The work that I do as a policy researcher is specifically looking at science and research policy.
So, anything that the government does, or any other organisations do that might affect
how people can do science and research that I have to have an opinion on.
Cancer Research UK is an enormous organisation, that carry out world-leading research. We’re the largest
independent funder of cancer research in the world, and we contribute hugely to the medical
research base in the UK. The work that I do is more based on looking after the science
and research base in terms of how the government is supporting it, and how we are supporting
it to make sure that our researchers have the best opportunity to do their work.
I was a scientist originally, I did an undergraduate degree in chemistry, and then not satisfied
with that I then stayed on to do a PhD in chemistry as well. During my PhD I worked
quite closely with a charity called Sense About Science, who look at public engagement
and public understanding of science, and with them I did a couple of projects to try and
encourage young researchers to basically talk about their science more.
And when I was writing up my thesis I did an internship with them, and so sort of gradually
moved across from the science itself into more communication and science policy. And
I then did a graduate placement with the Royal Society of Chemistry, and I worked on a project
for them that was more about health policy, so looking at sort of drawing attention to
the fact that chemistry contributes a great deal to healthcare, because that’s not something
that’s necessarily obvious to the general public or to other scientists.
So we were trying to encourage scientists to work together closely, across discipline,
to contribute to healthcare, which then sort of drew me across to health policy.
As a policy researcher, part of the job are research skills, actually trying to get to grips with whatever
the topic is or whatever the argument is.
Talking to people, communicating with people, also talking to our researchers and to our
scientists, which, having done research myself, is very useful and it’s definitely a highlight
of my job, to talk to the scientists about their work, and then working closely with my colleagues.
I think there are a number of skills that are very important for my job. Obviously the
analytical side of things because of the research element, so you are having to collect information
on a particular topic and area, and that does hark back to researching in a lab, it’s
the same, a similar sort of idea.
But communication is a massive, massive part of the job, either communicating with my colleagues
or communicating with scientists about their work and their research which can be quite
technical but also on the other side of things, talking to MPs or to members of the public
or to people that have no idea about science and so it’s quite a mixture of messages.
The key thing about being interested in science, and sort of being interested in, I mean my
background is obviously in chemistry, is appreciating that there’s an awful lot of transferrable
skills that you’re building through either just studying the subject in terms of problem-solving
or if you go into research yourself and appreciating that if you don’t want to stay in research
there’s an awful lot from that that can be very useful, and although I don’t think
I need a PhD to be doing my current role, there are an awful lot of skills that I picked
up during my research that I think are invaluable for the work that I’m doing now.
I really enjoy the work that I’m, sort of, dealing with, knowing that if we encourage
the government to be more supportive of science and research, that then has an opportunity
to encourage cancer research, medical research in the UK. That’s obviously a very important
goal, and also the variety, there’s always things to be pushing for and working for,
a huge range of people to be dealing with, so it’s a good variety.