academic and a mother of 3 children"
Janis Baird is Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Public Health. She works in the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in the Human Development and Health academic unit. She worked part-time for many years while her family were growing up and is committed to supporting colleagues within the Faculty to progress in their careers while, at the same time, caring for their families.
"When my children were young, I was able to work flexibly and part-time. Over the last 6 years the Faculty of Medicine has enabled me to gradually return to a full-time pattern of working"
I am a married Mother of two crazy but adorable children, Holly and Thomas. I have had two sets of maternity leave and have been able to return to part-time working with the support of both HR and the Faculty. I have managed to achieve a good work life balance thanks to the flexibility of the organisation and the trust imparted upon me to manage my own workload and to be measured on my contribution and output and not by presentism.
Roxana Carare is a Professor in Clinical Neuroanatomy in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton. Roxana was born in Romania, spent her childhood in Nigeria, returned to Romania where she qualified in Medicine in Bucharest in 1994 and underwent the basic postgraduate general and surgical training until 1998. Part of Roxana’s clinical training was undertaken in the Rep of Ireland. Anatomy has always fascinated Roxana and she took up a post of teaching assistant in Anatomy in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, in 1998. She is chair of the Faculty Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity committee, with a balanced portfolio of teaching and research. Roxana is married and her children are Stephanie- age 16 and Gabriel age 13. She is principal carer for her father who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, age 91 and mother, age 86.
I am a full-time Associate Professor in Developmental Physiology in Human Development and Health (HDH), but worked part time for several years following two periods of maternity leave. I chair the HDH ED&I sub-committee, am part of the Faculty Mentoring Scheme and have a special interest in promoting diversity in the Faculty's public engagement. I value tremendously my flexible work which allows me to balance time with my partner Kevin and 2 kids (including one of the school runs each day) against my research, teaching and engagement activities.
Paul Elkington has been a committee member since 2012 and deputy chair since 2016. He is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, balancing clinical duties with research into tuberculosis, a disease prevalent in all resource-poor countries, and spending time with his three children.
Information on the case studies
In 2011 I joined the Faculty of Medicine as a postdoctoral research fellow and are now an early career researcher at the transition to independency. In summer 2015 I gave birth to my son and started my maternity leave for 8 month. As I was employed on a fixed-term contract, which would have ended during my leave period, it was not clear for me if I would be able to continue my academic career path after my maternity leave adding a lot of uncertainty and stress to my situation. Only with the support of the Maternity Returners Fund of the Faculty of Medicine, that gave me the security and reassurance needed, I was able to return to work on a part-time basis for a period of one year and to continue my academic career path. This year was a very important time in my career, in which I applied for several fellowships and grants and initiated collaborations with external partners. Due to the support of the maternity fund I was able to secure a substantial research contract with a pharmaceutical company, which is allowing me to consolidate my independence as a researcher. Furthermore, I was able to secure a Faculty of Medicine Postdoctoral Career Track Award, which is enabling me to pursue my scientific career and become an independent researcher. Without the support of the maternity fund I would have not been able to continue my academic research career after my maternity leave and would have been forced to look for an alternative career path outside academia.
I arrived in Southampton in 2008 as a postdoctoral researcher from a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, USA which followed my PhD at the University of Liverpool. I was employed by the Faculty of Medicine on a short-term contract for 18 months during which time I was encouraged to secure my own funding by my supervisor and mentor, a senior female academic. I applied and was awarded two externally funded research grants and one internally funded Faculty of Medicine postdoctoral career track fellowship. This fellowship was very important in giving me the time to develop my own research program. I applied for an externally funded fellowship in 2012 and while shortlisted for interview I was unsuccessful. However, in February 2013, I successfully secured my current permanent position of lecturer in Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine.
The support by the Faculty has been absolutely instrumental in the success of my academic career in science including the postdoctoral career track award (salary and consumables) and supporting grant and fellowship applications by providing feedback and advice. For my fellowship applications several senior academics gave up their time providing practice interview sessions and support prior to the interview. Of particular importance was the role of senior academic clinicians and scientists (both men and women) who built my confidence enabling me to be assertive and assured at interview. Without this type of mentoring I believe I would not have performed as well as I did at interview for either the fellowship or lectureship.
During my transition from postdoctoral to independent researcher, I was actively encouraged to take up external speaking opportunities at international conferences which built my confidence. I was given opportunities to supervise research students, review manuscripts and write grants. The Faculty also encouraged me to attend a researcher talent development programme in 2011 which focused on developing the skills and attributes to become a successful leading researcher.
Since becoming a lecturer I have taken the opportunities of sitting on the scientific committee of a local research charity and I am a member of the SAT for the Faculty of Medicine’s Silver Athena SWAN application. Sitting on these committees has exposed me to the various processes in running these committees, experience of how the Faculty operates and has given me access to a variety of people including senior research academics, human resources and faculty operating services. I am actively involved in the mentoring support offered by the Faculty helping increase the visibility of the mentoring scheme within the Faculty. I have set up a peer mentoring group for ECRs aimed at supporting and developing their fellowship applications. By undertaking these new roles in the Faculty I hope to provide similar support for junior scientists to that which enabled me to achieve my goal of an academic career in science.
I was appointed as a level 6 Principal Teaching Fellow and Programme Leader of the Graduate Entry Medical Programme in the Faculty of Medicine in January 2011.
I joined the faculty married with one 2 year old son, my husband worked in London 4 days a week and I had no close family members nearby. I was the main person responsible for childcare arrangements during the week and overnight trips/extended hours meetings were difficult. Despite several changes to home life and childcare arrangements, support from the Faculty and my supervisor has enabled me to carry out my job and continue to provide support and care for my children. Examples of this include:
Support for developing skills and career
From the start of my job in the faculty I have been invited to take up and or/seek out staff development opportunities to develop my skills and progress my career. I have been welcomed into the senior management team, given numerous opportunities for experience and networking that will help develop my career further and ideas and suggestions that I have made have been welcomed and encouraged. I have recently been encouraged to submit an application for the role as head of the Medical Education Academic Unit and further motivated by being told that I now have the skills and experience to work at this level.
I actively chose to pursue a career in education rather than research at an early age (following my PhD and 1 Post-Doctoral position) and despite this being a less well established career route in the UK I have felt more safe, most appreciated and with the greatest options for career development in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton than in any other post. The support I get from my line manager, in particular the Associate Dean for Education, and from colleagues means that I have been able to achieve the ideal life/work balance.
The impact of the FoM Maternity Returners Fund on my Career
In 2011 I joined the Faculty of Medicine as a postdoctoral research fellow and are now an early career researcher at the transition to independency. In summer 2015 I gave birth to my son and started my maternity leave for 8 month. As I was employed on a fixed-term contract, which would have ended during my leave period, it was not clear for me if I would be able to continue my academic career path after my maternity leave adding a lot of uncertainty and stress to my situation. Only with the support of the Maternity Returners Fund of the Faculty of Medicine, that gave me the security and reassurance needed, I was able to return to work on a part-time basis for a period of one year and to continue my academic career path. This year was a very important time in my career, in which I applied for several fellowships and grants and initiated collaborations with external partners. Due to the support of the maternity fund I was able to secure a substantial research contract with a pharmaceutical company, which is allowing me to consolidate my independence as a researcher. Furthermore, I was able to secure a Faculty of Medicine Postdoctoral Career Track Award, which is enabling me to pursue my scientific career and become an independent researcher. Without the support of the maternity fund I would have not been able to continue my academic research career after my maternity leave and would have been forced to look for an alternative career path outside academia.