Read the latest Issue
Childcare at EMBL events
EMBL PlayLab now available at many conferences hosted in Heidelberg
While there is much to celebrate on International Women’s Day, according to the World Economic Forum we are still 117 years away from worldwide gender equality. Making it easier for parents to enrich their research and careers by attending conferences is one way that EMBL can help move things along. This year, the new EMBL PlayLab will provide onsite childcare at 22 conferences taking place at EMBL Heidelberg in Germany.
Childcare services will be provided by EMBL’s Kinderhaus teachers for up to 10 children aged three months to three years. Located in the Advanced Training Centre, PlayLab will run from 8.30am to 7pm throughout conferences, weekdays and weekends alike, at a cost of 100 Euros per conference, per child. For a three-day conference, this equates to around 3 Euro per hour, and covers all meals, toys, beds, nursing rooms and changing facilities.
Having her somewhere safe, close by, gave me the opportunity to fully concentrate on the sessions
EMBL established PlayLab following a successful pilot last year. Folasade Muibat Adeyemi, from Osun State University in Nigeria, brought her daughter along to an EMBO|EMBL Symposium in 2015: “Having her somewhere safe, close by, gave me the opportunity to fully concentrate on the sessions,” she says. And the benefits are not just for parents – PlayLab children also get to experience a new environment and make friends from all over the world: “My daughter now knows that there are other places, other people, other skin colors, other foods,” adds Muibat Adeyemi, “It was a new experience for her, too.”
Find an upcoming conference and register your kids for EMBL PlayLab in 2016.
