ATHENA SWAN
Our commitment to gender equality
The Adam Smith Business School received the Silver award from Athena Swan in November 2024.
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 Silver 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
Information for staff
Self Assessment Team (SAT)
Our professional services and academic staff leading Athena Swan for the School
Belgin Okay-Somerville
Senior lecturer
Belgin is a senior lecturer in human resource management and organisational behaviour. Belgin's research focuses on labour market transitions and career development. More specifically, Belgin questions the efficacy of personal agency for overcoming structural barriers in the labour market for disadvantaged workers. Belgin has been a member of the Athena Swan team since 2018.
Stephen Fiddes
Student Development & Wellbeing Adviser
Stephen has been a Student Development & Wellbeing Adviser in the ASBS Student Exeprience team since 2019, having worked as a Student Adviser in other roles in Higher Education since 2012. He was also a Staff Engagement Lead for Wellbeing from 2021-2024, is one of four Disability Coordinators in the School, and is a trainee Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. In all his roles, Stephen's focus is on promoting steps that can be taken to improve people's wellbeing and helping remove barriers to allow students and staff to flourish.
Jan Shearer
Professional services lead
Jan is passionate about gender equality within the workplace and related polices, including staff wellbeing. With extensive experience in professional services, Jan is committed to enhancing workplace equality and has served as the professional services lead for Athena Swan since 2018. Jan also participates in various committees dedicated to improving workplace culture.
Josephine Adekola
Self Assessment Team (SAT) Chair / Senior Lecturer
Josephine Adekola is a Senior Lecturer in Management at the Adam Smith Business School. Her research interests are in the areas of risk communication, addressing inequalities and public engagement. Josephine joined the Athena Swan team in Ocotber 2024.
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
Accreditations and Reputation manager
Kirsteen is a Higher Education professional with expertise in Accreditations, Rankings, Communication, and Reputation. She champions Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, focusing on menopause support and training for women in the workplace. Kirsteen is dedicated to enhancing policies for equal opportunities and career development.
Heather Stenhouse
Operations & Planning Manager
Heather has responsibility for the School's Operations & Planning Team with a focus on Operational Excellence and Health, Safety and Wellbeing. She has worked in the Higher Education sector for over three decades. Prior to joining the Business School, she held the position of Learning & Teaching Operations Manager in the School of Education. Before this she held a number of leadership roles in the University of Strathclyde, latterly in Strathclyde Business School. She played a key role in several strategic activities, including Strategic Lead for the School's socially progressive programmes 'Breaking Barriers' and 'Forming Futures'. Heather has joined the team to share her knowledge and experience of policies and strategic activities.
Dὸmhnall Rintoul
Head of Professional Services
Dòmhnall joined the School in 2023. He has a strong interest in in creating a positive working environment which supports gender equality and diversity. He chairs the School's Colleague Experience Working Group. His career to date has included economic consultancy, strategic planning, and urban regeneration roles, across private, public and charitable sectors. A common thread has been an interest in others’ wellbeing and development.
Pawel Gaska
Data analyst
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.
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.
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.