Welcome to the final episode of Mothers in Academia.
Over this mini-series we've explored the challenges,
joys and resilience that convert balancing
motherhood and academic careers.
I'm Cagla and today we're honored to be joined by a special guest Dr.
Anne-Marie Broomhall, an Associate Professor from the Centre for Fusion,
Space and Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick.
Together we'll reflect on the insights we've gained,
hear her unique perspective and leave you with some final thoughts and
encouragement for your journey.
Thank you for joining us.
Let's close this chapter with inspiration and hope for the road ahead.
Welcome to our final episode Dr. Brimhull.
Our first question is, can you share a bit about your journey
into becoming an academician in physics, astrophysics in particular?
So I only decided that I wanted to do astrophysics when I was about 17,
which is actually relatively old for astrophysics.
Lots of people enjoy astrophysics from a very young age.
There was a solar eclipse that was visible in the UK in 1999.
I was able to watch it from my back garden here in Coventry using a pinhole camera
that I made out of a shoebox.
And I just loved the simplicity of using a shoebox to be able to observe something
that was happening with the sun, which is a star.
So following that, I decided that I wanted to do astrophysics at university.
So I went to the University of Sheffield where I got a master's degree.
It was a dual honours degree in maths and astrophysics.
And I did the dual honours because I was good at maths, but I probably enjoyed the astrophysics side
a bit more and so I was just hedging my bets a little bit.
When I was at university, I was lucky enough to do some research projects in my final year
to astro astronomy research projects, one on black holes and one on the sun.
And while the black holes one was fascinating, it was the fact that with the sun,
I could make, I was testing theories with data, whereas the black hole one, it was very abstract
and there's no way to test the theories I was coming up with.
And I really enjoyed that research project and so I decided to do a PhD in astrophysics.
And so I moved to the University of Birmingham,
which is much closer to my hometown, Coventry.
I actually commuted from Coventry to Birmingham during my PhD.
So that was in solar physics or a field called heliosysemology specifically,
which is where we use oscillations of the sun in order to work out what's going on inside the sun.
Wow, sounds really cool.
Yeah. So I got my PhD, I was awarded in 2008.
I then stayed at Birmingham for a postdoc position,
where during which time I had my first daughter, Abby.
And during that time, I decided that I did one at career
in academia until I started applying for fellowships.
And we were getting towards the end of my contract.
And I was just starting to look at jobs outside of academia.
And when an opportunity came up at the University of Warwick for a global research fellowship.
So this was a fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Studies.
And I was interviewed for this at nine months pregnant
with my second daughter. I managed to get the position and I've been here ever since.
That sounds super cool. But were there any moments during this journey when you felt
like you had to choose between your family and career? Well, especially at the beginning,
when you mentioned this, having a small baby and then getting pregnant again,
before you have a permanent role. So how did you navigate those decisions?
So we actually, in my mind, we made the decisions before having the children in the first place.
So I don't know if it's the same across the different disciplines, but within astrophysics,
it's kind of conventional wisdom that if you want a career in academia, you have to be willing to
travel around to move to different locations or countries even to have postdocs. And since
we decided to start a family pretty much straight after submitting my PhD,
I decided that that was not something that I was willing to do because I wanted my family. And so
I was willing to take the chance, if you like, that if it meant that I wasn't going to have a
career in academia, then so be it. I wanted to stay and raise a family and try and do both
as luckily enough. I managed to. So that's kind of proof that you don't need to move around,
I guess. No, I can imagine. But yeah, so but it was that kind of acceptance before even having
the children that that was what I was going to do. Similarly, I kind of set boundaries and limits on
what I was willing to do. So another example would be going to conferences. So this plays a
big role in academia. But I decided that I would limit the number of conferences I went to and
how long I was away for for those conferences. So for example, weekends are very special to me.
And so I kind of said, before even having the children, I always want to be home for the weekends.
And then I just decide which conferences are going to be most important to me. Go to those ones
and make sure I travel home on Friday if the worst case scenario.
