(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This post is one of those interviews, giving the responses of Dr. Hazel Phillips, a communications specialist for a UK government agency.)
1) What is your non-academic job?
I work for a UK government agency which operates in a scientific
field. My job involves communicating the outputs of our R&D department
both internally and externally. Our most important audience is policy
and decision makers across government – we want to make sure that the
research we do is used to underpin our policies and the way we
regulate. I am responsible for coordinating the publication of 5-10
technical reports a month. I work with our scientists to tease out the
key messages of reports – who needs to know about this work and what
do we want them to do as a result of it? I liaise with our freelance
technical editors, write non-technical summaries of technical reports,
work with the Press Office on media strategies and generally try to
make sure that the right people get to read and act on the research.
2) What is your science background?
I have a BSc in Chemistry from Bristol University and stayed on to do
a PhD in analytical chemistry. I then worked in the flavour industry
for a couple of years, before returning to Bristol University for a
post-doctoral research assistantship position in environmental
chemistry. Whilst in this job I successfully applied for a Royal
Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship.
3) What led you to this job?
My Royal Society Fellowship was a highly prestigious 4-year award
which offered a great start in an academic career, however I really
struggled to get the results I needed to obtain further funding. After
3.5 years I realised that although I had always dreamt of being an
academic, actually, I didn’t love the work enough to either put the
hours required in, or to cope with the uncertainty of short term
contracts. I decided I wanted to move out of academia.
I had to do quite a lot of soul-searching at this point. I didn’t
really know what I wanted to do, what I could do, or even what kind of
jobs were available in the “real” world. My University careers service
gave excellent advice and helped me sort out my thoughts.
I started looking for jobs that looked interesting and applied for
several that I thought I might enjoy. I decided that if they weren’t
right, it wouldn’t be a problem for me to move on in 6-12 months.
I saw this job advertised on the agency’s website, applied,
interviewed and was offered the position.
4) What’s your work environment like?
I work in an office. However, my organisation are very flexible on
working arrangements and I am able to work from home regularly if I
want. I sometimes work from other offices if I have meetings to
attend, though I am mostly based in my home town. Since returning from
maternity leave 6 months ago, I have been working 4 days a week.
5) What do you do in a typical day?
Whilst my computer is booting up I usually pop down to the canteen for
some toast, then grab a cup of tea on my way back to my desk. I
usually then spend an hour or two catching up on emails. Typically
these are from project managers who are sending me reports that need
editing and publishing and from our freelance editors returning work
to me. I try to catch up on the phone or in person wherever possible –
it’s a big organisation with people based in many different locations
but it’s easier to talk than to email. I might then ring a project
manager to talk through their latest report – what did we find out and
what needs to change as a result of this work? What will other
researchers think of it? Might we be able to get some media coverage
of it? I would perhaps then ring my contact in the press office for a
discussion about the report and what we’re planning to do with it.
After lunch I might have a meeting with some other communications
staff about how one of our R&D reports might provide evidence to
underpin a new campaign on trying to get the public to respond better
to flood warnings. When I get back to my desk, I might spend an hour
writing a short non-technical summary of a long, complex report.
6) How does your science background help you in your job?
It’s essential. I cover work from a wide range of scientific
disciplines, so don’t always know about the specifics of the work, but
I do understand the scientific method: how scientific experiments are
constructed and interpreted, how science is written, how researchers
work. I understand that science is written in very specific language
but am able to know enough science to know when that can be softened
for a non-technical audience and when it can’t. I think it’s also
helped me gain the trust of the researchers. Many were initially
worried that their work would be ‘dumbed down’ or butchered but when
they realised I’m “one of them” it helped them to trust me to keep the
science right.
I think that it’s probably easier to learn the tricks of the comms
trade than to be a comms specialist trying to gain 10 years of science
experince.
7) If a current college student wanted to get a job like yours, how
should they go about it?
They need to be able to demonstrate where they have communicated
science to different audiences. They’ll already be doing this – if
they present at conferences then that’s one set of skills. Similarly,
writing a thesis involves another set of skills. It would be even
better if they have some experience of public engagement in science –
maybe helping out at a science fair for the public, or talking to
school children about what they do. Enthusiasm for science in general
– a passion for explaining it and engaging with people about it – is a
bonus too.
In terms of work experience, there are various schemes for science
students to work on a scientific journal or magazine. Maybe try
getting some experience writing articles for your local newspaper, or
student magazine.
8) What’s the most important thing you learned from science?
Apart from flame tests? Um. I think the most important thing I’ve
gained is an analytical approach. I’ve realised I’m able to assimilate
a large amount of data and assess its validity relatively quickly.
It’s made me quite a good strategic thinker.
9) What advice would you give to young science students trying to plan
their careers?
Firstly work out what transferable skills you have. Studying a subject
with a lot of contact hours and a lot of work to do means you’re
probably developing good time management skills. You have probably
learnt analytical thinking. You’re almost certainly numerate and
probably literate too! Work out what all those skills are because you
need to sell yourself.
Next, work out what you enjoy doing. Personally, I hated labwork
because it was the boring, logical, repetitive bit. I enjoyed the
brainstorming that came before labwork. Henri Poincare said that “it
is through science that we prove but through intuition that we
discover’. I realised I enjoyed the discovery bit more than the
proving bit, so I wanted to be worked on new things frequently. Longer
term projects are not for me.
Finally, remember that there’s no such thing as a job for life any
more. That’s often portrayed as a negative thing but actually it’s
incredible positive. It means you can have several different careers
within your working life. It also means that if you take a job which
isn’t right, it’s perfectly OK to move on after 12 or even 6 months.
Look for jobs which interest you and think about moving on when you’re
bored for more than 40% of your day.
10) (Totally Optional Question) What’s the pay like?
Not bad. When I moved from academia to the government agency (not
proper civil service but similar) I was paid almost exactly the same.
Since then my job has been regraded and I’ve had a significant pay
rise. Science communication isn’t always that well paid – possibly
because so many people want to do it – but my pay isn’t at all bad.
Probably similar to expectations in academia.