Skip to main content
Woman tutor helping woman student

Guidance for Project Juno Award holders converting to Athena Swan in the UK

How physics departments can convert a Juno award into an Athena Swan award.

There is a reciprocal agreement between Advance HE and the Institute of Physics that allows Project Juno Champion and Practitioner awards to be converted to Athena Swan Silver and Bronze awards respectively, and vice versa.

Following the transformation of Athena Swan, the process for converting a Juno award into an Athena Swan award has been updated. As part of Advance HE’s commitment to reduce administrative burden and increase autonomy and flexibility for Athena Swan applicants, the conversion process has been significantly streamlined and will not require Juno award holders to complete further application forms or an assessment from an Athena Swan panel. Please read the guidance below for more information on how to convert your Juno award.

Please note that this process is an interim process that is being put in place until the Institute of Physics’ new inclusion model has been designed. The Institute of Physics is in the process of designing a new inclusion model as part of their commitment to find and remove barriers for underrepresented groups in Physics. As part of this process, the Institute of Physics and Advance HE will consider how we can continue to collaborate to support Physics departments and ensure our services around equality, diversity, and inclusion are complementary.

Buff line

Charter materials, guidance and FAQs 

To make it easier for you to find everything you need, we have moved our guidance, templates, FAQ document and other resources to support your Athena Swan Charter award submission to the UK Athena Swan Member Network Group on Connect (members access only).

If you are already a member, you can log in here, or sign up to access the group here.

Athena Swan Conversion Process

To be eligible to convert a Juno award to an Athena Swan award, departments must belong to an institution that holds a valid Athena Swan award and has full Advance HE membership (including Athena Swan) with no outstanding membership fees.

Successful Juno award holders can request an Athena Swan award as soon as your Juno award is conferred. To request a conversion to Athena Swan, your head of department should write to Advance HE with:

  • A commitment to the Athena Swan principles (you can find a template letter here)
  •  A copy of your Juno result letter from the Institute of Physics

Please send requests for Athena Swan conversions to athena.swan@advance-he.ac.uk. You can do this as soon as you receive your Juno result letter and no longer need to submit an intention to submit form or pay an administration fee. Please ensure you request your conversion within one year of your Juno result.

The Charters team will write to you (usually within one month) confirming your Athena Swan award. Your Athena Swan award will be valid until the end date of your Juno award.

The previous Juno conversion guidance and application forms have been removed from the Advance HE website to avoid confusion but are available from the Athena Swan team on request.

For more information on Project Juno and how to convert an Athena Swan award into a Juno award, please see the Institute of Physics's website.