Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
Eight months of declared parental leave extending an ECR's eligibility window by eight months
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A six-week summer holiday is not a career break in the funder sense
Editorial commentary
A career break is a documented absence from active research work, generally understood to be at least three months in duration, arising from parental leave, caring responsibilities, illness, disability, military service, or comparable personal circumstances. Funders recognise career breaks by extending early-career-researcher (ECR) eligibility windows pro-rata — that is, adding back the length of the break to whatever date-based cutoff would otherwise apply.
How this differs from career interruption
“Career break” and career interruption are near-synonyms used somewhat interchangeably across funders, but with real differences in exact scope: some funders (notably the Royal Society and the European Research Council) use “career interruption” specifically, and define it to potentially include reduced-fraction working (working less than full-time) rather than only complete absence from work — a broader scope than a strict “break.” Which term a given funder uses, and exactly what qualifies, differs by scheme, so the applicable funder’s own eligibility guidance is the definitive source, not either term’s general usage.
Example
A researcher who takes eight months of parental leave and later applies for an early-career funding scheme with a “PhD awarded within the last five years” eligibility rule has that window extended by the documented length of the leave, per the funder’s career-break policy.
Practical note
Funders’ rules on what counts, and how it must be documented, differ meaningfully: UKRI permits any documented break to extend the ECR eligibility window, while the ERC explicitly enumerates which categories of break qualify — always check the specific scheme’s guidance rather than assuming a universal definition.
Also known as
Career interruption · Time away from research
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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