Tag Archives: Voice of Young Science

Two jobs (paid internships) at Sense about Science

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I got this notice today (Feb.  12, 2014) and given the organization’s time frame (deadline: Feb. 20, 2014) for these competitions, I advise haste, From the Sense about 2014 announcement,

We want to recruit two people to join us for one year, a person to support campaigns work and a project support officer. If you know any people who would be interested, would you forward them this note?

Campaigns support:
Our main campaigns are AllTrials and Ask for Evidence. Since the Defamation Act 2013, we also continue to collaborate on extending libel reform to other jurisdictions. The campaigns team coordinates Sense About Science’s daily responsive work. This supporting role will include experience across all the work of the campaigns team but will be predominantly supporting the AllTrials campaign. It includes developing the campaign websites; monitoring social media, publicity and policy issues related to the campaigns; and organising meetings, supporter communications and policy activities. Responsive work will include being the first line of response to phone and email enquiries, initiating responses to new issues and linking our body of work to new discussions.

Project support:
The project team works with researchers and the public to address recurring themes, improve the communication of evidence and draw out underlying assumptions on difficult issues. This role will support the projects team and will involve research, writing, coordinating meetings with many different kinds of people, and dissemination. Upcoming projects include allergies, nuclear energy and forensic genetics. We also coordinate Sense About Science events and help other organisations, such as running workshops to develop ways to help people make sense of evidence. Our events programme includes the Peer Review Matters and Voice of Young Science (VoYS) media workshops, our annual lecture and reception.

At Sense About Science, no two days are the same and the post holders are likely to be involved in plenty of other activities going on in the busy office: representing Sense About Science at meetings, giving talks and writing blogs and articles. These two opportunities are ideal for graduates with a research PhD but would suit very different personalities and interests. The posts were initially conceived as paid internships, reflecting the funds available (£15k pa for each). However, the opportunities for extensive experience, taking a lead and responsibility (something we encourage at all levels) will leave the post holders well equipped for an entry into a good level post in related areas. We will also be reviewing the possibility of longer term posts as our organisation develops over 2014. They are therefore being offered as a fixed term employment. We can be a little bit flexible with hours, if the person is finishing writing up their thesis for example. There will be an interview late February, with a start date ideally in March. We want the people who join us to know about our work already so prior involvement in our activities is a bonus and familiarity with our website and campaigns is essential.

Please send a CV and cover letter to Síle Lane for the campaigns role slane@senseaboutscience.org or Emily Jesper for the project support role ejesper@senseaboutscience.org by 9am Thursday 20th February or give Síle or Emily a call at 020 7490 9590 [someone calling from outside the UK may want to check if adjustments are needed for that telephone number].

I could not find these job postings on the Sense about Science website but if you’re not familiar with the organization and wish to apply, you may want to check the site. I’m guessing that applicants need to be based in the UK but you may want to ask about that as the organization does have a presence in the US according to the website’s International webpage.

Sense about Science and their 2013 Science and Celebrities list

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I’m delighted to receive information from groups that I don’t usually hear from about the topics I cover on this blog,, which is a long way of saying I got a notice from a UK-based group called,Sense about Science regarding their annual list of celebrities who have committed to erroneous ‘scientific’ thinking.  The good news is that there isn’t a list for 2013 but Sense about Science does have a few comments, from the Celebrities and Science 2013 annual publication,

We decided not to run the review this year because of some positive changes. At Sense About Science we like change. That’s what we exist for so in every part of our work we look for the moment when we are not needed and can move to other things.

We published the Celebrities and Science review for seven years. Lighthearted as they often were, the reviews have been more valuable than weever looked for them to be…

…

Celebrity claims circulate well beyond traditional newspaper readership; some go global. The review didn’t quite match them but it drew some of the same audience, and it went global too. By 2011 we saw well over 200 reports before we stopped counting.

