Science communication is incredibly important and often undervalued. Many decisions about our health, our energy sources, and our technology should involve scientific research. But in order for citizens and policymakers to make informed decisions, we need people who can bridge the gap between science and the public.
It is a huge undertaking to translate all of the research happening in labs around the world, so science communication jobs can take various forms. Some folks are freelance writers, pitching stories about science to various public outlets. Other people work as writers for media sources, institutions, or internally for companies. In the policy world, science communicators help digest research for busy policymakers who need to make decisions. Each of these roles require someone who can digest dense scientific research into more palatable forms.
Working as a science communicator or policymaker requires you to analyze primary research and effectively communicate it to your audience. Fortunately, if you’re coming out of the research world, you’ve already started developing these skills. You likely have a fine nose for sniffing out bad research design, and you’re also probably good at asking questions.
If you’re thinking about transitioning into these fields, it’s likely that the bulk of your preparation will be on the communication side of things. Good writing, like any other skill, takes time and practice. If you are interested in these types of careers, start writing now! Choose a paper you’ve recently read and write a five-hundred-word translation for a nonscientist. Pay attention to the good characteristics of science writing you do like.1
There are a few different outlets where you can practice your science writing. You can create a personal blog or Medium page, or you can even just write for yourself. The Society for Neuroscience has featured bloggers for their annual conference, and many smaller conferences do the same. Several universities have branches of an organization called NeuWrite (https://www.neuwrite.org/), and many of these local groups host their own neuroscience blogs.
Importantly, being a science writer or communicator does not mean you need to see yourself as a writer. Many people in these jobs have developed their writing and communication skills over time, and it’s often not even the main qualification for these jobs.
There are a few things that might be a bit startling in your transition to the communication world. Science communicators often need to focus on the big picture rather than getting caught up in getting all of the details correct. They’re constantly asking: Why is this important? Instead of knowing a lot about one field, like you do as a researcher, you’ll likely need to become familiar with many different fields, depending on what your focus is. And finally, the pace of communication and policy jobs can be quite different. Some days, you might have tough deadlines and quick turnarounds on pieces.
There are a few different ways that people write for the public. Freelance science writers are not affiliated with a particular media outlet, but instead they pitch stories to various outlets as they see fit. As with other freelance work, working as a freelance writer can give you a lot of freedom to work when you want, but it doesn’t come with a lot of stability.
If you’re looking for a more stable position, there are also staff writer positions at media outlets as well as various foundations, research institutions, and universities. In these positions, you’re typically given a range of subjects that you write about, often called your beat. Working as a staff writer for a research institution means you’ll talk to the scientists about their research to distill their work for donors and the public eye.
Some folks decide to dive into science journalism headfirst and develop their skills and network on their own time, but others pursue a degree or certificate in science communication or journalism. There are many of these programs, but a few notable ones are the UC Santa Cruz science communication program, MIT, NYU, Columbia, and the University of Wisconsin Madison.
There are also professionals who connect companies with their patient populations, interested investors, or the public more generally. Often times, these types of positions will be at public relations firms or directly within the pharmaceutical or tech company itself. These jobs tend to be traditional 9–5 jobs at a physical workplace. Many public relations firms have been around for a while but have been adapting to new types of media and communications platforms. These companies give you the opportunity to work with various types of clients who are solving interesting problems in healthcare and technology.
As with many of the jobs we’ve highlighted beyond academia, working in science communication doesn’t explicitly require a PhD. Caitlin Vander Weele works at a public relations firm with a mix of people with and without PhDs. Having a PhD has helped her distill science that she’s encountered and can also hasten promotion, but isn’t explicitly necessary: “Do you need it? No. Do I think that it positions you for upward mobility? Absolutely.”2
Similarly, many pharmaceutical or medical technology companies hire medical or technical writers either to write internal company documents or copy for materials that will be distributed to the public. These jobs tend to pay fairly well, though the writing can be rather dry and technical.
In addition to science writing, there are also editorial jobs for scientists. In most cases, these aren’t editing in the traditional sense; rather, it means choosing and curating content for scientific journals. Most of the main scientific journals employ full-time editors who handle manuscript submissions from scientists. They read their submissions and decide whether or not to send them out to reviewers.
Working as an editor can mean dealing with socially awkward situations—scientists may be upset that their papers are not accepted, for example. But it also means you will get to learn about a broader field of research than you could as a single researcher. Editors often attend scientific conferences to meet with scientists and gain insight into the field. It can also be a creative job: often editors curate journal issues around a specific theme and recruit articles. Lastly, editors have tremendous power in science, since publishing in top-tier journals brands research as impressive and provides researchers with a tangible demonstration of their success.3
In a slightly different form of communication, many scientists work at the intersection of research and policymaking. By one definition, “The primary goal of science policy lies in understanding how science and technology impacts society and how STEM knowledge may be applied to better serve the public through governance systems.”4
Science policy jobs come in various different shapes and forms. One useful breakdown is considering jobs that are science for policy (using research to inform laws and regulations) versus policy for science (laws and regulations that influence research practice; sometimes called research policy). Scientists working in policy tackle a range of responsibilities, from advising, advocacy, and diplomacy, to education, research, and communications.
Some policy folks work at think tanks, where they help generate internal whitepapers and research that is used to inform government agency decisions. Other folks work within local, state, or federal government offices or agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, where they decide how to allocate funding or regulate funding recipients.
Rather than narrowing in on a specific scientific question, policymakers deal with a huge range of issues and stakeholders. For neuroscience in particular, scientists-turned-policymakers could work on issues of mental health or the use of artificial intelligence. However, many neuroscientists in the policy world ultimately move into other STEM fields, handling anything from water safety to energy consumptions.
If you’re thinking of transitioning into the policy world, there are a few opportunities to consider. The Society for Neuroscience has a program for early career policy ambassadors, in which PhDs (or recent PhDs) can interact with policymakers.5 After your PhD, you could intern at a government agency or think tank in order to start getting exposure to that world. One other common transitional step that people take is the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, a competitive, paid fellowship that places recent PhDs to work at government agencies. California also has a state version of this program.6 Lastly, you might consider earning a master’s of science policy or policy certificate, offered by many institutions.7
There are many resources on transitioning into science communication or policy:
Science Communication
■ Thomas Hayden and Michelle Nijhus, The Science Writer’s Handbook (Boston: DaCapo, 2013). Provides useful advice particularly for those interested in a career as a freelance writer.
Science Policy