By Heather Doran, contributor

In the lead-up to our Naturejobs Career Expo and conference in London tomorrow, where we will have a panel discussion on science communication, Heather Doran, a Project Officer in Public Engagement with Research at the University of Aberdeen, shares her thoughts on the benefits that public engagement can bring to scientists in this guest blog post.

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In order to perform well in both academia and industry researchers need to develop their personal skill sets to not only complete research but also write papers, teach and demonstrate the impact and relevance of their work. Competition for jobs both in and out of academia is fierce and these skills and activities often viewed as being ‘extras’ are actually fundamental for success in any career. But there is no reason why activities designed to enhance skills in public engagement, writing and teaching should be seen as separate entities to the research process.

I’m going to share an example from my PhD. I wanted to share my research work at an overseas conference. After my abstract was accepted I needed to raise funding in order to attend. My travel budget did not cover the full cost of the conference. At that point in my PhD I had already been blogging about my PhD and had spent time developing my writing skills through my editing role at the science magazine I co-founded with other students. I was invited by one of the societies at the conference to act as an official conference blogger. Continue reading →