Dr. Helen Tran, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto, is the inaugural recipient of the Acceleration Consortium’s Caregiver Grant.
According to an article on the Acceleration Consortium site, the grant assists principal investigators in academic settings who are caregivers, specifically when they face the challenge maintaining their research lab when they take caregiving leave. The AC introduced the grant as part of its Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) grant application. It is one of the first of its kind globally, providing research funding support to associate and assistant professors who are AC members with caregiving responsibilities.
The grant, valued at up to $90,000 for one year, helps maintain research group productivity during caregiving leave by funding support roles such as research associates, post-doctoral fellows, and lab managers or funding associated lab operations. It also ensures continuity for research teams.
“The AC Caregiver Grant will help bring more people to the STEM table,” Dr. Tran said. “Women are disproportionately affected by caregiving responsibilities, so this grant removes one significant barrier to retaining women in STEM. I hope other institutions will follow our lead and develop similar programs to support their researchers.”
To read the full story, visit the Acceleration Consortium site.