Well, that's very inspiring, to be honest. But going back and thinking your specialty,
have you ever faced an agenda based challenges or biases as a mother in a, especially in a male
dominated field? You know, it could be if you're not enough to perform as a specific role because
of your parenting role. Do you remember any specific incidents? I have to say that actually,
as far as I'm aware, I haven't experienced anything like that. And in fact, I have a couple of examples
of pretty good practice. If you don't mind me sharing those with you. I would be happy to hear
all of them. Yes, please. So for example, I said earlier that I was nine minutes pregnant when I
interviewed for the position at Warwick. And to help me make that transition to moving to Warwick,
they let me start part time and build up slowly to full working hours so that I was coming straight
back here after maternity leave. And they even gave me a bonus to cover the lost maternity pay
for moving jobs. While maternity leave, when I started teaching, I was initially assigned a role
that was in the undergraduate teaching labs that finish at six o'clock at night. And I had to say
I'm really sorry, but I can't do that because my childcare also ends at six o'clock at night.
And that was absolutely fine. It was not an issue. They just moved me onto another teaching role that
one that finished at four o'clock. And so they were happy within the physics department to work
around my needs. And actually, I think that can be one of the bonuses of being a mom in academia
is that aside from certain meetings and teachings, there is a bit a degree of flexibility
in the hours that you work. So quite often, I was able to go to assemblers and things like that and
just start at 10 o'clock in the morning rather than at eight 30, say. And then all I would do is
I would then pick my children up as usual. And once they'd gone to bed, perhaps make up the time
in the evening. So I think there are actually a few benefits. These are fantastic practices.
So I hope that that will inspire so many departments or other universities.
So I'll move on to a different topic if that's okay. As a mother of two, one 12 and one 15.
Are there any challenging times at home? So like, how do you regulate the emotions of your
children, especially when there are strong feelings? So I don't know that we have too many problems.
It's good. Yeah. And I think it partly comes because it's their expectations. It's normal
for them. They know that I have work. And so if I have to say no, because of work, then they kind
of understand that. And particularly now they're a bit older. There's an appreciation that I love
my job. And they quite like that I love my job. And so they understand that I can't always go on
school trips and things like that. Because because of work. And again, the flexibility
kind of helps there as well. So just the other night, my daughter is revising for her maths mock
GCSE. And I was able to sort of just pause my work for half an hour or an hour or something,
and go and help her out with her revision and then come back to it later.
Oh, that's nice. So when we summarise this, how do you juggle work and motherhood? Do you
always do it all, say to speak? Yeah, absolutely not. I mean, first and foremost, I have a lot of
help. My husband has always been very supportive of my career. And it really is a partnership in terms
of the childcare. The fact that I've stayed in commentary, which where I was born also means
that I have a lot of family around me. So grandparents and aunts and uncles who can help as well.
But then, in addition to that, I kind of think that I have decided on my priorities.
And then, it's taken time, but I've developed an ability to just let the things that aren't
important to me go. So to give some examples, there are times when it can be difficult to
manage to cook a healthy dinner when you've had a full day at work. And so I've become comfortable
going, okay, I've been working hard today, let's just throw a pizza in the oven.
When the children were little, and they first started school, I was very concerned because
I wasn't, I didn't have time to make all the fancy costumes and things like that for all the
assemblers and dress-up days. And I quickly, though, became aware that the kids just, they were fine
with whatever we came up with between us. And it was more that I was more concerned about it
than they were. And so it's sort of working out like, okay, so some things might be really
important to me and I make sure that they happen every week, but then other things I kind of just
let go. Yeah, that's a top tip. Thank you. And thank God we've got Amazon. Yeah, absolutely.
So, speaking of doing it all, I'd like to move on to this topic, time management, because when we
came up with this project, this topic has come up so often. Although some experts
will suggest giving female PhD students or early career researchers time management tips,
I strongly believe mothers in academia are superstars at managing time. Do you feel the same?
Absolutely, I do. And I know from my personal experience that it was something that I became
a lot better at when I became a mother. And I think it's having that hard cut off that you have to
be home by a specific time. And you know that, you know that at the start of the day. And so
I definitely get less distracted now. I'm more organized with my time. I always sort of set
if I have a meeting, I like it to be at a specific time and for a particular length
of time rather than just, okay, I'll chat to you on Tuesday. But other things that I do to help
me manage my time. I like making lists, because it helps me to prioritize and it stops me from
being overwhelmed. So if I feel like I've got a lot of things on, I'll make a list of everything
I need to do and the deadline for them. And that helps me to work out what needs to be done first,
what I can push back. And also that physical process of crossing stuff off on the list.
I love that. So rewarding. And it just makes you feel more like you're making progress.
Yeah, just crossing out something from the list. That's a huge enjoyment.
