When it comes to questions about artificial intelligence (AI), Nathalie Gottschalk is the right person for researchers. Networking, pooling AI knowledge and thus making working life easier for scientists are among her tasks as head of the KIDA project based at the Thünen Institute.

"Since I've had the full-time job, my husband and I have swapped roles - he works part-time and takes much more care of the children and household," says the 36-year-old mother of two. The fact that fathers of young children take on more care work than mothers is still not a matter of course: "Mothers at the nursery often react with surprise when I say that dad does it for us when I ask for an appointment for my daughters. We arrange childcare on an equal footing and as flexibly as possible."

After studying food technology in Berlin, she moved to Braunschweig with her partner, began her doctorate in process engineering at the Technische Universität and had her two children. "A university lecturer once said that the doctoral period is the best time to have children. I wouldn't subscribe to that today," says Nathalie Gottschalk looking back. She is one of the few mothers to manage the balancing act between a part-time PhD and raising children, including two periods of parental time. Her husband supports her and, for example, traveled abroad with her breastfeeding child to the project meeting. It has always been clear to her that it is possible to be committed to her career AND be a good mother - whether part-time or full-time.

What would she like to see for "women in science" with young children? "More acceptance among mothers, sufficient childcare options and less prejudice on the part of employers! In job interviews, I was often asked how I was going to manage with small children, but my husband never was."