Thanks to the generosity of the Heising-Simons Foundation, LSST Discovery Alliance provides flexible childcare grants to LSST and IceCube scientists to support their participation in scientific meetings.
Through 2024, this program provided 56 grants to LSST and IceCube scientists in 4 continents. This program is available through 2028.
Apply at this link to request a childcare grant.
Quotes from past participants:
“It is great that something is starting to really change for women and parents with young babies in general.“
“I stopped traveling since I got kids and this would be the first test of combining my scientist and mom life.“
These grants cover the added costs of childcare required to participate in key collaboration meetings, to:
- Reduce considerations of additional childcare expenses required to attend scientific meetings
- Facilitate equitable participation in collaboration meetings by parents with young and dependent children
- Gain an understanding of how the dependent care needs across the IceCube and Rubin/LSST science communities impact their ability to fully participate in collaborations
Results so far demonstrate additional program impacts of an increased sense of belonging among parents in these global collaboration and a positive impact to scientific meeting culture. We observe these impacts to result from:
- broad advertising of the availability of childcare grants at all key meetings for the Rubin LSST and IceCube communities;
- direct one-on-one encouragement to individuals with children to take advantage of the program – letting them know that they and their participation matters; and
- seeing scientists attend those meetings with children.
LSST Discovery Alliance gratefully acknowledges the Heising-Simons Foundation for its support of these inclusive collaboration initiatives.
