Gender equality

Here at Imperial, gender equality lies at the heart of the Department of Computing’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) strategy and as an Athena SWAN Silver Award holder we continue to support and create initiatives to drive up the numbers of women studying computer science at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

During the 2018/19 academic year, our intake of female computing undergraduates was well above the national average. Students who identified themselves as female made up 24.5% of our cohort, almost 7% higher than the national average of 18%. We have a long way to go until we reach gender parity across all levels and positions, however we are hopeful this can be successfully achieved and sustained in the not-to-distant future.

Advance HE’s Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research.

Contact us for more information, or to request a copy of our Action Plan.

Women in Computing

Gender equality is also about creating an inclusive culture where people of all genders are valued for their unique contributions and impact. Groups like our Women in Computing group aim to create and drive that inclusive culture and community.

Our Women in Computing initiative aims to redress the gender imbalance of the discipline. Women are currently underrepresented and this leads to a loss of talent and innovation across the field of Computer Science. Perceptions of Computing can act as a barrier to women entering the subject, and by raising the profile of talented female computer scientists and role models within our department, we hope to widen the general understanding of computing and inspire young women that this is a subject for them.

Women in Computing are a collective of students, researchers and academics dedicated to promoting initiatives that aim to tackle the gender imbalance in computer science across industry and academia.

The Women in Computing group is made up of research staff, PhD students and anyone with a general interest in Computing. Membership predominantly consists of women who work or study within Imperial's Department of Computing, however we welcome and encourage participation from people of any gender and from any background. 

Some of our member profiles are featured below:

WiC profiles