This call for essays invites reflections on the challenges and strategies of single and separated parents navigating academic careers. We are particularly interested in essays that explore how precarious working conditions, institutional structures, mobility requirements, and expectations of academic career progression shape everyday life, career decisions, and experiences of parenthood. We also welcome contributions that highlight forms of resistance, support, solidarity, and alternative ways of organizing academic work and family life.

This first Germany-wide call was made possible thanks to the Freie Universität Diversity Fonds within the project „Alleinerziehend, aber nicht allein: Wissen_schaf(f)t Vernetzung und Sichtbarkeit an der Freien Universität“.

Please submit your 7–10-page essay in either English or German by October 18, together with a short biographical note and your contact details, in a single document via email to e.hiemer@fu-berlin.de. The three winning essays will receive monetary prizes of €1,000, €600, and €400, respectively. They will be published through the social media channels of Freie Universität Berlin and shared through the “Single Parents in German Academia” network with the author’s original name or a pseudonym (please indicate your preference).

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