Ellen Henderson joined Ulster University nearly 3 years ago, having spent time working in research into pain in children at the University of the West of England and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. Taking up her first lecturing post at Ulster, Ellen explains, “I wasn’t too long settled at Ulster when I was delighted to find myself expecting our baby, earlier than we might have anticipated. He was born on New Year’s Eve 2022 and the celebratory fireworks seemed to be just for us!”
The School was supportive and the Returner Carers’ scheme was first mentioned to Ellen long before she went on maternity leave. It was agreed that Ellen would return to the role as course director for the MSc in Health Psychology and on her return 10 months later, the Scheme was mentioned again within a few days by the school’s Research Director Prof Victoria Simms. Ellen adds, “I love my job, but I always knew that I wanted to take a step away to focus on our son. The prospect of the Returning Carers’ scheme as a possibility on my return gave me reassurance in pausing my career knowing that I could be supported to move forward again with my research on my return to work.”
Ellen reflects that in the School of Psychology, Returning Carers’ is well promoted by the School’s Athena Swan champion. Integral to the School’s REF environment statement, the Scheme is regularly highlighted at school boards. Ellen was also fortunate to benefit from an academic mentor, Professor Assumpta Ryan from the School of Nursing, who encouraged her to consider “nesting” for a research return. “Just as I was nesting in the maternal sense, Assumpta encouraged me to take a similar approach to my research interests – getting ready by documenting ideas to pick up on my return from maternity leave and preparing for how Returning Carers’ support could be used if I was successful in my application to the scheme.”
In a teaching and research role such as Ellen’s, taking on course directorship brings significant additional responsibility, demanding about 60% of working time, leaving reduced capacity for research. Ellen’s successful application to the Returning Carers’ Scheme enabled her to balance and bolster her research activity through the purchase of equipment to determine markers of pain threshold, a collaborative research trip to Liverpool John Moore’s University, and the payment of participants in a pilot research study.
Ellen adds, “During my time spent with research colleagues in Liverpool I met higher education leaders at work with local clinical partners. I was hosted at the SOMAFFECT laboratory at Liverpool John Moores University and had several very useful conversations about potential future PhD exchanges between our universities. I was also introduced to experimental pain research which expanded my perspective on new methods and collaboration. The Returning Carers’ Scheme has encouraged me in my research career as well as creating opportunities that will benefit our wider research community in the School of Psychology through resources and paving the way for future partnerships.”