Public Relations: Communicating as a Career
Is science communication becoming an integral part of funding applications? Is it necessary to acquire third-party funding? What professional backgrounds are suitable for working in science communication? In which jobs does experience in science communication help? Can research funds be used for communication? Four experienced researchers report.
"No scientist has ever been criticised for being too understandable."
At a glance
- Working in science communication allows you to build an extensive network. This can also be used for professional advancement.
- The ability to adapt your own language to that of your counterpart is an advantage in almost every job.
- German third-party funding bodies encourage describing and considering science communication in grant applications. A communication strategy is now mandatory when applying for EU funding.
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of science communication. And even if conspiracy theories have gained ground: Imagine how public perception would have been if the many Drostens, both large and small, in this republic hadn’t taken the time to counter the public’s fears with scientific facts.
Science Communication in Applications
How has science communication and its position in everyday scientific life changed? Ulrich Meyer, Presidential Spokesperson and Head of Media Relations at the Technical University of Munich, comments: “Fortunately, we have an excellent communicator in our President, Thomas Hofmann, who cares deeply about this topic, so much so that the central communications department reports directly to the President.”
With German third-party funding agencies, Meyer recognises that the topic is gaining more weight without any concrete constraints: There is a lot of freedom in how one presents one’s science to the public, says Meyer, and as long as it’s well-founded, there are no problems. Furthermore, it’s becoming increasingly easier to request and secure a part-time position dedicated explicitly to communication within a Collaborative Research Center (SFB) or Cluster of Excellence proposal.
The situation is different at the European level. Christina Schütte, a chemist with a doctorate and founder of ProSciencia, a consulting firm for funding applications and science communication, explains: “There’s an expectation that the topic should be accessible. This is mandatory even for early-stage researchers applying for a Marie Curie postdoc scholarship.”
Schütte is also a reviewer for EU grants. Proposals at the European level are not only extremely competitive, they also have to appeal to diverse readerships, not all of whom come from the same discipline as the applicants. Schütte is now no longer limited to evaluating applications as an expert, where the applications she works on are at least partially in line with her own professional background, but also acts as a rapporteur. (“Expert” and “rapporteur” are the official titles in the review panels at the EU level.) In this role, she must moderate discussions among the experts for applications from all STEM subjects. This means she plays a central role in evaluating applications that are quite far removed from her own area of expertise.
Distribution of Roles
Meyer’s institution operates for the entire Technical University of Munich. He and his team consult individual scientists. “We support the researchers with communication – and sometimes act as media bodyguards,” he summarizes one of the functions of his office. However, such central units can never, and never want to, take over all communication. The individual research networks and the scientists themselves handle many of the communication tasks, sometimes independently, sometimes in collaboration with the central units.
What professional backgrounds do the people who handle these tasks have? Meyer seeks people with a background in journalism or public relations. In some other places, researchers or science managers grow into these roles.
Nada Raddaoui, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, was a postdoctoral researcher when Thomas Carell asked her to manage the LinkedIn page for his Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry group. Over the years, this grew into a broad portfolio of organizational and communications tasks, which she now performs as Managing Director of the Cluster of Excellence for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Munich (CNATM).
Molecular biologist Kai Blau volunteered at his institute’s PR office as a doctoral student to hone his science communication skills. When he took a position in the press office after completing his doctorate, he served as the communicating scientist, working alongside a media expert.
What do you do during the day?
The work is varied. Blau reports a particular challenge: Due to the animal testing at his institute, the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, the institute was nominated for the negative award “Heart of Stone” by the organization Doctors Against Animal Experiments in 2021. In order to counter their accusations with appropriate arguments, he had to familiarise himself with the relevant topics—namely, calorie deficit in mice and nutritional memory. This showed him: “With my current experience, I would report much less on the molecular level and much more on what happens in the lab, what motivates the researchers, and what that means for the world.”
