Fulweiler featured in Nature on how scientific institutions should support academic mothers

Wally Fulweiler, an ecosystems ecologist at Boston University in Massachusetts, was one of five academic mothers profiled in a career feature by Nature on productivity loss since the pandemic. “Moms leave work because the system is not designed to support them,” she told Nature. She co-authored recommendations in 2021 for “organizations around the world, such as providing supplemental funding for salary support, blending virtual and in-person conferences and re-examining tenure timelines.”

Fulweiler writes about the importance of thinking time for writing and data analysis, which vanishes when kids are forced to stay home. She tells the story of drafting a paper on how institutions could support academic mothers, with “ Zoom meetings during the day, with our kids crawling over us, or at night, when our kids were asleep.” 

Read the full story here for her and other academic mom’s proposals to “address inequities and provide better support through policy changes and practical mechanisms”.