If you’re working on a career in public engagement with science … As my IFAS blog migrates internally, several individual pages I have will be going away, so I am re-publishing them as blog posts. I originally published this list of resources in 2019. As we have finished a full calendar year with COVID in the U.S., my heart goes out to those of you searching for employment in this incredibly difficult job search time. I hope this list will provide some assistance.
I’ve compiled a set of resources for people looking to get jobs in public engagement with science (or STEM) or outreach or informal science education or free-choice learning (you can read more about how I see the differences here). Mostly this list is for recent or about-to-be-graduating PhD’s. However, there are some resources that should work for everyone, even if you are just starting out.
Please comment with new ideas, and share!
General advice
All sorts of great advice from Karen Kelskey, PhD, and team on getting a job in academia and beyond at The Professor is In: theprofessorisin.com. For specific ideas beyond academia, Maren Wood, PhD, and team host BeyondProf.com. Both sites regularly have newsletters and free webinars advertised there and on social media, including Mighty Networks. I have used resources from both of these groups and highly recommend them.
Specific job sources
Association of Science and Technology Centers’ Job Bank (be sure to check through all the categories at the top of the page)
North American Association of Environmental Educators’ jobs (does include everything from entry-level on up – check out the featured jobs for sure)
Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Association of Zoos and Aquariums jobs (nope, they don’t use “aquaria” as their plural)
AAAS Policy Fellowships for early-, mid-, and late-career science PhDs (engineers don’t need a PhD)
AAAS Mass Media Fellowships for grad students and postdocs
Actually, a whole list (from April 2017) of fellowships for scientists, as part of a whole fellowship site
A whole listing of science comm/science writing fellowships (paid!)
Friends of Joe’s Big Idea and NPR Science Communicators
Turn your PhD into an Industry career with https://cheekyscientist.com/
International Fellowships such as Fulbright Awards for faculty and Fulbright fellowships before your doctorate, awards from individual countries (France), and through other mediator organizations.
A whole host of local/state museum and other organization sites, such as:
Florida Association of Museums
State Science Policy networks are starting to crop up, such as California Council on Science and Technology (they have policy fellowships)
Cooperative Extension opportunities tend to be listed by state through the home university, such as: UF and FAMU in Florida
Other policy job ideas:
Working for a campaign (maybe unpaid) or elected representative as a science policy advisor
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