Assistant Professor Yuko Wada
・Division of Biological Science, Intercellular Informatics Laboratory (Takayama Lab)
ＡＡ Ms. Yuko Yoshimura and Ms. Yuka Yamamoto
I have been continuously supported by the AA system from FY2010, when my child was 4 years old, to the present. Since we are doing research on plants, we always need to grow plants to use as materials for experiments. For the convenience of our experiments, we often had to grow a large number of plants, so we were very grateful for the help. In addition, we sometimes even asked them to take responsibility for data collection. When you are raising children, you have time constraints, such as fixed pick-up times, but thanks to the AA system, I am able to conduct my research efficiently in the limited time available, which is helpful because I can devote more time to teaching students and reviewing the results of experiments.
When I first started using the AA system, I was the only staff member with a small child in the laboratory, and the time I could devote to research was short, and I felt very sorry for my narrow shoulders. Since then, the professor of the laboratory and all the staff have been very kind to me, and I am truly grateful for their kindness. Recently, the number of people with children in your lab has increased. When the program started, it was only for female researchers, but I think that male researchers will inevitably be involved in childcare if their partners also work. I think it was good that the program was improved so that male researchers could use it during the course of the program.
I am grateful for the tremendous support I have received from this program. If I were to make a request for the future, it would be better if the AA system was not for a single year, but for a longer period of time, say three years, so that AAs could work more easily and we could also do research from the waist up.
(July, 2015)