Even if it's just the smallest thing on there, it's just like, okay, that's one less thing that I
have to get done. But do you have a switch off? Well, I mean, here is, do you ever set aside work
and parenting and enjoy a quiet moment and manage to not think anything at the back of your mind?
Yeah, it's got a lot easier as the children have got older, I would say. I always sort of tried to
set aside maybe the last hour before going to bed once the kids have gone to bed just for some quiet
time, set on watch TV and do do nothing. I also took up running a few years ago. So
to lose weight initially. But what I realized particularly over the pandemic,
when we were all homeschooling and things like that was that actually, I was no longer running as
much for the health benefits. I certainly wasn't running to be my personal best. I was running
to get half an hour quiet time where I can put a podcast on and just tune the rest of the world
out. So that's one thing that I like to do now. We have always though, tried to do things with the
kids that we enjoy as well. So not just things that they want to do. So we will go on walks in
the countryside on bike rides. I love baking. And that's something that I did with my children,
craft arts and crafts, things like that. Because if you're doing something that you want to do,
then that can be as relaxing as sort of tuning out things. And yeah, we always also
made sure we had a family holiday every year. So that could be a case of sort of booking a week,
just booking a week out of the diary for August, but booking it in January so that you know that
that week has been set aside for family time. And that's something that we've done every year
ever since the children have been born. Oh, that's so nice. So that they know that's going to come
and expect that. And it's something to look forward to. Yeah, definitely. And it's such a nice bonding
time. And sort of being that having a full week away rather than just the odd day, I think makes a
big difference. I think so. I agree. I love doing that. Definitely. We just touched upon this, but
there is also the positive side of being a mum in academia, because you set a role for your
children role model for your children. How do you ensure that your children understand and
appreciate the work you do as an astrophysicist? Because this is super cool. What do you hope
they would take away from your example? So I guess there's a couple of different things there. So
I've always talked about my work and my research with my children. And I've also talked about
sort of strong female role models. So my eldest daughter had to dress up as a hero at school
one year and she went as Marie Curie. And she's still obsessed with chemistry and
wants to go to university to do chemistry. My youngest daughter loves power points.
So she has taken some of the power points that I have given her talks and she'll go through
and give her own little presentation using the slides. Oh, that's so exploring. I've also
one other things that they really like, because I do quite a lot of public engagement and outreach.
So I go out and visit schools across Coventry and Mauritia. But that includes their schools and
their classes while they've been there. So they're always very proud, I think, to see me presenting,
presenting my work and doing activities with their classmates. And they've also,
on occasion, been named to come and help me with these outreach activities. So they'll help out
when we've been to sort of guide and brownie nights, for example, doing the live labs before
the Christmas lectures, they've been there as well, so things like that. So they get to know
the work that I've done, that I do really well. And I guess, like I said earlier, they like that I
like my job. And I think that is something that they take away from my career is that you can get
jobs that you enjoy. If you work hard enough, you know, and that actually makes a really big
difference to your home life. If you're enjoying your job, I think I'm probably a happier person,
because I don't dread going to work on Monday morning. Yeah, that is super important. I agree.
So before we finish, what advice would you give to female PhD students with children like me?
We're trying to find their way in academia. So I think it's to find your own way of doing things
and to decide what is important to you and to prioritize and make sure that you keep the
important things, but don't stress about the not important things. And also, it definitely gets
easier. Like I think I've said a few times, as the kids have got older, everything has got easier.
And even sort of the downtime, I've gone from a stage where most of the time I was either playing
with the kids or helping the kids with homework or things like that. So now they want to spend time
up in their room and I've had to find a whole new bench upon the hobbies to occupy myself,
just so that I don't work and to give me that sort of turn out turn off time.
Oh, that's lovely to hear. Thank you very much for your contribution to our mini series, Dr. Brimhall.
Thank you for having me. Oh, that's wonderful. And that wraps up our mini series,
Mothers in Academia. It has been a privilege to share this space with you, exploring the challenges
and triumphs of balancing motherhood and academic careers. We've had powerful stories shared
insights and hopefully sparkled conversations that will continue to inspire and support you on your
journey. Thank you for listening, for sharing your stories and for being part of this important
dialogue. Stay connected, keep the conversations going and let's continue building a supportive,
thriving community for Mothers in Academia. Until next time, take care and keep inspiring.
Thank you.