Family friendly working

The School of Chemistry supports a healthy work-life balance, and offers a number of flexible working patterns to accommodate parents and carers. Find out what support is available to cater to your specific needs.

The School endeavours to ensure that hours are family-friendly and talks are recorded, with the speaker’s permission, for the benefit of staff who were unable to attend. This applies to meetings and seminars in the School where possible.

Staff experiences

Read firsthand accounts from staff working within the School of Chemistry.

Remote working

The use of online administrative and assessment systems allows certain tasks to be carried out remotely, to aid balancing family comitments.

Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Caring Advisory Service

The School of Chemistry has appointed two advisors, from amongst its staff population, to help staff and students to navigate policies around Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Caring. We encourage current or prospective members of the Chemistry community who have questions or concerns, or who just want a friendly listening ear, to get in touch with Sally Rusling or Lucy Shaw to talk things through. All enquiries will be treated in strict confidence.

Returning Carers' Scheme

The University's Returning Carers' Scheme supports academic staff to re-establish their independent research careers on return from extended leave for reasons connected to caring.

Learn more about how you can apply for the scheme

Wider policies to support parents and parents-to-be

Additional University policies which support parents and parents-to-be include:

Support for those with caring responsibilities

Additional University policies which support those with a variety of caring duties include:

Please note the School of Chemistry Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee meets six times a year. If you have any questions concerning EDI or anything you would like to raise with the committee please email chem-edi@bristol.ac.uk.

Positioning ourselves as world-leading researchers and teachers invariably creates demands for everyone in the school; a supportive environment is therefore a key part of our culture. One of the many ways we ensure that is by enabling both women and men to have a good work-life balance, which respects their personal responsibilities as well as their professional aspirations.

Professor Tim Gallagher

Professor of Organic Chemistry

A University-wide campaign to encourage students to take action against bullying, harassment and other forms of unacceptable behaviour they may experience or witness.

Staff can also contact a SUSO Advocate, for guidance and support.

You may find the following resources useful: