Frequently asked questions

Provided an answer to frequently asked questions by (prospective) CYGNA members

Anne-Wil Harzing - Sat 14 Oct 2023 09:42 (updated Tue 6 Oct 2026 17:40)

What is CYGNA?

• How is CYGNA different from other women's networks?
• Why are you called CYGNA?
• What is the CYGNA ethos?
• Can I join the CYGNA network?

CYGNA meetings

• How are CYGNA meetings different?
• Are CYGNA meetings recorded?
• Where can I find slides from previous CYGNA meetings?
• What if I can't attend a CYGNA meeting after all?
• What is a CYGNA jam session and how do I organise one?
• What is a CYGNA new members meeting and who can join?
• What are CYGNA networking meetings?

Membership engagement 

• Can anyone send an email to the CYGNA mailing list?
• Can anyone organise a CYGNA conference meet-up?
• Can anyone organise an official CYGNA meeting?
• What is the CYGNA closed LinkedIn group for?
• How do I use the CYGNA membership spreadsheet?

How is CYGNA different from other women's networks?

Our network differs from other academic women’s networks in at least five ways:

Single discipline across universities

Most women’s networks are single-university networks and cover all disciplines from Archaeology to Zoology. Although this might build institutional coherence, single-discipline networks across universities like CYGNA offer different institutional perspectives, provide better opportunities for research collaborations, and present the opportunity to discuss sensitive issues with those outside one’s immediate circle of colleagues.

Close bonds for trustful relationships

Likewise, countrywide networks such as WHEN [Women in Higher Education Network] have an important role to play. However, the sheer size of this type of networks makes forming the close bonds that are needed for women to thrive in academia difficult. At CYGNA new members are only added to the mailing list if they are known to at least one active current member and they need to complete a membership survey. New members are also explicitly introduced and made to feel welcome at their first meeting.

Regular 2-3 hour events

Most university and countrywide networks only organize only a few events a year, often fairly short in duration. On average, CYGNA has met for half-day events five times a year since its inception. Since May 2020 we have had regular virtual meetings to accommodate our international members. With more than 70 meetings organized to date (October 2026) this means lots of opportunities for academic women to meet and a solid stock of accumulated resources on our website here.

Open to international members

CYGNA is open to international members. In fact, half of our active members do not live in the UK. This provides members with the opportunity to network outside their own country. Its London location means that we also regularly host international CYGNA members at our on-site meetings. To date, we have had visitors from Australia, Austria, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, and the USA. Given that, by coincidence rather than by design, 95% of our UK CYGNA members originate from outside the UK, this makes for a very international network.

Accessible for all without financial barriers

CYGNA is resolutely FREE for its members. Our speakers are usually CYGNA members who offer their time for free, whereas for on-site meetings the host university sponsors our catering. We do not charge for membership or for attending our meetings. This ensures our network is open for academics at any stage of career and to those who work at less well-resourced institutions.

Why are you called CYGNA?

The name CYGNA derives from the female version of the Greek word for SWAN (Supporting Women in Academia Network). Our name and logo (see above) were chosen through a collaborative process involving all members, who now call themselves swans. The name CYGNA appealed to members for its Greek origins and its slight mysteriousness. The connotations and imagery elicited by the word swan were also seen as clear positives:

• the traditional symbol of beauty and grace in ancient Greece, which, combined with the Greek name, provides us with strong academic roots
• serene and calm on the outside, but madly paddling under the water, just like most academics these days
• peaceful, faithful, and almost entirely herbivorous, but assertive when defending things that matter, such as gender equality and our research
• at home in diverse environments (water, earth, air), reflecting the national and cultural diversity of our network, which counts more than 50 nationalities

Can I join the CYGNA network?

At CYGNA we prefer cohesion and mutual support over a big, but inevitably impersonal network. Hence, CYGNA typically grows through personal connections with members recommending others to join. However, we are not an "exclusive" club.

If you are a female academic who - after reading the CYGNA pages - thinks you would be able to benefit from and contribute to the network, you would be very welcome to contact membership coordinator Christa Sathish. Members from any country or discipline are welcome, but note that we have a focus on Business & Management and the wider Social Sciences.

What is the CYGNA ethos?

CYGNA is a friendly, kind, inclusive, and supportive community, providing a safe space / place to exchange ideas, share experiences, provide advice, inspire, and learn. To maintain our ethos, our members are expected to follow the following principles:

1. Respect and nurture CYGNA's ethos by modeling our mission and values, both within and outside meetings.
2. Ensure meeting invites and the membership spreadsheet stay within the network only.
3. Keep discussions in CYGNA sessions and on the mailing list fully confidential.

CYGNA mission

CYGNA's mission is to provide an inclusive space where members support one another, and share knowledge and wisdom to encourage: 

• empowerment and career development;
• inspiration and curiosity;
• collaboration and friendship.

