Case Study: Women Returners - University of Sheffield

The Women Academic Returners’ Programme was introduced in January 2006 to help address the negative impact of extended leave for maternity or carer reasons on academic/research career progression for women, particularly in the SET and Medicine (SETM) areas. The University committed £585,000 for the initial 18 month pilot.

Women academics across all disciplines, and women researchers in the SETM area, can apply for up to £15,000 for additional staffing cover to support them in maintaining their research activity/profile during periods of absence. The member of staff and her Head of Department have flexibility in how they utilise the award to maximise the benefits to the individual and minimise disruption to her career progression in the longer term, eg, recruit full/part-time cover during the absence to continue with research activity or appoint an additional 6 month full-time post to cover teaching/admin duties upon the academic’s return to work, thereby allowing her to get up to speed with her research

The programme has provided direct support to 33 women academics/researchers returning from maternity leave. WARP monies have benefitted the individual applicants, their research teams and departments in the short-term by maintaining the momentum of their work and ensuring sustained research income.

In addition, as 63% of the people appointed to the WARP funded cover posts have been women, this has provided additional opportunities for women in employment.

The long-term benefits of WARP include its contribution to the University’s academic equality targets, eg increasing the proportion of women in academic roles and women in SETM, and equalising promotion success rates for men and women. The career success of the participating women and departments will be actively tracked to ascertain its long-term impact on their success.