Physics Inclusion Award

• Welcoming and inclusive framework - An organisational framework with clear governance structure and accountability for EDI.
• Inclusive culture - Promoting a culture that is open, inclusive and transparent through networks, training, retention and guidance.
• Inclusive leadership - Evidence of inclusive leadership and senior management commitment to EDI.
• Policies and processes - Awareness and implementation of policies and processes at departmental and university level.

Based on feedback during the development of the award, the steering group agreed that the key areas of professional conduct and intersectionality should be embedded as strands within the four themes.  

The award is structured in the following progressive levels:

Level 0 – Committed to working towards the themes:

• Register, express interest  
• Complete your Physics Inclusion Award self-assessment using the tool provided 
• Access to resources including intersectional case studies
• Confirm your intention to submit to Level 1 (recommended by the time your current Juno Award expires) 

Level 1 – Establishing structures to support all physicists and develop knowledge of EDI issues:

• Expanding knowledge of diverse identities and developing understanding of intersectionality
• Building an inclusive culture which includes professional conduct and expected standards of behaviour
• Developing actions working towards each theme

Level 2 – Embedding the learning and strengthening EDI knowledge and structures:

• Structures are in place to promote equality and an inclusive culture
• Some evidence of success as a result of actions implemented, whilst also reflecting on any challenges in more detail
• Evidence that good practice is starting to be developed and knowledge of intersectionality applied
• Identifying specific EDI areas within local context and focusing actions  

Level 3 – Implementing leading practice and sharing good practice:

• An intersectional approach to EDI is embedded within the department and continues to be improved
• Demonstration of continued progress against actions within the department
• Widely championing EDI and collaborating with the wider physics community to share and improve your EDI work

Two rounds of the Physics Inclusion Award assessment panels take place every year. University departments may email their Expressions of Interest (EOI) to [email protected] to apply for the Award. The EOI should include: 
•    A letter expressing your department's interest from the Head of School or equivalent
•    Juno Status (if applicable) and expiry date
•    Athena swan status (if applicable) and expiry date
We will then email you with a confirmation of receipt and information on how to apply along with other details and resources. 

March Physics Inclusion Award Assessment Panel

Applicants are invited to express their interest to submit to the panel between in November.
Applicants will be notified of their invitation to apply to the Award by end of November.
Applications must be submitted in January. This date is final and there will be no extensions provided. The system will automatically prevent entry submission after the deadline. 
Applicants should expect to receive feedback on their application in May.
 

September Physics Inclusion Award Assessment Panel

Applicants are invited to express their interest to submit to the panel between in May.
Applicants will be notified of their invitation to apply to the Award by end of May.
Applications must be submitted in July. This date is final and there will be no extensions provided. The system will automatically prevent entry submission after the deadline. 
Applicants should expect to receive feedback on their application in October.

Exact dates:
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In your application, your department will be asked to submit evidence demonstrating how you have met the criteria in the four themes.  

The IOP has a range of tools, guidance and support available to help you with your application, including:

• Self-assessment tool and guide - a unique resource for departments to assess where they are currently in their EDI journey against the defined criteria within the four themes
• Physics Inclusion Award business case
• Intersectional case studies 

If you’d like more information about applying and the tools available, please sign up to our contact list or get in touch by emailing [email protected]. 

The Physics Inclusion Award test panel took place in July 2024, with 14 volunteers split into two panels. The groups that were represented on the panel included: Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund Panel, Early Career Members Group, Heads of Physics, Inclusion and Diversity Committee, Juno Assessment Panel, LGBT+ Physical Sciences Network, pilot participants and Steering Group. This including representatives from departments who were not actively involved in Project Juno.

The test panel also included independent observers who observed the assessment process for bias and identified training needs for future assessment panel members. Early career observers ensured that early career perspectives were captured in the assessment of applications.

Improvements to the peer assessment process include:

• Process – online portal for application and assessment, examples of how to achieve the criteria for the applicants, considering inclusion and accessibility for panel members, e.g. virtual panels, reducing the number of applications reviewed by each panel member.
• Panel – role descriptions for the chair and panel members, ensuring a wide range of diversity and lived experiences in the membership, introducing additional expertise where required such as EDI experts, bias interrupters, etc.
• Training – focus on upskilling the panel in inclusive peer assessment, participating in inclusive meetings, EDI knowledge in academic context, scoring against the Physics Inclusion Award criteria.
• Regular review – building in an annual feedback process for applicants and panel members to address any immediate issues with the process and adopt an approach of continuous improvement.

