Vice Chancellor's Gender Equity Fund
2024 applications will be accepted throughout August 2023
Please submit your applications by COB of Friday 8 September 2023
The Vice-Chancellor’s Gender Equity Fund (the Fund) offers professional and academic staff the opportunity to apply for support in facilitating gender equity initiatives and promote workplace inclusion at Western Sydney University. Primarily, the Fund seeks to:
- develop a deeper understanding of any obstacles, and the steps required, to tackle gender inequity within the University and its community;
- help bridge gaps between University policy and lived experience;
- foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between stakeholders within the University and its community in collective efforts to promote gender equity; and
- advance professional and academic practice through the implementation of recommendations for ‘real-world’ improvements to current University programs, initiatives and/or practices..
This funding is for projects that would not normally be funded by Schools, Institutes or Divisions.
Download the 2024 Guidelines and EOI form below:
VCGEF 2024 Guidelines and EOI (PDF) (opens in a new window)
VCGEF 2024 Guidelines and EOI (Word) (opens in a new window)
Any enquiries regarding the Fund can be emailed to gefund@westernsydney.edu.au.
2023 Final Reports
The Vice-Chancellor's Gender Equity Fund was launched in 2017. The final reports for all Fund projects are available below. Project findings and recommendations are reviewed by the Vice-Chancellor's Gender Equity And Respectful Relationships Advisory Committee, which determines the suitability and prioritisation of actions, in keeping with the Committee's Terms of Reference. The Committee also oversees the ongoing implementation of recommendations, as appropriate.
2022 Final Projects
- Muslim women’s experiences of tertiary education at Western Sydney University: A student perspective - Dr Rakime Elmir, Dr Maria Bhatti, Dr Aila Khan, Maryam Hashim and Feda Abdo.
- Uplifting Parents: How WSU can meaningfully support staff and student parents to work and study - Dr Sarah Duffy, Dr Michelle O'Shea, Associate Professor Emilee Gilbert and Dr Alina Eward
- Voice of Western through data unlinkability: Setting the agenda for better equity and inclusion of Western staff and students with diverse genders, sexualities, and sex characteristics PDF, 7369.44 KB- Anna Denejkina, David Lim, George Turner, Anita King, Eman Shatnawi, Rannie Singh, Brahmaputra Marjadi
2021 Final Projects
- Addressing Intersectionality in Gender ‘Equity’ at WSU: Experiences, policies, and everyday practice - Prof Kerry Robinson, Dr Emily Wolfinger, Assoc Prof Lucy Nicholas, Assoc Prof Corrinne Sullivan
- Equity, policy and practice: disruptions to candidature and barriers to career progression for women HDR candidates - Professor Caroline Smith, Dr Cris Townley, Assoc Professor Kate Huppatz and Dr Peter Bansel
- Precarity, pandemic and gender: how did casual academic women experience teaching at the time of COVID-19? - Dr Erika K. Smith
- Western Parents & Carers: Constructing a culture that celebrates care - Dr Michelle O’Shea, Dr Sarah Duffy, Dr Jennifer Cheng and Dr Dorothea Bowyer
- EPIC-Collaboration: Executive and Peer Intervention for Career Development – Piloting a combined peer and executive mentor support program for level A, B and C women (5 Year longitudinal study) - Assoc. Prof Freya MacMillan, Dr Kate McBride, Assoc. Prof Emma George, Assoc. Prof Genevieve Steiner, Dr Chloe Taylor, Dr Diana Karamacoska, Najwa-Joelle Metri, Leone Cripps
- Leaving no parent behind: International student and newly arrived academic staff parents negotiating migration, parenthood, study, and work in Australia - Dr Sharlotte Tusasiirwe
2020 Final Projects
- A Reconciliation of Parenting & Styling: The Role of HE Policies in Supporting Student Parents -Dr Dorothea Bowyer, Dr Milissa Deitz, Dr Tinashe Dune, Ms Hollie Hammond, Dr Anne Jamison, Ms Anita Eseosa Ogbeide, Dr Chloe Taylor, Ms Jaime Vassallo
- An exploration of WSU Professional Staff’s understanding of trans and gender diversity: Supporting best practice and policy - Assoc. Prof. Lucy Nicholas, Prof. Kerry Robinson & Cris Townley
- BREAST – Breastfeeding and Returning to campus Education and Support Technologies - Dr Nicole Bridges and Vanessa Campbell
- Moving Western to “Employer of Choice for Parents:” Developing new campus-based childcare options - Dorothea Bowyer (School of Business); Kate McBride (School of Medicine); Carolyn Ee (NICM); Freya MacMillan (School of Science and Health); Sandra Marjanovic (Translational Health Research Institute); Elaine Burns (School of Nursing and Midwifery).
