"...as academics with caring responsibilities for young families, we face inequitable hurdles to fully attend and participate in activities that require us to spend time away from home."
In an opinion piece for Nature, Laura Carter, Laura Wolz and Laura Pallett, all research scientists in the United Kingdom, share experiences and advice for caregiving research scientists. In particular, they lament that while funding agencies recognize that "costs for dependants should not be parents’ financial liability", they still need to rely on the employing research organization to dictate what exactly can be claimed as an expense. They argue that, instead, carers need organizations to update and align internal financial reimbursement policies.
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| Image Credit: https://earlylearningnation.com |
To do this, science policy must change to deliver initiatives that genuinely support those in need and that do not further burden an already overworked community. Opportunities need to be
- flexible
- adaptable
- comprehensive and
- transparent.
Read more at
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01571-x
In this country, the National Academies has published multiple documents that describe policies and best practices for supporting family caregivers working in science, engineering, and medicine. You can find them here.
As a reminder, our professional societies provide grants to support caregiving activities. For example, the AAS' Division for Planetary Science offers a Dependent Care Grant, as does the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for specific AGU meetings.
See also:
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