Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A note on a narrative CV: 'Career interruption 2020-2021: 12 months reduced to 0.4 FTE due to caring responsibilities'
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A standard sabbatical (a research-active period away from teaching) is not a career interruption
Editorial commentary
Career interruption is the term some funders — notably the Royal Society and the European Research Council — use for a documented period of reduced or absent research activity due to defined personal circumstances, used in the same eligibility-extension role as the more generic career break.
How this differs from career break
The two terms overlap heavily in practice and are frequently used as synonyms, but “career interruption” as used by the Royal Society and ERC specifically is sometimes scoped more broadly: it can include reduced-fraction working (a sustained period of less-than-full-time work) and not only a complete absence from research activity, whereas “career break” as used by other funders more often implies a full stop rather than a partial reduction. The practical effect on eligibility windows is the same either way — pro-rata extension — but the underlying qualifying circumstances can differ by funder.
Example
A researcher who reduces to 60% working time for eighteen months to manage a chronic health condition declares this as a career interruption on a Royal Society application, extending their eligibility window pro-rata even though they never stopped working entirely.
Practical note
Declarations are typically free-text on the application form, allowing the researcher to describe the circumstances and duration in their own words rather than selecting from a fixed checklist — always consult the specific scheme’s guidance for exactly what must be included.
Also known as
Research interruption · Career disruption
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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