Athena SWAN committee members courtesy Department of Chemistry
Applications are now open for the Returning Carers Scheme.
In order to assist the career and professional development of returning carers, this scheme has been established to make funds available to support those going on, or returning from a period of long term significant caring responsibility which has affected the applicant's ability to carry out research (this may include but is not restricted to: maternity leave, adoption leave, or leave to care for a dependent). The Returning Carers Scheme offers funds to assist returning carers in building up their research profiles and other academic activity after a period away from work (total absence or part-time/reduced hours) and may be used to provide the following:
- Training to support career development
- Attendance at conferences in the UK and overseas (if there is no other source of funding)
- Secondments or short term research assignments (e.g. to an external laboratory)
- Short-term research support, for example to generate preliminary data to support research grant applications
- Teaching 'buy-outs' for college or departmental teaching
- Leadership coaching or mentoring (coordinated through the HR Division)
- Support for assistance in grant writing
- Travel and accommodation costs of research collaborators coming to Cambridge (intended to reduce the need on the returning carer needing to travel and may support work-life balance)
- Equipment purchase to support independent research
The sixth round of the Returning Carers Scheme led to the successful award of grants to 21 members of staff. In total, 154 academic and research staff so far have received grants since this Scheme was launched in 2013.
Applications for the seventh round should be sent to the relevant HR Business Manager by the deadline of 11 April 2016, together with a statement of support from the Head of Department.