Post-PhD Careers: Science Policy Advisor

What is a Science Policy Advisor?

Politicians at the federal, state, and local levels need to make scientifically informed decisions, but they may lack competent scientific advisors. One way to help alleviate that problem is by becoming a government scientific policy advisor. A scientific policy advisor helps legislators and others to make scientifically informed decisions and policies. This often requires communicating scientific findings to the public, a skill that many don’t acquire in graduate school. Because many scientists don’t have the core skills needed for these jobs, there are a lot of postdoctoral fellowships in this area (see below). Beyond science policy, these skills are probably very useful for administrative positions in academia, e.g., dean.

Ultimately, I’m not interested in doing this full time. Among other concerns, I fear I’d become rather frustrated by politicians failing to take scientifically informed advice, and instead favoring the input of lobbyists serving special interests and corporations. I do think this would be a noble career, and I’d be happy to moonlight as a policy consultant. But… my passion is in curiosity-driven research.

How to Become a Science Policy Advisor

The best way to pursue this career is to apply for and win a postdoctoral fellowship in science and technology policy advising. These differ a lot from traditional postdocs. You are likely to work for a governmental agency and will be mentored by senior policy advisors. Consider the US Presidential Management Fellows Program. It is a two year appointment in which you are assigned to a particular Federal agency where you will directly work on policy problems with mentors. They also give you 160 hours of classroom training on leadership, management, and policy. The connections you make at the agency already put you on the track to climbing the science policy advisor career ladder.

To get a postdoc in science policy soon after your PhD, you should start reviewing the available fellowships at least a year before you graduate. Most of the fellowships appear to be due in the Fall. After completing your fellowship you should have the training required to pursue this career as well as the network that you will need to get a job. You could also apply for these fellowships during a more traditional postdoc.

To further enhance your success, during your PhD you should seek out leadership opportunities. You would also benefit from gaining experience in communicating complex scientific ideas in a way that can be understood by non-scientists. Some universities have public policy degree programs, and you may want to take or audit courses in these programs.

List of Postdoctoral Fellowships in Science & Technology Policy Advising

The existing lists of science policy postdoctoral fellowships are disorganized, and it is hard to tell by the name of a fellowship alone what scientific discipline should apply. So I decided to organize them.