The Special Childcare Program at the University of Groningen
Childcare support for women scientists in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, a so called "care gap" prevents women scientists from maximizing their professional participation, competitiveness and career development. Having a family, especially young children, often becomes an obstacle when travelling to conferences and collaborating in international projects.
In order to develop and retain more female talent in science, the University of Groningen applied for and received a two year grant from The Elsevier Foundation for $30,000 to support a "Special Childcare Program". This project aims to target ad hoc situations (sick children, travel to conferences and parental participation in international projects) as well as offer childcare for conference participants and temporary lecturers.
Delinah Halverson, Senior Policy Advisor, HR-Innovation at the University of Groningen who coordinated the project noted, "The University of Groningen has done a lot of things when it comes to work-life balance for the last 15 years, so this program fits very well with the other projects we have developed. We think this is an important program that should be replicated in other universities."
To read the full story go to: http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/new-scholars/stories/video-groningen.asp
