GoKawiilResearcher Laura Carter’s children look out at the tarmac at Heathrow Airport, before the family boards a flight for a research trip to Australia.
A trip in November 2025 brought home just how complex my family life has become. For a moment, my husband and I were in the air at the same time, crossing the Indian Ocean in opposite directions. Two work-related trips, two long-haul flights and one very full calendar. Our children, aged five and eight, were being looked after by a combination of grandparents and close friends.
After landing in Manchester, UK, and making my way home, it struck me how symbolic this was of a much larger reality that we are navigating: the constant negotiation required to sustain two academic careers alongside parenting. I am an environmental chemist and my husband lectures in psychology, meaning that both of us find ourselves in an academic system that assumes a much simpler reality.
Most in academia will be familiar with the ‘two‑body problem’: the challenge of a couple trying to secure positions a commutable distance from each other. But the reality, at least for me, has never felt even that tidy or contained. Once children entered the picture, there was a third body (and a fourth, in fact) that completely reshaped our approach and ability to work.
Because there are two of us juggling conferences, fieldwork, project meetings and deadlines, while coordinating childcare and school routines, it becomes a complex logistical challenge. My husband and I have calendars layered on calendars, travel plans negotiated with military precision and a constant mental tally of who can be where, when and with what kind of back-up plan (see ‘Packed schedule’).
For example, when I was in China for a conference towards the end of 2025, I knew that my husband was managing school drop-offs, evening activities and shifting work commitments, while preparing for his own upcoming conference in Indonesia. Once he left for that meeting, we crossed into entirely uncharted territory, relying on our parents along with carefully choreographed contingency plans to keep everyday life running.
This trip was the first time that we had both been away at the same time. With two school-age children, that’s no small feat. I find that there’s a unique kind of stress that comes with leaving your children behind. It’s not just the emotional weight: it’s the logistical puzzle of school runs, endless activities and bedtime routines. For me, being in a different time zone adds further worry; if something goes wrong, it is not always easy to get home or to make new plans.
The necessity of travel
Travel is a crucial part of academic life. Conferences, workshops and collaborations are an essential component of our jobs for sharing research, building networks and staying engaged with the latest developments in our fields.
Conference dates are rarely flexible. Meetings happen when they happen, and we’re left to juggle everything around them. Why they always seem to cluster in the spring and summer months, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, is something I might never understand. Although that might suit academic calendars, it often coincides with school holidays, creating a particular challenge for parents.
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