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  • CAREER FEATURE

Could roving researchers help address the challenge of taking parental leave?

Institutions are taking notice of a handful of programmes designed to address the issues scientists face when choosing to take a long-term absence.
  1. Amy Coombs

    1. Amy Coombs is a freelance science writer in Chicago, Illinois.

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Biochemist Gemma Fisher worried that she would leave a long list of experiments unattended during her maternity leave, but as she welcomed twin daughters into the world last May, her laboratory bench was as busy as ever. Fisher had been awarded six months of part-time support, thanks to a programme launched in September 2022 by her employer, the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) at Imperial College London. The support was provided by Alice Francis, a molecular biologist employed by the LMS as a ‘roving researcher’. Francis has spent much of her time in the post covering four postdoctoral researchers — all women on maternity leave.

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Nature 627, 229-230 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00354-8

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