CYGNA's eight core values

How are CYGNA meetings different?

Cygna is different from other (women’s) networks. Likewise, its meetings differ from most other academic meetings. A short summary of key differences can be found in the table below. A more detailed explanation of the many different types of meetings CYGNA organises can be found on this dedicated page: Confused? Overview of meeting types.

Are CYGNA meetings recorded?

We do not generally record CYGNA meetings for two reasons:

• 1. Recording changes the dynamics of the meeting, especially in meetings dealing with sensitive topics. Presenters become more guarded in their presentations. In addition, it implicitly discourages questions during the presentation as participants don't want to disturb the video, or don't want to be visible in the recording. This makes for a more stilted experience, which we do not like.

• 2. Recording makes CYGNA more similar to more generic webinar series, where you don't really have to "be there", but can just skip through the recording afterwards on fast-forward. We feel that this is likely to lead to lower attendance in the meetings and less engagement, the very thing that makes CYGNA special.

Note: To respect and promote the spirit of trust and collaboration, we also do not allow any AI meeting transcription or summary tools. Please make sure any such tools are switched off before joining a meeting.

However, we do understand that members are unable to attend every meeting they would like. Therefore, we always write up a blogpost for each meeting. This generally includes download links for the slides of any presentation, as well as lots of other resources. You can find an overview of these blogposts here: https://harzing.com/resources/working-in-academia/blogposts#cygna

We do sometimes record presentations that are timeless and on "neutral" topics. These presentations can be watched in the CYGNA playlist linked below.

Where can I find slides from previous CYGNA meetings?

You can find a quick overview of all available presentation slides on the CYGNA Quick Overview page. Note that as we have moved away from long presentations in our meetings, this page only includes presentation slides between 2014 and 2024. You can also find a full list of all meeting blogposts and other gender related posts here. These posts include slides, pictures, resources on the topic, and lots of other information.

What if I can't attend a CYGNA meeting after all?

We are aware of and sensitive to the multiple demands on your time, and so we of course understand if you register but then cannot attend.

But please remember that event organisers are volunteers who put considerable time and commitment into preparing an engaging CYGNA event for participants and they often need to estimate attendance to plan activities.

So if you know it is unlikely you will attend, please register when you are more likely to attend than not; and if you are registered but cannot attend, please let organisers know in advance.

What is CYGNA jam session and how do I organise one?

A CYGNA jam session is a short (30-40 minutes, ad-hoc, informal CYGNA meeting around a narrowly-defined topic, such as for instance publishing in a specific journal, or a practical academic problem that one or more CYGNA members are facing. They can also serve to elicit interest for a more permanent CYG, i.e. a CYGNA SIG (= special interest group), that might go on to have more regular meetings.

Everyone can call a CYGNA jam. You don't need to be an expert on the topic that you are calling a meeting for. In fact, you are typically calling the meeting because you want advice! You are free to decide how to run the meeting. However, based on our experiences of earlier CYGNA jams, we would like to suggest the following:

• 1. The person calling the meeting decides on the date/time, circulates an invite to the mailing list and chairs the meeting.
• 2. At the start of the meeting, please ask if there is anyone who has never attended a CYGNA meeting before and allow them to introduce themselves. Anyone can of course introduce themselves in the chat. If the CYGNA jam audience is small, you might decide to ask everyone to introduce themselves. But remember these sessions are meant to be short (30-45 minutes) unless participants want to stay longer. Introductions can easily take up most of a 30-min session.
• 3. CYGNA jams are about sharing experiences and tips. If you attend a CYGNA jam, you are not simply there to listen like you would in a webinar. If you are a new member or very junior and feel a bit shy to talk, try to ask questions or contribute ideas in the chat.
• 4. CYGNA jams are "safe places" where people can ask difficult questions and share experiences. This is really hard to do if we don't know who we are talking to. So in principle the ground-rule is that everyone switches on their video.
• 5. Everyone is expected to have a picture uploaded in their Zoom account, so that if you really have to switch off your video we can remember who you are by looking at your picture. To help networking, please consider adding your university affiliation to your Zoom name.
• 6. To keep discussion fully confidential, the sessions are not recorded and the chat is not saved.

What is a CYGNA new members meeting and who can join?

In 2023 one of our new Lead Team members, Ciara O'Higgins, came up with the wonderful idea to organize dedicated new members meetings. Satkeen Azzizadeh volunteered to host most of these meetings, and we have run a dozen successful new members meetings since 2023. 

The primary purpose of the meeting was to welcome new members to the network and explain what CYGNA is all about. This meant new members could join the bigger CYGNA meetings with confidence, already knowing the network and a few fellow CYGNA sisters.

