Many geoscientists at some point in their career have the responsibility of caring for family members for extended periods of time. Depending on the support networks in place this can lead to considerable and all too often insurmountable periods of time in a geoscientists career where they find themselves excluded from geoscientific networking experiences and employment opportunities. This not only leads to carers experiencing feelings of isolation, they may also experience financial difficulties alongside increased mental charge eventually causing many carers to leave the geoscience ecosystem. In the case of sole parents and carers the lack of accessibility to research opportunities that help build their career is particularly acute. Formal support for geoscientist parents is often lacking within academic institutions. Pragmatic support networks and funding in academia are vital to help researchers and their dependents build healthy and fulfilling careers and lives.
As the European Geoscience Union celebrates its 20th anniversary and looks forward to its next challenging 20 years, we recognise and would like to raise awareness that a large fraction of geoscientists have caring responsibilities that exclude them from participating in the European Geoscience Union General Assembly.
With this Union Symposium, we would like to initiate a conversation to raise awareness of the challenges experienced by EGU members with caring responsibilities and especially sole carers over the past few years. We want to explore feasible solutions that can increase the inclusion of carers in geoscientific conferences and look into tools and mechanisms that can facilitate accessibility.