Supporting staff with caring responsibilities
We recognise that many staff (and particularly women) have primary caring responsibilities that may limit their access to career development opportunities.
Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowships
In 2018, we established the Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowships named after a much-esteemed member of the Department of Archaeology and History who sadly passed away in 2017, cutting short a stellar academic career.
The goal of the Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowships is to ensure that staff who have demonstrated potential to be our future research leaders, and who have major care-giving responsibilities, can maintain their career momentum and be supported to fulfil their research potential.
The Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowships are part-time or full-time positions for up to three years to enable eligible researchers to develop or re-establish their careers where they have been interrupted or delayed by childbearing, child-rearing or other caregiving duties.
By providing funding at a critical time in the careers of high potential academic staff, the Fellowship aims to reduce the impact of career breaks and/ or intense caregiving responsibilities on research productivity.
For more information about the Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowships, please email Athena SWAN.
Carers Travel Support Fund
To address some of these issues we established the Carers Travel Support Fund to support researchers who are primary carers with the cost of childcare or other care costs while presenting at a national or international conference or undertaking research in Australia or abroad.
The Carers Travel Support Fund can be used to support the cost of arranging alternative care while the staff member is carrying out these activities, or pay for an alternative carer to travel with the staff member.
For more information about the Carers Travel Support Fund, please email Athena SWAN.
La Trobe has a long and ongoing history of engaging with social justice matters and a strong arts and humanities space. The Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowship has gifted me with the time, support, and space to throw myself into what I am most passionate about – building strong and resilient communities through creative practice inside and outside of the university.
Research is such a competitive and insecure space and leaves many women behind. Having these fellowships has felt to me like my organisation is saying we recognise this, and we've got you I always feel really proud about this fellowship. It's a really unique opportunity.