Celebrities took notice. Well, agents, which is what matters. Every year we offered help and reminded people that it was just a phone call away. And increasingly they have used it, including people who were named in early reviews. And that is one of the things that has changed. Not only are scientists a bit more plentiful in the public eye but some actors, comedians, celebrity chefs, TV stars, musicians and magicians have sought evidence and made a point of its importance to their followers. We have called on our database of specialists and research bodies to respond to requests for advice and some of those relationships now continue without our input. Our efforts aren’t alone. Many charities with celebrity patrons make a point of briefing them well – see the lovely comment below from Gaby Roslin for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. We started commenting on these better examples a few years ago, and that section of the review has grown each year. In fact if we had run the review this year the good examples would have been about equal with the bad.

This publication includes a précis of the previously published lists and more. As for the UK-based issuing organization, Sense about Science, here’s more from their About us page,

We are a charitable trust that equips people to make sense of scientific and medical claims in public discussion.

With a database of over 6,000 scientists, from Nobel prize winners to postdocs and PhD students, we work in partnership with scientific bodies, research publishers, policy makers, the public and the media, to change public discussions about science and evidence. Through award-winning public campaigns, we share the tools of scientific thinking and scrutiny. Our growing international Voice of Young Science network engages hundreds of early career researchers in public debates about research and evidence. Our activities and publications are used and shaped by community groups, civic bodies, patient organisations, information services, writers, publishers, educators, health services and many others.

People look to us to:

  • Make sense of science and evidence
  • Provide quick help and advice
  • Make a fuss about things that are wrong
  • Represent the public interest in sound science
  • Activate networks of scientists and others in defence of evidence

Our ethos:

  • We help people make sense of current discussions rather than taking them back to school
  • We stand up for scientific inquiry, free from stigma, intimidation, hysteria or censorship
  • We want everyone, whatever their experience, to stand up for evidence in public life

I last mentioned Sense about Science in a Feb. 19, 2013 posting regarding their Voice of Young Science project and its expansion from the UK into the US.

Voice of Young Science expands its activities to the US and ‘asks for evidence’

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Last I mentioned the Voice of Young Science (a UK-based effort supported by the Sense about Science charitable trust) was in an Aug. 9, 2012 posting about their ‘public speaking tips’ initiative. A Feb 16, 2013 news item on Nanowerk features a new programme from the Voice of Young Science, Ask for Evidence USA (programme launch page), Note: A link has been removed,

Postdocs and graduate students from all fields of research and science outreach are joining together to launch a campaign to get people questioning the claims they see in newspapers, on TV, in adverts and from policy makers.

We hear all kinds of claims about what is good for our health, bad for the environment, how to avoid cancer, how to improve education, cut crime, cure disease or improve food. Some are based on reliable evidence and scientific rigor. Many are not. How can we tell the difference?

The Voice of Young Science (VoYS) USA network will work alongside members of the public to ask for the evidence.

They are launching the Ask for Evidence campaign after a one day Boot Camp, hosted by MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] Museum in Boston MA. With the launch coming on the eve of Valentine’s Day, some of the early career researchers have already had a quick look at the evidence behind aphrodisiac claims about oysters, rhino horn and more, and produced an alternative Valentine’s greeting. The network is setting its sights on encouraging people to ask about science and evidence in discussions about everything from changing weather patterns to ‘superfoods’, vaccinations, alternative medicine and radiation.

It looks like an interesting programme but a little over elaborate for my taste. For example, there’s a second Ask for Evidence page, (the campaign page itself).

In principle, this business of asking for evidence seems like a good idea and the group has kindly provided hints on how to ask for it. Oddly, they don’t provide any suggestions for how to evaluate the evidence when it’s provided. Also, the interest is focused on health and medicine issues, seemingly to the exclusion of other topics.

Whether or not this particular initiative gains traction is less important than the effort and the passion that have driven it. Success can be measured in many ways. It’s good to see these signs of interest in outreach from ‘young scientists’ and I wish them the best with this and, no doubt, future efforts.