Academic work and family
Combining family life and academic work is a challenge in many ways. You need to reconcile maternity leave, parental leave, childcare, earning money and academic work. Furthermore, you need to work out how you want to pursue your career after maternal or parental leave.
There are several facilities at Heidelberg University helping you with those kinds of questions or problems.
Children’s House/ Service for families (Kinderhaus/Service für Familien): Helps you with all questions concerning childcare and organizational matters.
KidS – Assistance for student parents (KidS – Kinder in der Studienzeit): Today’s students are tomorrow’s employees. Student parents have a lot to organize. On their behalf Heidelberg University has put up the website “KidS-Kinder in der Studienzeit”.
Equal Opportunity Office (Gleichstellungsbüro): The Equal Opportunity Office offers information and personal counselling on contribution options in general or specifically for women (scholarships for students and graduates, foundations, funding programmes for advanced postdocs).
Aside from these offers within Heidelberg University we would like to point out a couple of other sites providing useful information on family life and academic work:
The interest group Wissenschaft und Familie (IWiFA, Academia and family) acts as a network of academic parents, e.g. to push the expansion of childcare facilities in research institutions in Germany.
A discussion forum provides exchange and support for young academics combining an academic career and family life. More information on the IWiFA will soon be available here:
Interessenvertretung Wissenschaft und Familie (IWiFA)
The Equal Opportunity Commissioner of Tübingen University and two young academics have founded the initiative “Familienfreundliches Hochschulrahmengesetz” (Family Friendly Higher Education Framework Act).
Initiative "Familienfreundliches Hochschulrahmengesetz"
Nowadays there are many ways to contribute to women in academics offered by foundations and other facilities who allocate prizes on scholarships and grants.
Förderungsmöglichkeiten für Frauen in der Wissenschaft
The links have been carefully chosen. The Kinderhaus of Heidelberg University bears no responsibility for the accuracy, content or legality of any linked site or for that of any subsequent links.
