v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

Career interruption

A near-synonym of career break used by some funders (notably the Royal Society and ERC) to denote a period of reduced or absent research activity due to defined personal circumstances; sometimes also used to include reduced-fraction working (less than full-time) rather than complete absence.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A note on a narrative CV: 'Career interruption 2020-2021: 12 months reduced to 0.4 FTE due to caring responsibilities'

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A standard sabbatical (a research-active period away from teaching) is not a career interruption

Editorial commentary

Career-interruption declarations on narrative CVs and grant applications are typically free-text, allowing the researcher to describe the circumstance and its impact at the level they choose. Funders are not entitled to medical detail; a high-level description is sufficient.

References

Royal Society R4RI Resume for Researchers (2020 v1, 2024 mandate)
ERC Eligibility Extensions

Also known as

Research interruption · Career disruption

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Career interruption"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/career-interruption" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Career interruption",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/career-interruption",
  "description": "A near-synonym of career break used by some funders (notably the Royal Society and ERC) to denote a period of reduced or absent research activity due to defined personal circumstances; sometimes also used to include reduced-fraction working (less than full-time) rather than complete absence.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/mentorship-training-and-career-stages/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/career-interruption",
  "sameAs": [
    "Research interruption",
    "Career disruption"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

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