On 26 May 2026, Sustainability@Leave held a highly successful Final Conference at Charles University in Prague, marking the conclusion of four years of collaborative research on the role of paid parental leave in building more equal and socially sustainable societies. The hybrid event drew around 90 researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders on site, with further participants joining online – a strong turnout that reflected the breadth of interest the Action has built over its lifetime.
The day opened with keynotes from Dr Tomáš Sobotka (Vienna Institute of Demography) and Prof. Anne Lise Ellingsæter (University of Oslo) on fertility decline and work-family policies in Europe. The Action’s five Working Groups then presented their key outputs, followed by a stakeholder panel bringing together voices from research and policy, including representatives from Population Europe (Dr Andreas Edel), EIGE (Dr Jolanta Reingarde), UN Women (Majlinda Nesturi), ELFAC – European Large Families Confederation (Raúl Sánchez), UNFPA (Dr Visare Mujko-Nimani), COFACE Families Europe (Sven Iversen), and former Czech Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Michaela Marksová Tominová.
The afternoon featured the launch of the book Care Leaves and Care Time for All: Towards Caring Democracies, Economies, and Worlds, authored by Prof. Andrea Doucet (Brock University, Canada) and Prof. Peter Moss (UCL), alongside the official release of the Czech Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) data led by Prof. Martin Kreidl (Masaryk University Brno), and a presentation of the Generations and Gender Programme by Prof. Solveig Cunningham (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute). The day closed with a panel discussion on future research directions and international cooperation, featuring Prof. Rense Nieuwenhuis (Stockholm University), Dr Andreas Edel (Population Europe), Dr Thordis Reimer (Hamburg University of Technology), Prof. Ivana Dobrotić (University of Zagreb), and Prof. Ann-Zofie Duvander (Stockholm University).
