Pamela K. Kreeger , Amy Brock, Holly C. Gibbs, K. Jane Grande-Allen, Alice H. Huang, Kristyn S. Masters, Padmini Rangamani, Michaela R. Reagan, Shannon L. Servoss
Published: October 29, 2020
In the spring of 2020, nearly all academic institutions went to some level of shutdown/quarantine in order to slow the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). For many universities, courses were moved online, laboratory-based research was required to slow or stop, and most on-site work shifted to telework. Optimistically, many academics thought initially that this might lead to a surge in research productivity. Indeed, by this point, we suspect that readers have heard that Isaac Newton apparently figured out calculus while in isolation during the plague. Consistent with this, some of the authors experienced or observed messaging from department chairs, center leaders, or mentors telling principal investigators (PIs) that the pandemic situation has likely created “extra time” for them to focus on writing grants and developing new ideas. Further, well-intentioned suggestions included ideas to shift research projects from experimental to computational questions; however, such shifts may represent a major research pivot for members of the lab group and require substantial support from the PI. Even as the pandemic persists and university leaders consider how to safely reopen labs and return to fall courses, which will result in new upheaval to our lives, there are still messages that quarantine might give scientists time to pursue new interests or work on long-forgotten projects [1].
However, if scientific fields are seeing increased output due to time focused on writing/computer-based tasks (e.g., publication submission, patent applications, and grant proposals), all indications suggest that this has been a benefit for men in science, and not women [2–4]. Discussions of these data have focused primarily on the fact that women do a disproportionate amount of house and childcare [5–7], and options used to provide support for this unpaid work have essentially evaporated (e.g., limiting outside workers into the home for cleaning, day cares not accessible to children of nonessential workers, and school and summer camp closures). Indeed, productivity gaps are being observed for working women in many industries and at a broader level have been suggested to be an issue for working parents regardless of gender due to the lack of school/day care options [8].
Read more https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008370