Women @ FIZ: an interview with Dr. Anna Jacyszyn

March 31 2025 — In our third interview from the “Women @ FIZ” series, in which we present women who work in different research areas at FIZ Karlsruhe, we talk to Dr. Anna Jacyszyn. She works as a postdoctoral researcher and coordinator of the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Transformation of Research (DiTraRe).

Anna takes us on her developmental journey in this interview: She talks about herself as a scientifically gifted girl who won numerous prizes and thus attracted the displeasure of the boys in the competitions. They couldn't cope with the fact that a girl, who was even younger than they were, did better. An early love of astronomy and astrophysics was awakened in her by a physics teacher, and since then her study and career aspirations were clear: “I'm going to be an astrophysicist.”

Dr. Anna Jacyszyn also talks about how the scientific system deals with women who decide to have a family and become mothers: “I had the feeling that this was not planned. 'How can you have a child and still write this paper?’” She talks about how she traveled to conferences as a young mother with a child. “I didn't want to use my motherhood as an excuse for why I was completely overtired during presentations, for example. Although this was perfectly justified.”

In fact, the compatibility of science and family is still a problematic. According to a study by the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), only 44% of successful female scientists have children. Of these mothers, around half have only one child. Often, female scientists only decide to start a family after completing their doctorate because they fear negative consequences for their career. As a result, family planning is often delayed.

In Dr. Anna Jacyszyn's case, the situation became even more difficult: “I found myself as a single mother with two children, and this made it impossible to continue working as an astrophysicist. Fixed-term contracts, a field of research that requires international work - none of that was possible anymore. I couldn't have simply moved to the USA or Chile with my children.” And that was the end of a lifelong dream for Anna. She says quite openly: “There were moments when I regretted having children.” At the same time, however, she emphasizes how much her children have enriched her life. And she has a clear message for women in similar situations: “Have children if you want to. Don't have children if you don't want them. You can do anything, but you don't have to do everything.”

You can watch the full interview on YouTube.