Return to Research Grant
Release Date 2024-04-02 10:00
InnovationThe Gender Equality Office at Koç University has collaborated with Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI) to develop an innovative scheme that aims to support female academics who are reintegrating into academia after career breaks. The Return-to-Research grant is a new funding component of Koç University’s internal research and innovation funding program, the Seed Research Fund (KU-SRF).
The Return-to-Research grant is specifically designed to address the challenges faced by female scientists who have taken time off for caregiving responsibilities. The grant provides institutional support for female faculty members to make a smooth transition back to their research careers. The grant recognizes that refamiliarizing with science and doing extensive work on recent publications after a long career break may be challenging, and provides a supportive environment for the researcher to focus initially on research with a re-entry funding scheme that allows them to do the same on a firmer foundation.
To be eligible for the grant, the principal investigator (PI) should be a female faculty or research faculty who have taken a family-related leave of absence for a duration of 16 weeks or more within the 12 months prior to the call deadline. The PI candidate should have returned to KU employment full time by the date of the call deadline. If the candidate has completed a previous Return-to-Research project, and has another career break that makes them eligible, they can apply for another Return-to-Research.
The grant can also cover travel expenses for attending national or international conferences, workshops, and related activities as well as graduate student support costs, provided that these expenses are justified as crucial to the reestablishment of the PI’s research career. All other rules and reminders for KU-SRF also apply to Return-to-Research.
Koç University recognizes the importance of promoting work-life balance and family-friendly workplaces. The Return-to-Research grant is an essential component of Koç University’s Gender Equality Plan (KUGEP) action item that aims to develop a funding scheme for employees to support their research after family-related breaks. The grant acknowledges the gender-sensitive disadvantages that may arise from gender-blind policies, and provides female faculty members with the necessary resources to update their lecture materials and refocus on their research after a long career break.
The Return-to-Research grant is part of a global effort to support women who have taken career breaks to care for their families. Across the globe, there is a ‘motherhood penalty’ where mothers who are researchers are under-valued and seen as less competent and dedicated to their work than fathers. Gender-blind rules can also disadvantage parents by not taking into account family-related career breaks. The Return-to-Research grant aims to address these challenges and support female scientists in their research careers.
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