A senior female lecturer at a prestigious university who was rejected for a promotion because 'she was a woman' has won over £35,000 at an employment tribunal. 

Dr Eliane Bodanese, an engineering lecturer at Queen Mary University, was twice rejected for a promotion which was instead given to a male colleague. 

This was despite her 'exemplary' work and bringing in over £130,000 more than her male colleague for the University as a project leader. 

She was judged to have had a lower level of research - yet Dr Bodanese said this was due to her maternity leave which meant she was unable to secure further grants. 

After taking her case to an employment tribunal in East London, it was judged that she was underpaid as the decisions had been 'tainted by sex' - and she has now won £35,500. 

Dr Bodanese started working for the university as a teaching and research academic and lecturer in 2003, and she was promoted to senior lecturer in 2012. 

She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) within the Faculty of Science and Engineering. 

Dr Bodanese took a year of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014. After this period, the academic said that she struggled to 'obtain grants for research projects and suffered from a lack of support to restart her research'. 

Dr Eliane Bodenese (pictured) won a £35,500 payout after winning her equal pay case over two promotion rejections at Queen Mary University

Professor Wen Wang (pictured) was found to have made decisions 'tainted by sex' when deciding who should be promoted in the engineering department

This was confirmed by her manager through his appraisals, which stated that she had experienced a large volume of teaching requirements which had not allowed her to develop her own research. 

In March 2021, Dr Bodanese made a pay rise application through the University's staff bonus scheme - which was rejected. 

She was told she had applied for the wrong scheme despite being advised by the vice principal of the faculty, Professor Wen Wang. 

The university said that a male colleague who engaged in 'like work' to Dr Bodanese had received a promotion through the same scheme. 

Dr John Schormans received three promotions while working at the University - in 2006, 2015 and 2017. 

Employment Judge Catrin Lewis said that 'the University accepted that it was possible for [Dr Bodanese] to have been considered for a bonus under the scheme'. 

The judge said: 'The [university] has not explained why she was not so considered despite her application setting out the type of exceptional work that met the example of what might warrant a bonus, and in the absence of any clear evidence in her comparator's application which would fit the criteria for a bonus.'