Love science, but do not see yourself working in a laboratory for long hours?
Want to educate and create awareness about science, but the commitment of a tenure-track teaching position intimidates you?
Well, here’s some good news! Science goes way beyond the laboratory and classroom!Here is a list of 10 interesting and unconventional science career options that will leave you spoilt for choice!
1. Science communication, outreach, and publishing
2. Scientific consultancy
3. Recruitment
4. Research funding and administration
5. Intellectual property and patent law
6. Science policy
7. Lobbying
8. Manufacturing and production
9. Technical sales
10. Data science and analysis
Science communication, outreach, and publishing
Science communication and outreach is an umbrella term for the practices of simplifying and communicating scientific concepts and research findings to non-expert audience in the society. Science features in media, media campaigns associated with science, science festivals, and science-based visitor attractions are some endeavors aimed at increasing public engagement in science.
There are three components that come together to make this comprehensive.
Public engagement: This component of science communication ensures a two-way communication between science experts and the society, which facilitates the resolution of scientific issues and problems that affect the lives of the general public.
Outreach: This component aims at enhancing the public understanding of science and scientific research through lectures, workshops, science festivals, and several other modes. Igniting the passion for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) in young minds and encouraging the exploration of these subjects is an important part of outreach in science communication.
Research communication: Scientific advances are aimed at creating a direct or indirect impact on the society. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that new scientific findings are communicated in the public domain. This practice fills the gap between the scientific community and the general sectors of the society, and ensures that science is brought to the public in effective ways. Scientific journals, books, and several other written media are published and distributed in the society right from school-level to facilitate the smooth functioning of this component.
An all-encompassing category such as this comprises of varied career opportunities.
Science writer/ journalist: This entails relaying science news to the general public through media outlets and publications.
Museum education officer: Museums and science centers need individuals with a background in science who can simplify and explain scientific concepts to visitors.
Event manager at science festivals and workshops: Scientific communities and educational institutions often organize science-based workshops, information events, interaction platforms, and festivals for businesses, students, or the general public. Event managers play a crucial role in ensuring the smooth functioning of such events.
Public relations officer: Individuals in this role work towards establishing connections between scientific organizations and potential customers or governments.
Science writer, editor, designer, illustrator, and proof-reader: Scientific publications, both online and print, are focused on the production of journals, reference books, textbooks, handbooks, and many more. Writers, editors, designers, illustrators, and proof-readers form the core of publishing.
The job profile for any of the above-mentioned categories would be:
To explain scientific concepts and findings to a lay audience in a comprehendible format
To promote and inspire a passion for STEM and STEAM subjects and activities for school- and university-level students
To present scientific findings and advances to government officials and potential investors
Although graduates and post-graduates from diverse fields of education can explore these career options, a passion for reading and keeping updated with occurrences in the scientific world, a flair for writing, an eye for details, and strong language skills ensure a smooth sail in these careers.
Practice makes perfect!
Therefore, writing from early stages such as for science clubs at school and college levels or for university newspapers, starting and maintaining your own science blog, and taking up internship opportunities at scientific publishers are good ways to hone relevant skills and also to build a personal portfolio of demonstrable experience. Such a diverse and relevant portfolio also indicates your degree of commitment to the industry, and holds you in good stead in the eyes of industry experts.
Confidence, ambition, passion for reading books, knowledge of industry trends, and understanding of the target audience can prove to be very beneficial for professions in science communication, outreach, and publishing.
A pro tip here would be to keep an open mind and not let go of any industry-relevant opportunities that might come your way. A role in administration or marketing could eventually lead to the goal of landing an editorial job, since you would have the insider advantage.
Scientific consultancy
Scientific consultants apply their knowledge of complex scientific concepts and analytical skills to resolve problems that their clients face. The areas that can benefit from such resolutions range from improving the efficiency of manufacturing processes to developing a medium that is best-suited for presenting the significance of a particular organization’s work to potential investors. The satisfaction of mediating client success through your guidance and advise can be very fulfilling and inspiring.
Although a graduation in any subject area is usually the basic requirement for this profession, degrees in either business, economics, engineering, or science can prove especially beneficial. Whether you wish to have job as a scientific consultant in consultancy firms or you choose to be your own boss and become a freelance scientific consultant, the options in this profession are attractive and limitless.
Recruitment
This career option also involves some degree of consultancy, but in a different direction. Instead of advising to resolve scientific process-related problems, as a recruitment consultant, you will be advising candidates on the appropriate scientific role based on their respective skill sets. Higher education careers adviser, specializing in subject areas related to science is another thought-worthy role that is an off-shoot of this profession. This is not a recruitment role in the conventional sense, nonetheless, you will still be actively involved in guiding students towards career options best-suited to their aptitude and interest. This process will obviously impact their future recruitment endeavors.
The eligibility criteria for this profession are akin to those of scientific consultancy, albeit the required level of technical skills may not be as high.
Research funding and administration
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The lovers of administrative work can consider this very lucrative and attractive option. This profession keeps you abreast with the latest scientific developments, while not requiring you to commit to tedious laboratory work. Research councils and major funding bodies undertake research-related activities such monitoring grant applications and guiding applicants that benefit immensely from experts who can use their scientific knowledge and ability to understand complex scientific concepts to support these efforts.
This profession demands high-level expertise, and therefore postgraduate degrees in areas of science, technology, engineering, business management, and public administration is preferred.
Intellectual property and patent law
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Intellectual property rights are applicable to non-physical property such as patents, domain names, logos, trademarks, database rights, authorship rights, discoveries, inventions, and other confidential information owned by an individual or an organization. Laws associated with intellectual property laws are aimed at protecting and preventing non-permissive use of such intangible assets.
A career as a patent attorney, patent examiner, or trade mark attorney can satisfy the scientist and the lawyer in you at the same time.
The dynamic nature and accelerated evolution of science and technology are attributed to the numerous inventions and discoveries. Researchers seek to patent their inventions and establish their expertise in the field. However, it is important to ensure that patents are granted to only the truly new and innovative inventions. Patent attorneys and patent examiners are instrumental in this assessment process. They use their unique combination of technical knowledge and legal skills to assess the patent applications and recommend patent eligibility. A science background gives patent attorneys and patent examiners an edge when communicating with the scientific community.
Science Policy
Science policy mediates decisions that influence the conduct of scientific research and ensure appropriate allocation of resources. All science policy decisions have one common goal: that of serving the best of public interest. The policies provide the roadmap scientific research and ensure ethical and safe conduction of scientific investigations. This establishes the highest standards of research integrity and addresses all ethical concerns. The high stakes involved warrants science policy makers to draw on their scientific knowledge and understanding to assist and precipitate policy formulation.
The job profile of science policy makers extends beyond just formulating the policies; they are also involved in educating the public about the policies and creating an awareness in the society about the implications of the decisions. Policy workers are employed in a variety of settings in the public, private, and voluntary sectors such as charity organizations, government departments, non-governmental organizations, public sector organizations e.g., Department of science and technology (DST), Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), scientific professional bodies, and trade associations.
Policy makers typically identify and analyze policy issues, obtain reliable information about scientific issues, draft reports, and write briefing papers. Governments, think tanks, and businesses are often advised about best practices for scientific research by science policy makers.
The educational requirements for jobs in science policy are quite demanding. The profession is very competitive and vacancies don’t open up very easily. A postgraduate degree in subjects such as public administration and social policy, politics, economics, policy studies, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, or sociology is usually a prerequisite.
Lobbying
Although often frowned upon, lobbying in science can catalyze government action on science policies. Lobbyists often act as mediators between science policy makers and government officials. Government funding and regulations influence education, research funding, and healthcare policies significantly. Lobbyists facilitate engagement and open dialogues of academicians and researchers with policy makers. A lobbyist may represent individuals, companies, foundations, charities, or even local and central governments.
The job profile entails communicating with government representatives, officials, and legislators on behalf of clients and causes. Reaching out in the society and understanding public opinion through appropriately focused research and relaying that information to the relevant authorities through indirect grassroots efforts such as sending direct mail or phone calls is an important aspect of the profession. Lobbyists establish public interest goals and advance them by developing and creating publicity materials such as press releases or advertisement brochures as well as tracking legislative bills and agendas.
The art of persuasion is the central element of lobbying. Being well-informed, self-confident, good networking skills, public relations, and developing liaisons are all additional positives for a lobbying job. The ability to sway politicians to vote on legislation in a way that favors the interest they represent is definitely a coveted skill in this profession.
A graduate or post-graduate degree in political science, journalism, law, communications, public relations, or economics is the preferred educational qualification. If you plan to pursue lobbying as a profession, registration with state and federal governments is a mandate.
Manufacturing and production
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The manufacturing and production sector in areas including food, cosmetics, medicines, paints, laboratory grade reagents, vaccines, laboratory equipment, and several others require individuals in diverse roles. The role of a health and safety inspector would be to ensure risk mitigation in workplaces and protection of consumer health. Product or process development scientist is another coveted role in this sector that entails understanding, monitoring, and controlling development processes that lead to the production of the final product. As a quality manager one would be responsible of ensuring the suitability, consistency, and purpose-relevance of a product or service that an organization provides.
Graduate and post-graduate degrees in STEM subjects is usually a requirement in this sector.
Technical sales
Technical sales representatives work for pharmaceutical companies and sell prescription drugs, medical equipment, laboratory apparatus, research equipment and consumables to healthcare professionals and researchers. The career is open to all graduates but a degree in life sciences, medicine or pharmacy may be particularly useful, as that would facilitate an easier interaction with clinicians and scientists. But, even without a background in the sciences, good communication skills can make the process smooth.
Data science and analysis
A data analyst makes sense out of existing data, whereas a data scientist works on new ways of capturing and analyzing data to be used by the analysts. If you love numbers and statistics as well as computer programming, either path could be a good fit for your career goals. You may work in many industries, including business, finance, criminal justice, science, medicine, and government.
Analysts collect data by conducting surveys, tracking visitor characteristics on a company website, or buying datasets from data collection specialists. Raw data might contain duplicates, errors, or outliers. Cleaning the data means maintaining the quality of data in a spreadsheet or through a programming language so that your interpretations won’t be wrong or skewed. Modelling data entails creating and designing the structures of a database.
You might choose what types of data to store and collect, establish how data categories are related to each other, and work through how the data actually appears. Interpreting data will involve finding patterns or trends in data that will help you answer the question at hand. Communicating the results of your findings by putting together visualizations like charts and graphs, writing reports, and presenting information to interested parties will be a key part of your job.
Graduates in science, statistics, math, or computer science can pursue this career path. Good critical thinking skills and love for working with numbers to solve complex problems would make this profession a good fit for you. Professional certificate programs for development of basic skills like SQL or statistics can give you an edge in the field, but are definitely not mandatory.
Now, that you are armed with all this information and have so many amazing options to choose from, get cracking on gaining relevant work experience, building your portfolio, and building industry contacts. After all, that is what is going to give you the edge in the career of your choice.
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