Too late for Early Career anything

[doesthatmakesense]

I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions (other than giving up and getting a nice, sensible job) for where I can go next, as it looks like I have left things too long to be eligibile for any EC funding.

Here's the background, as brief as I can make it:

PhD awarded 11 years ago, DD1 born 10 years ago - additional needs, bit more demanding for longer than would be expected, also I had PND (should I tell the funder who has just said "sorry, not eligible" this as it does explain some of my non-working years?), worked for local uni v part-time as was doing serious parenting, dd2 born 7 years ago, so had another four years with her at home while I did part-time/voluntary stuff. Have been working part-time so that I can do school run etc for four years.

Have just had an email from one funder saying that working part-time and unemployment don't count towards "career break" and that I am therefore ineligible for their scheme - and will also be for others, I guess. I don't understand what I could have done differently - I have had two children, four years apart from each other in the 11 years since I got my PhD. Maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough for them.
It feels like I am being penalised for having a family, which shouldn't be a painful surprise but it is. It's taken me so long to get my confidence back and start finding a way back in, and now it feels like the door has been slammed in my face. What can I do?

MNrs often say that there are heaps and heaps (& heaps) of fellowships that don't have any requirement about having early career status or how long ago you did your PhD. If I spend hours (I mean hours) I start to find those programmes after a while. Would a fellowship suit you?

Personally I like being a contract researcher (although more money would be nice if I had a job further up the academic food chain). I know I'll have to leave academia to have any kind of "career" or salary progression. What kind of PhD did you get?

Get research active again, with an article or two under review at good journals. Then apply for the kinds of postdocs that go with someone ELSE'S grant (like, a research assistant job on someone else's ERC starting grant, that kind of thing). There, you can explain the career break in an application letter, and show what you've been doing in the last six months (or whatever) to get "match fit". I have made that sort of appointment, and never regretted it

Hi, I work for a fellowship granting private foundation. It's our policy not to award post-doctoral fellowship grants for candidates who completed their PhD more than 5 years ago, but we accept "maternity leave" as a legitimate way to extend this for 6, 7, or 8 years. We tend to take as sympathetic a view as possible because of how difficult the job market is now for academics. Perhaps you should try them again; if it's a private trust then they can make exceptions outside of their normal policy...

What field are you?

When you say you don't know what you could have done differently - if I understood, you had four years out of academia at home with your children? That is what you could have done differently, in the eyes of a funder - I don't think you can jump from that to fellowship.

I think you need to do exactly what Ommward says!

However, if you are medical sciences, you could also have a look at Daphne Jackson fellowships.

Am 40. Took 4 years out post PhD for related professional training, then 5 years (with a bit of online teaching) to have kids.

Got a post doc on someone elses grant for 2 years, 2 years in a non academic but related role, 2 years back in an academic support role and I have finally got a fellowship. Not a hugely high profile area and only 12 months.

Takes flipping ages. And I think that I am quite good.

Not sure if this helps or not really. I could convince most funders I was

The AHRC accepted me as an early career researcher with an extra two years beyond the time limit. That was for two periods of maternity leave and a number of long-term sick leaves. I very much doubt you’d get the AHRC to accept your claim to be an EC researcher, but maybe try asking again. It took a while for the AHRC to agree—nobody knew the answer when I initially enquired.

Thank you all for your thoughts, even those that are uncomfortable. Unfortunately I'm not able to move to take up a post-doc and there is not a lot likely to come up within manageable travelling distance, given that i still have primary-aged children, one of whom has additional needs.

Starting to think that i must be slightly mad even thinking about going back into this...