Building a successful academic career is a challenge. Doing it while also building a family might push you to your limit. Many early and mid-career scientists are faced with the question of how to balance family and academic career. They are finding themselves left with a private problem, when it is actually a shared and societal issue, linking to other overarching themes of participation and diversity.
It is crucial to find support and confidence in going forward as an individual, and we as a community need to talk about parenting in academia to be able to demand and develop sustainable solutions that benefit many, instead of fighting private battles over and over again.
This short course aims to (1) provide some insight into how being a parent affects your every day academic life, (2) highlight the existing support measures for parents in academia in different countries, and (3) offer some experience-based strategies that are being shared by a panel of academic parents, (4) concluding with an open discussion, touching on the public discourses on equal parenting and life-work balance. This course targets scientists who think about having a family, as well as parents in academia keen to connect, and faculty staff with responsibilities towards parenting employees.