Applicants are invited to express their interest to apply to the panels in the periods specified below. If the number of applicants per round exceeds the capacity of the panel, priority to apply will be assigned to those institutions whose equality awards (particularly Juno and Athena SWAN awards) are close to expiration or have already expired.

To express an interest to apply to the panel, please contact [email protected].

March 2026 Physics Inclusion Award Assessment Panel

Applicants were invited to express their interest to submit to the panel between Monday 3 November – Sunday 23 November 2025.

Applicants were notified of their invitation to apply to the Award by Friday 28 November 2025.

Applications should have been submitted by Sunday 25 January 2026. Please note the entry deadline, this date is final and there will be no extensions provided. The system will automatically prevent entry submission after the deadline.

Applicants should expect to receive feedback on their application in May 2026.

September 2026 Physics Inclusion Award Assessment Panel

Applicants are invited to express their interest to submit to the panel between Monday 4 May – Sunday 24 May 2026.

Applicants will be notified of their invitation to apply to the Award by Friday 29 May 2026.

Applications must be submitted by Sunday 19 July 2026. Please note the entry deadline, this date is final and there will be no extensions provided. The system will automatically prevent entry submission after the deadline.

Applicants should expect to receive feedback on their application in October 2026.

To better reflect the challenges and needs of today’s society and the maturity of our EDI understanding.

Find out more about the research we have done:

• Diversity and inclusion
• Policy
• Limit Less campaign
• Undertaking additional research to complement our understanding of the EDI landscape

The Physics Inclusion Award covers different aspects of diversity in physics (i.e. race and ethnicity, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, etc) and it will aim to be more inclusive of the diversity in physics.

Yes, it covers the UK and Ireland.

Yes, the Physics Inclusion Award and the Athena SWAN charter are reciprocal at Level 1/Bronze and Level 2/Silver. For more information, please see the Physics Inclusion Award code of practice (PDF, 417KB).

The Juno scheme has been retired and superseded by the Physics Inclusion Award.

We have undertaken a review of the Juno scheme to assess the impact of the last 15 years. We know from anecdotal evidence and applications that Juno has had a positive impact on Juno departments. We can also see from Higher Education Statistics Agency data that the number of female professors has doubled in the time of the scheme’s existence.

The first review of Project Juno was undertaken after five years of the scheme in 2013. Find out more about the Project Juno independent evaluation.

In 2024, the IOP undertook another review of Project Juno. The highlights of the review were shared at the Physics Inclusion Award Network meetings between September and November 2024. The full report will be shared with the community shortly.

Yes, we have been meeting and working with other charters including Athena SWAN and the Race Equality Charter. We have also met with business charters to get a broader understanding of which can be used towards the design of the Award.

To reduce the paperwork and bureaucracy for applicants, the IOP has launched an online platform for the Physics Inclusion Award. Applicants can store their evidence against the criteria, share their good practice via the good practice gallery and upcoming events, opportunities for collaboration or challenges via the community noticeboard.

If you have applied for the Award and you would like access to this platform, please contact us at [email protected] to find out more and to be set up.

No, there is no cost.

The Physics Inclusion Award is accessible for all department sizes, locations, and departmental structures.

An issue was reported to us in January 2026 regarding data loss when the collaborative feature was used. We worked closely with Award Force to resolve this issue. 

The engineers at Award Force checked any input data across the platform in January 2026 and did not identify any further missing data. This was reassuring, however we would ask that you do the following:

• That the named person you are submitting your application under please check your current application to ensure all of the information you expect to see is there.
• If you discover any missing information please inform us immediately and do not edit your application.

Informing us immediately means that we can liaise with Award Force and find your data logs more easily. 

The Physics Inclusion Award is a new award launched in 2024. It supersedes Project Juno, which was fully retired in 2023. Juno focused solely on gender, whilst the Physics Inclusion Award covers a broader range of characteristics. Because of this, it is not possible to convert from Juno to the Physics Inclusion Award, and all departments and schools are starting from the same place, no matter their Juno award. Furthermore the Physics Inclusion Award includes additional criteria such as Intersectionality across all themes. As neither Juno nor Athena Swan addressed intersectionality beyond gender in their awards a PIA application needs to demonstrate meeting these at the appropriate level.

We originally set the PIA deadline to be on a Friday to respect the most common working hours within the UK. However, during our pilot round we received feedback that it would be more equitable to move the deadline to a Sunday, as those who work non-standard hours due to their circumstances will not be penalised for doing so.