Dr Liang-Fong Wong is a research fellow at Bristol Medical School, responsible for funding and directing a programme of research and the work of a small research team.

While this may sound like a full-time job in itself, Liang has various other responsibilities, such as teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students, and is Deputy Head of Teaching for the school which entails various administrative duties.

She is also the local Biological Safety Officer for the Dorothy Hodgkin Building, in which she is based, assessing biological safety at the University and ensuring that current practices are in line with health and safety regulations.

Liang works full-time, but is also the primary carer for her two small children.

"My husband is in clinical practice, so his work is much less flexible than mine" said Liang. "With the exception of teaching hours, I can reschedule my work and experiments to fit in with family life as necessary, and that's a really important benefit of the University environment. My mentor, Professor James Uney has also been incredibly supportive."

Bristol Medical School is well populated with successful women scientists working across teaching, research and clinical practice. In addition to a flexible working environment, the school provides special support for women returning to work after maternity leave.

One of the challenges faced while off work is keeping up-to-date with the latest developments in science and funding research. The school takes great effort to direct women, on their return, to specific funding schemes that will fund their work or provide them with more staff, freeing them up so that they can spend more time in the laboratory and, arguably, 'catch up'.

"Science is a very competitive environment and it moves on constantly which can put you at a disadvantage if you step away from it for a long time. Really, women need to get a bit of a head start on men, as their careers will inevitably slow down if they make the choice to have a family," said Liang. "This means concentrating on publishing their work earlier, getting the right work experience, whether in industry or academia, applying for research awards, and networking."

Liang's own experience reflects the success of this strategy: a prestigious Wellcome Trust studentship funded her PhD research, she published many papers early on, worked in industry for five years and successfully applied for an RCUK fellowship. Once at this stage, she was in a stronger position to think about having a family.

"Women play a really significant role in science" said Liang. "Generally, they tend to be more methodological and organised, which is important for research and complements the perspectives of male colleagues. However, I think that women tend to progress their careers later in life, when their children are older."

The school is planning on setting up internal groups to support women working in science, replicating similar structures already set up in the University. Liang is already part of one of these, where she now usually provides advice to more junior colleagues about the challenges of balancing professional and personal life.

"I do think that there is an issue of women not progressing to the higher levels of science careers, as much as men. If you look at the junior scientists – the postdocs and PhD students — there are lots of women, particularly in biological sciences, but professors, principal investigators and heads of large laboratories still tend to be men."

"However, there is definitely a lot of support from colleagues in the school, both men and women – many of whom are in similar positions regarding bringing up families and needing to perform professionally. In science, you have to be driven to succeed whether you are male or female anyway, and it's partly this passion that keeps me focused."