A career in science - and the question of children at the same time?

Doctoral studies, applications for third-party funding, fixed-term contracts, project durations and international mobility characterise academic career paths, which are often tightly timed and highly structured. At the same time, for many women in academia, a personal question arises at some point: does the desire to have children fit into this system - and if so, how?

This question can arise at very different stages of an academic career: during their studies, during their doctorate, as a teaching and research fellow or even later in a professorship. Decisions have to be made that many people initially have to face alone. Spaces in which the desire to have children, motherhood - but also a life without children - can be openly discussed and reflected upon in the context of an academic career are still rare in the academic system.

The network meeting will be accompanied by Lena Eckert. She is a gender scientist, author and trainer specialising in gender, care work and equality in science. She is co-editor of the anthology Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft and co-founder of the network of the same name. In her work, she deals with the structural conditions of parenthood and gender equality in the academic system.