I had been so happy when I had managed to upload my Athena Swan application! Not only because finally, that bulky document was finished, but also, I had managed to jump through all the complicated hoops you need to jump through to complete the uploading process.
One day I suddenly got an email from the lady who is my equivalent in the school of History, Law and Social Sciences. Her name was Corinna. She had to go through the same process! She had realised how many hoops there are involved. And I had had help from the University’s Athena Swan officer Ali, but she seemed to be on holiday. So she was wondering if I could help. And this lady was exhausted from having to do her day job, and writing this application in addition to that, and I found that very easy to understand.
I told her we could speak via Teams, but he was also welcome to come over. And that is what she chose. And while she was making her way to my office, I went back to the website, and try to remember all the strange corners you have to get into to get the submission link. I also dug out the emails from Ali that had helped me.
When she arrived I recognised her from various online meetings we had had before, in a larger group. She opened her laptop and wait gave it a go. She had a login for the AdvanceHE website; so far so good. That website doesn't mention anything about uploading AS applications. You need to magically know you have to become a member of a particular group. It turned out Corinna hadn't quite taken that step yet; she requested access there and then.
We had a backup option; I reminded her that she must have had email contact with The AS people of AdvanceHE, as you have to submit an intention to submit months beforehand. And then you get an email acknowledgement. Her brain was so frazzled she hadn't thought of that. She decided to send in the application that way straight away. That probably even was enough! When I had a technical issue at the uploading link, I was told I could just email the document if needs be. They don't seem to be difficult about that.
Corinna wanted to get to the official upload anyway. Luckily, after only minutes she received an email saying she was accepted in the group. That was the next step! Then I had to look where it was again that they had hidden the submission link. But we found it. So she got it sorted!
She was so relieved! And I gave her a hug and she went back to the mainland. I was really happy I could help her. It can be very frustrating if you work yourself into the ground to achieve something, and in the end there are so many bureaucratic tripwires. It was good to be able to alert her to all of them! And now we need to wait. But I have faith that their school will get their accreditation as well!
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