Thirteen Australian institutions have been recognised this week for their efforts to improve gender equity and diversity.

Athena SWAN Institutional Bronze Awards as part of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) initiative.

SAGE is a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews congratulated members of the second cohort to achieve accreditation.

“Our Government is committed to increasing the number of women in STEM, and our universities and institutions must be at the forefront when it comes to setting an example,” Ms Andrews said.

“SAGE’s work is an important part of our Women in STEM Strategy and Women in STEM Decadal Plan and that’s why we included a further $1.8 million toward the SAGE initiative in the 2019-20 Budget.”

Executive Director, SAGE, Dr Wafa El-Adhami, said this is the second group of the 45-strong SAGE member institutions from the higher education and research (HER) sector to complete the Athena SWAN Institutional Bronze process.

“The Bronze Award recognises an institution’s work to set solid foundations for their journey to transformative change; it sets them on the course to Silver and Gold awards,” Dr El-Adhami said.

“This follows the inaugural accreditation of 15 organisations in December last year, and I extend my sincere congratulations to all awardees for their commitment to gender equity in the higher education and research sector in Australia.”

The awardees, listed in alphabetical order, are:

·        Australian National University

·        Deakin University

·        Federation University

·        Flinders University

·        La Trobe University

·        Macquarie University

·        Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

·        South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute

·        The George Institute for Global Health

·        University of Queensland

·        University of South Australia

·        University of Sydney

·        Western Sydney University