Supporting Young Researcher Families in Switzerland

[摘要] The life of a PhD student or postdoc in mathematics (orany other subject) can be challenging in many ways, andmore so if you have a family, especially if you have youngchildren. In Switzerland, there exist several institutionsthat offer help in such situations. Some measures, specifically tuned to young researchers in mathematics andtheoretical physics, are proposed by NCCR SwissMAP.The Swiss National Centre of Competence inResearch (NCCR) SwissMAP1 is a programme supporting mathematics and theoretical physics in Switzerland,created in the context of the NCCR projects of the SwissNational Science Foundation. It brings together around40 professors from Swiss universities and CERN andtheir groups (altogether around 200 people). In addition to its research curriculum, the goal is to attract moretalented young people to mathematics and theoreticalphysics in Switzerland. This is done via a full cycle of educational activities: from a wide variety of outreach projects for schools, some of which have been described in aprevious issue of the EMS Newsletter,2 through masterclasses (year-long in-depth Master’s level programmesfor internationally selected students), to opportunities and training for PhD students and postdocs. NCCRSwissMAP also has several programmes for supportingyoung researchers with families.