This is a guest post by FoR BoD member Adriana Bankston.

 

During the month of April, Future of Research (FoR) supported multiple efforts towards advocating for science and scientists. FoR BoD member Adriana Bankston and FoR ED Gary McDowell participated in their local March for Science, in San Diego and Oakland/The Bay Area, respectively.

In addition, contributions from several FoR Board Members have also been spotted in the Science not Silence book – observe in more detail here.

Also, FoR is partnered with the Union of Concerned Scientists for the Science Rising campaign, as part of which BoD member Adriana Bankston wrote a blog post on engaging ECRs in science advocacy, policy and communication (screenshot from the post is below).

 

These events brought up the idea of organizing a larger discussion around science advocacy. On May 1, 2018, Future of Research and the Union of Concerned Scientists co-hosted a Twitter chat on engaging ECRs in advocacy, which also highlighted resources and strategies to help ECRs be effective science advocates. Check out the #AdvForSci hashtag for the chat, which was administered from the @FORsymp account. Several very active science policy groups participated in the chat: @SciPolUCLA;  @jhscipolgroup; @UNC_SPAG and @HarvardSciPol. We were also joined by @STEMadvocacy and @dpham20 from @ASBMB. Below, we list the resources provided by each group for easy follow-up, but also to illustrate in some cases the similarities between ideas that are common to multiple participants.

 

EVENTS PUT TOGETHER/PARTICIPATED IN:

 

 

ADVOCACY RESOURCES FOR ECRS:

 

 

LOCAL ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES:

 

 

WAYS TO DEMONSTRATE ADVOCACY PASSION:

 

 

DEVELOPING ADVOCACY SKILLS FOR ECRS:

 

 

HOW INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS CAN ADVOCATE:

 

 

HOW TO SUPPORT SCIENTISTS ENGAGING IN ADVOCACY:

 

 

It was also great to see the chat information being shared by other groups including the ESEP coalition. We would like to thank the chat participants for taking the time to talk to us and share their wonderful resources and initiatives.

 

Overall, we hope the efforts highlighted in this post will create a stronger community of advocates, both for the scientific enterprise itself and for future generations of scientists. Let us lead by example and continue to facilitate the spirit of collaboration and sharing of knowledge among various groups and within our local communities.