RMU online talk series: “Familie im Fokus – Vereinbarkeit in der Forschung”
How can we reconcile family, a scientific career, studies and professional life? Many university members are faced with this question – and frequently, the challenges associated with this are not even directly visible.
In the RMU online talk series “Familie im Fokus – Vereinbarkeit in der Forschung”, researchers from the Rhine-Main Universities and associated parties discuss various facets of reconcilability and provide insights into current studies, real-life experiences and perspectives.
Following its successful start in the winter semester 2025/26, the RMU online talk series „Fokus Familie – Vereinbarkeit in der Forschung“ will be continued in the summer semester 2026.
The one-hour online talks are aimed at anyone who is dealing with questions of reconcilability as well as at teachers, administrative staff and other university members who, through knowledge and sharing of experiences, can be supported on these topics from an informed and sensitive perspective.
The talks will be held via Zoom. Registration via the registration button on the right-hand side is highly appreciated, but you can also participate spontaneously.
Language: German
Events in the summer semester 2026:
28 May 2026 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
(How) can we reconcile job and family? Differences in 'gender attitudes' based on gender and migration background
Prof. Daniela Grunow | Goethe University Frankfurt
Reconciling job and family is still a massive challenge for parents. At the same time, there are different societal expectations as to how both can be adequately reconciled, resulting in role conflicts among parents and the feeling that it is impossible to please everyone. The talk explores this ideological area of tension and shows how 'gender attitudes' affect gender-based sharing of tasks.
18 June 2026 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Between children and career: Zwischen Kind und Karriere: Distribution of parental leave and effects on the future employment history of married couples
Dr. Ann-Christin Bächmann | Institute for Employment Research (IAB)
How do married couples distribute parental leave and which consequences does taking parental leave have on my and/or my partner's return to work? The talk explores the length of parental leave of mothers and fathers in German, how tasks are shared by couples and what medium- and long-term effects taking parental leave as on the employment history of mothers and fathers. The talk also addresses the impact support offers for employees have on whether they take parental leave or not.
25 June 2026 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
"Care und Unfair" - Presentation of the study on discrimination of parents/caregiving relatives in the external funding sector
Dr. Lena Eckert und Dr. Anne Freese | icp – institute for critique and practice gGmbH; Netzwerk Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft
The pilot study "Care und Unfair" examines disadvantages for parents and caregiving relatives in the German external funding sector, a field that has a significant impact on the academic career but on which, to date, there is hardly any research. At the same time, diversity is considered a basic requirement for good science.
The authors want to make discriminatory tendencies visible and to draw attention to the urgent need to counter the risk of losing an entire generation of scientists, in particular due to the so-called "corona gap".
Past events:
6 November 2025 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Students with caregiving tasks – an invisible group
Dr. Anna Wanka
Goethe University Frankfurt
Universities are much more than just a place for education – in societies, in which care work is changing fundamentally, they also have to assume the role of caretakers. While it is already possible at many universities to reconcile studies and childcare, students that take care of adults (such as parents or grandparents) remain largely invisible – even though this already affects around 12% of students. In the online talk, current research and good practice examples regarding the (ir)reconcilability of caregiving tasks and studies are presented, and it will be discussed how universities can provide better support for students who are caregivers.
11 December 2025 | 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
The positive effects of parenthood on professional life and studies
Prof. Nina M. Junker
University of Oslo
Many of us – not only parents – are aware of the conflicts between job and family life. But is there also a positive aspect to parenthood? In her talk, professor Nina M. Junker discusses the concept of family-work enrichment and explains how the role as a parent can enrich one’s professional life and studies and which factors can have a positive influence on such enrichment.
29 January 2026 | 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Working on cloud number 9?! The effect of cloud working on family life
Omar Shehata, M.A.
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
How do cloud workers manage their work-life-balance? Cloud working may lead to a blurring of lines between work and private life, and also with regard to family life, it has special features relating to productivity. The new work movement, which postulates that capitalist wage work is outdated and that work must be transformed to become free and self-determined for employees, forms the basis for the considerations discussed in this talk.