The topics covered are determined by the scientists, or the topics are prompted by press inquiries. The latter always take priority, reports Meyer. “If the media are interested in our topics on their own initiative, they bring their reach with them. That’s very effective.” Communicators can freely choose from a variety of formats: texts, events, or interactive posters.
Depending on their position, communicators can develop their own vision. Raddaoui finds it very impersonal when reports say that “scientists have discovered something…” and we don’t learn who the people actually are. She is therefore committed to helping scientists establish themselves as brands. She would ideally like to see science produce superstars like music or television. She also demonstrates how to achieve ambitious goals with her own career: be it as a TEDx speaker, Monte Carlo Woman of the Year, or interviewee for Al Jazeera.
What should you bring to the table?
Is a specialist background in the topic being communicated an advantage or disadvantage? Opinions differ here; the question can only be answered in the context of the position. Kai Blau didn’t work alone, which helped him to keep the specialist in him at bay: He shared an office with the sparring partner who told him when he expressed himself incomprehensibly.
Ulrich Meyer and Christina Schütte believe it’s essential to be academically qualified, but excessive specialisation can lead to thinking only in discipline-specific terms. “You still have to be able to say, ‘I don’t understand that,’ otherwise it becomes incomprehensible to the general public,” Schütte believes. It’s usually more difficult to ask seemingly naive questions about your own discipline than about another.
For those who wish to apply for a position as a science communicator, it is advisable to have already immersed themselves in the world of communication. Why not write an article for the university magazine, take the stage at a science slam, or at least get involved in discussions on professional social media?
Dead End or Springboard
Before deciding on a career path, it’s essential to ask yourself: What might this mean for the next steps? Will a position in science communication lead me down a dead end, or will it open unexpected doors? Can I gain skills and experience that could be essential for the next career step?
For Blau, science communication has been a recurring theme throughout his career. In his subsequent positions as a financial analyst, consultant, and now Business Director of NUP-CTx, adapting one’s own communication to the other side has always been beneficial.
What Blau, Schütte, Meyer, and Raddaoui have in common: All say that working in science communication has enabled them to build an extensive network. This is often even the core of their work. And the importance of such a network for professional advancement cannot be overstated.
For those who have tried to explain their research to non-experts to advance their own academic careers, Meyer has some encouraging words: “If you communicate actively, you’re more likely to be invited to conferences and panels.” With some socially controversial topics, he says, one can unintentionally find oneself in the spotlight of a heated public debate. Apart from that, he sees no risk: “No scientist has ever been criticised for being too understandable.”
The interview partners
Ulrich Meyer is the press spokesperson for the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and heads media relations there. A political science graduate, Meyer most recently worked as a journalist on the editorial board of the ddp/AP news agency. He then served as press spokesperson for Munich’s mayor, Christian Ude, until he moved to TUM in 2020. In his free time, he enjoys crisis communication and mountaineering – for both, “Nothing more boring than an all-blue sky” applies to him.
Christina Schütte is managing director and trainer at the consulting firm ProSciencia. There, she handles the acquisition and scientific management of publicly funded research projects, supports researchers and companies in writing grant applications and publications, and serves as a trainer for these and related topics.
Nada Raddaoui currently heads the Cluster for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics at the University of Munich – a network of universities and biotechnology companies focused on the development of nucleic acid-based therapies and diagnostics. She hopes to see science news featured in the news cycle: an invention or a new scientific discovery every day. Raddaoui is the first Tunisian woman to receive a doctorate from LMU Munich.
Kai Blau is Business Director of NUP-CTx, a company specialising in chemotherapeutics. He volunteered for a career in science communication during his doctorate. He hasn’t lost his passion for it to this day: As a hobby, he publishes articles and analyses on biotech and pharmaceutical trends on www.blaubiologie.de. Otherwise, he enjoys being outdoors, especially on his racing bike.
This article was first published in Nachrichten aus der Chemie (issue 06-2025). See here the German original.
Are you a science administrator or manager who is facing the challenge of handling the communication for your research cluster or similar responsibilities? You might find our workshop Public science outreach helpful.