The Department of Chemistry's commitment to addressing gender inequalities, to tackling the unequal representation of women in science and to improving career progression for female academics has been recognised in 2013 by an Athena SWAN Silver Award. Athena SWAN is a project for the advancement and promotion of the careers of women in science, engineering and technology in higher education and research, and to achieve a significant increase in the number of women recruited to top posts. Athena SWAN is run by the Equality Challenge Unit, which is a registered charity, funded by grants from the UK higher education sector funding bodies, with contributions from Universities UK and GuildHE.