However, established members have always been very welcome to new members meetings too if they felt this would benefit them. For instance, some members:

• had joined quite a long time ago, but had never been able to join a meeting.
• had regularly attended meetings in the past, but hadn't been able to join in recent years and wanted to reconnect.
• were old hands, but joined a new members meeting occasionally to welcome new members and/or to simply see some friendly faces. 

Our renewed focus on prioritizing closer connections within the network, rather than further growth of the network, led to a reduction in new members joining us. Combined with a strong desire for the type of informal connections that are now increasingly absent from many other university settings, this meant that established members became more numerous than new members in our new members meetings.

This also resulted in one of their primary functions - explaining the mission and values of the network and providing an overview of its activities - becoming less relevant for most of the audience. Hence our new members meetings have now transformed into CYGNA network meetings were every CYGNA member is welcome.

What are CYGNA networking meetings?

Kind, inclusive, and non-instrumental networking meetings, CYGNA networking meetings are one-hour informal meetings, open to all CYGNA members. They allow members to get to know each other (better), create opportunities for collaboration, and facilitate exchange of useful information. The meeting’s primary function is to promote active engagement, co-creation, and deeper connections.

Their overarching goal is to create higher levels of cohesion and connections within the CYGNA network, so that not connections are not dependent on a handful of members. In our first meeting one of our members summarized it well: “it was really fun and it keeps the community sense alive”.

Some of our new informal meetings might have a specific theme to lightly structure the discussion. In that case, CYGNA members interested in learning more about this theme, or those who have specific knowledge on it, are especially encouraged to join. Other meetings will be run in a more flexible format. The invite will let you know if there is a specific theme.

Whatever the meeting type, every CYGNA member is welcome to attend, even if only to get a “friendly face/friendly vibe” fix.

Can anyone send an email to the CYGNA mailing list?

Yes, everyone can send emails to the CYGNA mailing list, just use the email address provided with your JICS confirmation email. However, be considerate and only share materials, questions, or comments that are likely to be relevant to a substantial part of the CYGNA network. If in doubt, send the emails to (one of) the CYGNA Lead team.

How to share?

Please choose a descriptive subject line, preferably starting with CYGNA, so that members can decide whether the topic is relevant to them before reading the entire email. Sharing something by responding to someone else's email (without changing the subject line) might lead to members missing your contribution.

What to share?

We suggest you apply the rule of thumb that your email should be potentially relevant to at least a third of the (currently around 300) CYGNA members. A non-exhaustive list of material that might qualify includes:

• Anything on gender in academia and/or EDI in academia, including your own articles and events on this topic.
• Likewise for migration as 90+% of us are migrants.
• Special issues in EDI/HR/OB/IB/Management/Marketing.
• Job opportunities at your institution or for a collaborative project that you are leading.
• Resources on academic careers and skills development that come with your personal recommendation. This one requires some thought as some resources may only be relevant for 5-10% of CYGNA members.

How to respond to list emails?

When responding to an email on the mailing list, consider whether your response needs to go to the entire mailing list. By default, your response goes to the sender only, but if you click "reply-all" it will go back to the mailing list too. That's perfectly fine if your response is a substantive contribution. But if you are just thanking the sender or suggesting something to them, it can easily overwhelm other members' mailboxes. For further information on email etiquette see the JICS entry on this.

What if you are not sure?

Feel free to contact any of the CYGNA Lead team to ask for advice.

Can anyone organise a CYGNA conference meet-up?

Yes, anyone can organise a conference meet-up, and in fact, we encourage Swans to consider meeting up with other Swans at conferences they attend. You can find some write-ups here: Conference meet-ups.

How can you organise a meet-up?

We have prepared a cheat-sheet to help Swans organise this, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We suggest you start by sending out an email to the list, to collect the names and contacts of those attending the same conference and who are interested to meet up. And the checklist in the cheat-sheet should help you think about all the rest. Just reach out to the Lead Team and we will help you get started.

Why organise a meet-up?

There are many reasons why we encourage Swans to meet up at conferences, from the simplest which is to meet up with new and old friends (making conferences more fun), to more professional ones of supporting one another in developing and sustaining our professional networks.

Conferences can be quite daunting for those of us who are more introvert or those who are attending a conference for the first time. But even for those of us who are more senior, with a consolidated network of academic connections, it can be unnerving to face a full room of people alone. Knowing that there are friendly faces waiting for you at the cocktail or gala dinner, or that at any point during the conference other Swans are at your fingertips through a WhatsApp group, can feel like a helpful safety net for any of us.

Can I organise a meet-up at any conference or does this only apply to IB or OB/HR conferences?

A meet-up can make sense as soon as there are two Swans or more.

As mentioned above, most of CYGNA’s members have a focus on Business & Management and the wider Social Sciences. The larger clusters of members include Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), International Business (IB), Human Resource Management (HRM), Organisational Behaviour (OB), Management and Marketing.

