The PhD Parent forum is a dedicated safe space for parents and carers who work within academia to come to for moral support, encouragement and advice. Parenting is hard. In fact it is likely one of the hardest things you will ever do. Add graduate school into the equation and then a plethora of obstacles and boundaries become apparent. The aim of this forum is to bring together individuals from across the globe to unite, share experience, give advice and encouragement. With time we hope that the PhD Parent Forum will hold a wealth of information for current and future academics with parental responsibilities. We also want to keep some lightheartedness within the forum, so expect to find some quirky posts about the joys of parenthood.
Massive thanks are owed to all those who started this journey with me on Twitter @parent_phd and to those who have helped one another in times of need and for the overwhelming levels of support shown. I really do hope that as a community we can work towards creating better working options for those within academia, by looking at institutional allowances and pressing for universities to become more accommodating. After all, nobody should have to struggle to get an education or to work in the education system, simply because they have children.
Again, a massive thanks to you all, Louise (Twitter @LouiseJupe)