Dr Claire Perks is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Clinical Sciences; this role includes numerous different responsibilities such as directing researchers, writing manuscripts for publication and submitting grant proposals to fund the work.

She’s also the Co-Director of Postgraduate Studies, a position shared with colleague Dr Gavin Welsh. Claire works full-time and has a little boy who’s just started school.

“When Joe started school, it meant that my working day shifted to ensure that I could spend as much time with him as possible at the end of the day.” she said. “Flexible working coupled with an understanding and approachable management team mean that scientists like me are more able to balance the needs of their research with the demands of family life.”

Claire works on chronic diseases, particularly cancer, and her research team comprises PhD students, technical and postdoctoral staff. She leads a research module on the MSc in Reproduction and Development, a popular distance-learning programme attracting international students to the University of Bristol, and also supervises undergraduate students conducting their research projects in the laboratory. She works in an open-plan environment, which means that colleagues from different teams are mixed in together, sharing offices, laboratories and social space.

“We all look out for each other,” she said. “Lots of us have family commitments and we support each other as best we can. I think that this has resulted from our open working environment as we just know each other a lot better.”

Claire has always had a passion for science and did her PhD at Bristol in association with the Cambridge Babraham Institute.  Seeking a more clinical angle for her work after her PhD, she took up a postdoctoral position on breast cancer research.  She had her family later in life, when her career was more established, which made it easier for her to pick up the work after maternity leave, although there were tough choices to be made.

“I did consider whether to take a whole six months off,” she said “as there is always a lot of pressure to maintain one’s profile in the field. I never considered coming back part-time, as there simply wouldn't have been enough hours in the day to perform the role at the same level.”

Returning from maternity leave was not easy: she had to deal with both the emotional side of leaving her child and the issue of rebuilding her confidence and maintaining productivity at work.

“Of course, I felt guilty about going back to work, particularly when my son was very young. It can be a difficult time.” she continued.

Flexible working, supportive management and increasing support from male colleagues, with or without children, means that work can be managed alongside family life. “Knowing this means that we have developed a very strong culture of trust within the school, and I think a lot of us work harder as a result.”

Despite these developments, men still tend to hold the senior positions in science, even though Claire encounters a larger proportion of female students through her programmes.

“I think that this is probably because women are usually the primary carers for their families” she said, “and that it’s more likely that their careers progress more slowly if they have returned to work on a part-time basis,” she said.

 “When to have a family is such a personal decision, although I do think it is useful to raise awareness about some of the issues that colleagues will face on their return to work. I try to be approachable so that they can come and talk to me about balancing their work and family commitments.”

The benefits of her own experience is clearly seen in Claire’s own supportive approach to management, helping members of her research group to manage their professional and family lives in complementarity, and reflecting the supportive culture of the School of Clinical Sciences.

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