- Respect at Western - an awareness raising campaign to address the gendered drivers of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the university context - Stephen Zissermann and Nathalia Alcantara
2019 Final Projects
- Redressing the Promotion Gap: Practices and programs to minimise gender disparities in academic advancement to Level E ( PDF, 435.26 KB) (opens in a new window) - Assoc Professor Kate Huppatz, Assoc Professor Nida Denson, Dr Peter Bansel and Cris Townley
- Nurturing Leadership from the Bottom Up: Supporting Leadership and Career Aspirations of Sessional Staff (PDF, 545.26 KB) (opens in a new window) - Professor Tonia Gray, Assoc Professor Jane Mears, Ashwini Kanitkar and Joelle Breault-Hood
- Mountains, Molehills and Milestones: participant experiences of WSU Mentoring Programs (PDF, 549.26 KB) (opens in a new window) - Dr Michelle Cull, Dr Kristy Coxon and Dr Manisha Dayal
- Women Doing Well (PDF, 121.81 KB) (opens in a new window) - Helen Barcham, Office of Vice-Chancellor and President
- Returning to Work after Parental Leave (PDF, 355.38 KB) (opens in a new window) - Collaborative project by the Engaged Parents Network
- Western Dads (PDF, 968.61 KB) (opens in a new window) - Dr Sarah Duffy, Dr Aila Khan, Dr Patrick Van Esch and Assoc Professor Meg Smith
- Negotiating Mothering and Academic Work: A Mixed Methods Intersectional Feminist Study (PDF, 1156.17 KB) (opens in a new window) - Dr Emilee Gilbert
- Why Western Women are Choosing STEM...or not (PDF, 164.99 KB) (opens in a new window) - Professor Kathryn Holmes, School of Education
2018 Final Projects
- Listening to and Incorporating the Voices of Women at WSU: Building a welcoming, supportive, and sustainable workplace for traditionally marginalised groups, focusing on casual staff - Assoc. Professor Jane Mears, School of Social Sciences
- Exploring ways to elevate women's leadership voices in Higher Education to achieve career longevity and gender parity (PDF, 7598.29 KB) (opens in a new window) - Assoc. Professor Tonia Gray, School of Education
- Gender Unlimited Seminar Series (PDF, 13068.38 KB) (opens in a new window) - Professor Janice Aldrich-Wright and Dr Kieryn McKay, Office of the DVC (Academic)
- Strategies and Barriers to Best Practice: A review of executive leadership succession planning in the Higher Education Sector and implications for Gender Equality at WSU (PDF, 344.11 KB) (opens in a new window) - Dr Sheree Gregory, School of Business
2017 Final Projects
- Breastfeeding Friendly Communities at WSU (PDF, 1046.72 KB) (opens in a new window) - Dr Elaine Burns and Zoi Triandafilidis
- Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to seeking Promotion: Level C and above Academics and Level B to Level C Academics ( PDF, 276.41 KB) (opens in a new window) - Dr Lyn Francis
- Review and Improvement of Academic Induction & Orientation Packs (STEMM focus) (PDF, 328.01 KB) (opens in a new window) - Professor Janice Aldrich-Wright and Dr Kieryn McKay
- Improving Access to Information on Parental Leave Entitlements (PDF, 415.02 KB) (opens in a new window) - Professor Janice Aldrich-Wright, Dr Kieryn McKay, Dr Kate McBride and Dr Freya Macmillan
- Illuminating and understanding women’s and men’s experiences navigating family care responsibilities and their academic careers (PDF, 788.71 KB) (opens in a new window) - Assoc. Prof Meg Smith, Dr Michelle O'Shea and Dr Aila Khan.
For more information about Gender Equality Initiatives at Western Sydney University visit our Gender Equality webpage.
For more information about the Vice-Chancellor's Gender Equality Fund contact Michelle Falconer, Director, Equity, Diversity and Wellbeing.
