Oxford Brookes University was set up over 150 years ago. Originally, it started out as a small School of Art and over the years has evolved into one of the UK's top universities. Oxford Brookes University is engaging with excellent teaching and research, and has built a strong reputation at local, national and international level. It is based in the city of Oxford, a city renowned for its rich social and cultural environment.
There are approximately 18,000 students at Oxford Brookes University (78% UK, 6% EU and 16% rest of the world). Oxford Brookes University sees widening participation in higher education as key to their activities and actively engages with students who may be under-represented in higher education.
Oxford Brookes University was one of the first UK universities to receive an Athena SWAN award under the new Charter in 2016, and has held a Bronze Award since 2013 under the old Charter. In 2015, the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences was awarded a Silver Award. The Faculty of Technology Design and Environment also received a Bronze Award. Currently, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences as well as the Business School are applying for an Award.
The Center for Diversity, Research Policy and Practice (CDPRP) specializes in inter-disciplinary research and knowledge exchange on gender, diversity and inclusion in organizations, the economy and society. CDPRP has strong presence at European and national level, with its members participating in H2020 gender projects (GEDII, GEARING, PLOTINA, CASPER, SUPERA) while also coordinating an EPSRC project on gender and university spinouts.
OBU team is leading work package 4 which is focused on assessing existing gender equality systems/models which will inform the scenario development, the stakeholder assessment and validation processes for the European award/certification scheme. OBU is also responsible for the conceptualization and scientific coordination of CASPER.