As such, in the past, CYGNA meet-ups have been organised at the Academy of Management (AOM), the Academy of International Business (AIB) and European International Business Academy (EIBA).

But again, any Swan can suggest a meet-up at any conference they attend.

Can anyone organise an official CYGNA meeting?

Yes, absolutely!!! Most meetings are organised by the CYGNA Lead Team who have committed to taking an active role in the CYGNA network. However, we are always looking for CYGNA volunteers to either join one of the organizing team members, or organize a meeting on their own.

If you have an idea for a CYGNA meeting and are a relatively new member, we suggest you first do a quick check to see whether we have organised a meeting on a similar topic recently. If this is not the case, feel free to contact the CYGNA Lead Team for advice. One of us will work with you to help you plan the meeting. We have meeting "cheat-sheets" that we can share with you.

If we are uncertain whether a particular meeting topic would appeal to a larger audience, we might advise you to organise a CYGNA jam in the first place (see next section). This CYGNA jam could also help you find co-organisers who have a shared interest in the topic.

If you would like to organise a meeting, but are a bit nervous about it, please don't worry. Everyone is there to support you if things don't go according to plan. Even if you do mess up, it really doesn't matter, CYGNA meeting are not performative events. In fact, messing up only makes you more human and it encourages other CYGNA members to have a go at organising a meeting :-). You might want to read Huong Nguyen's lovely post about her experiences: Chairing a CYGNA meeting.

What is the CYGNA closed LinkedIn group for?

In short: to provide a way to interact with fellow Swans outside the meetings.

A bit longer: On-campus meetings are becoming harder to organise and attend. Online meetings will never be at convenient times for everyone, especially for those in non-European time zones. So, we have long been looking for asynchronous ways of interaction that allow members to engage with each other at their own pace and time. And we all know mailing lists are not very suitable for interactive engagement!

So, after exploring a variety of options (forums, dedicated membership platforms, a variety of social media platforms), we have decided to stick with the platform that most of us use actively anyway: LinkedIn. Therefore, in addition to our public CYGNA LinkedIn page, we have now created a closed LinkedIn group, that only CYGNA members are invited to join. 

You should all have received an invite to the group. If you cannot find it, just go to the group's URL that is included in your welcome message and click join; we will process your request as soon as possible.

What to post in this closed group?

• Pretty much anything you would send to the mailing list. The advantage of the LinkedIn group is that previous posts are more easily accessible, and members can read them at their own pace/time. Many members’ inboxes are saturated, so LinkedIn posts are easier for people to consult & answer when they have time.
• For questions that require more interactive responses, mailing lists are not very suitable for discussions as they easily lead to email overload.
• Videos, polls, and any other resources that cannot easily be shared by email.

The CYGNA Lead Team will select three posts every week to highlight by email the week after. So even if you don't have time to check back regularly, you will get an email reminder once a week (if you have enabled this LinkedIn feature).

We really look forward to our interactions on this group. And remember: we co-create the CYGNA community together, so don't hesitate to post.

How do I use the CYGNA membership spreadsheet?

Upon becoming a member, every swan receives the latest version of the CYGNA membership spreadsheet. Updated versions of the spreadsheet are circulated to all members a few times a year. Please note that this spreadsheet and all of its content is private and confidential and should not be shared with anyone outside the network, not even other female academics.

Related pages

• About Cygna - Background on the CYGNA network
• Quick overview - Overview of presentations in our meetings with linked slidedecks
• Meetings - Information about forthcoming CYGNA meetings, and links to prior years
• Membership - Information for and about the Cygna network membership
• Readings and inspirations - Inspirational readings and resources for female academics
• The Cygna charter - Documents our CYGNA charter
• Cygna videos - Repository of introduction videos of our new CYGNA coordination team
• Cygna history - Tracing the history of our network since 2014, includes links to all of our meetings
• Frequently asked questions - Everything you may want to know about the CYGNA network and more
• The SWAN project - Initiated by Christa Sathish and Clarice Santos and implemented by Jacqueline Leon Ribas, this project created two swans reflecting CYGNA’s equal, inclusive, collective identity and the diversity of the network and its members
• Conference meet-ups - Provides brief write-ups of CYGNA conference meet-ups
• 10-year Anniversary event - Programme page for our 10-year anniversary event
• International Women's Day - Our collection of posts for international women's day 
• CYG: Teaching & Scholarship Research - Our first CYG = SIG = Special Interest Group
• CYG: Career stage CYGs - Introductory page for our new career stage CYGs
• Cygna Writes - Introductory page for our new CYGNA Writes initiative - Writing in Community, Achieving in Silence
• Cygna Collaborations - Reports on some of the many collaborations our swans have engaged in across the CYGNA network
• Confused? Overview of meeting types - Provides an overview of the seven different meeting types that the CYGNA Women in Academia Network currently offers

Related video