Which conferences are family-friendly?
There are several conferences in the geosciences that already offer support for parents and families in one form or another. In the following we would like to give an overview of the family-friendly offers of the most visited geoscience conferences. In addition, relevant websites and contact addresses will be compiled here.
The information is based on joint discussions with the organizers and internet research. We cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of the information.
If you are attending a conference that is not listed in our overview, we offer a guide to help you find out what support is available for families.
The information on this page is updated regularly (last updated November 2024). If you have any questions or requests, please contact us at the e-mail address below.
In addition, we would like to create and maintain a shared collection in which you as parents can enter your own knowledge and experiences of family friendliness at certain conferences, as well as receive information from other parents in this regard.
Please use the following Google Sheet.
Overview
Some of the information listed here is based on internet research, while other information is based on conversations with organizers. For this reason, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of our information.
The questionnaire we used for our interviews can be found here. If you are planning similar studies, you are welcome to use it as a resource.
Detailed Information
See the following links for information about conference offers:
How do I figure out what offers are available for families?
So far, there is no standardized offer for parents across the various scientific conferences. Large conferences in particular offer childcare more frequently, but many still rely on parents to arrange childcare themselves or to contact the organizers personally if necessary.
FAQ
Many large conferences provide information on family-friendly services on their website. These can often be found under keywords such as “Accessibility”, “Childcare Service” or “Family-Friendly Services”.
If you cannot find any or only insufficient information, please do not hesitate to contact the organizers directly. Many organizers expect inquiries about family-friendly offers and are often willing to offer individual solutions.
Many universities and colleges have a family office or equal opportunities adviser. Information is often already available on childcare or financing travel to a conference with a child. Here you will find all employers who have been awarded the family-friendly certificate. You can find information about what the University of Bonn has to offer in our handout.
Look out for explicit references to family-friendly offers on the conference website. If there are none, ask or look for reports from other parents who have already attended.
If the conference does not offer official childcare, you can consider the following alternatives:
- Using local childcare or babysitting services
- Organizing group childcare with other parents attending
- Bringing an accompanying person to look after the child during the event
Literature Recommendations
- Blog Post by Luisa Herrmann
- Academic career or family?. Nat Rev Bioeng 2, 95 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00155-8
- Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures
- Blog Eintrag von Susan Murray
- Los Angeles Times "Troubling talent drain" by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
- Ward, Kelly & Wolf, Lisa. (2004). Academic Motherhood: Managing Complex Roles in Research Universities. The Review of Higher Education. 27. 233-257. 10.1353/rhe.2003.0079.
- Päffgen, E., Schielicke, L., and Esters, L.: Towards family-friendly conferences in the geosciences: results from a first survey, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1200, 2025.
Kontakt
Lisa Schielicke Lehrstuhlinhaberin, Vertretung
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