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I just submitted my @ERC_Research grant proposal and I will not give you any advice, just share my experience as a father of three. 
As my teenage son would say, the last year has shown me and many of us that the struggle is indeed real. While I read advice on twitter and elsewhere that people should take several months full time to prepare such a proposal, (2/n)
I did not have the time to really do anything full time for such a period of time over the last year. Our kids were at home for months at a time and they did require my wife's and my attention. (3/n)
We both work full time with none of our obligations going away when working from home. Of course, we are privileged as we are still being paid but nevertheless we had to find creative solutions for fitting in a full work day while man-marking the nursery child, (4/n)
co-teaching the older children, preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am also the dean of studies for our data science program, I am the head of the PhD committee, part of the departmental board and I need to look after my academic family, too. (5/n)
My PhD students and postdocs were all working at home and, thank god, making the most of it. Nevertheless, preparing one of the biggest grants in Europe under such conditions is no easy feat. I guess you might argue that I should have waited, indeed I could not. (6/n)
I am old, or I should have given up but then why should I? Indeed this has been a rather unique situation for me, and I realize that other people with and without kids are of course struggling too, ... (7/n)
but academia is often not friendly to families and most of the time this means it is hard for women. This has become more obvious to me than ever before.
See this article https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/world/could-the-pandemic-prompt-a-huge-loss-of-women-in-the-sciences.html with an interview by @daniela_witten. (8/n)
See this article https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/world/could-the-pandemic-prompt-a-huge-loss-of-women-in-the-sciences.html with an interview by @daniela_witten. (8/n)
While its an exceptional situation for all of us, much of my struggle over the last year of combining the responsibilities of work and family has become more pronounced due to school and nursery closures but
is the reality for researchers with dependents. (9/n)
is the reality for researchers with dependents. (9/n)
I cannot provide any solutions here but I want to try and make clear that its OK to be overwhelmed and that its not easy to ignore the voices who announce their tenure, paper number m, grant X (10/n)
or how they learned bread making, Spanish and playing the piano while I was simply trying to stay sane.
I am in a comfortable position, my grant will likely fail even though I am happy with how it ended up. I am grateful for the support by friends, colleagues and family. (11/n)
I am in a comfortable position, my grant will likely fail even though I am happy with how it ended up. I am grateful for the support by friends, colleagues and family. (11/n)
I will survive the likely rejection but it would be OK for you to take me out on a beer but maybe more importantly cut some slack to the people who are less fortunate than me. (12/12)
