Professorship for Public Engagement in Science (UK)

Aims

• The aim of this award is to provide support to an exceptional scientific communicator to:
  • Play a leadership role in supporting public engagement with science including helping to shape and support the Royal Society’s public engagement activities.
  • Communicate the importance of science to society to a range of audiences, especially the importance of experiment, evidence and understanding uncertainty.
  • Engage with the public on scientific issues which inform policy debates on key topics.
  • Inspire and enthuse public audiences about science, encouraging participation and aspiration.
• The expectation is that the successful candidate will seek to raise the public profile of science on behalf of the whole scientific community and the Royal Society specifically.
• The activities the successful candidate undertakes will be agreed between the candidate and the Society depending on the time committed to the Professorship, and may include activity related to programmes such as the Summer Science Exhibition, the Society’s popular science books prizes, the schools engagement programme and helping engage the public with our policy work.

Funding Information

• Funds can cover:
  • Basic salary as set by the host institution and associated on-costs. The salary for the post will be in line with the contribution made to Royal Society Research Professorships, which is £90,000 plus oncosts (full-time equivalent). The Society expects the successful candidate to commit between 20% and 50% of their time to the Professorship.
  • Public engagement expenses of up to £16,000 per annum.
• The appointment will be for five years in the first instance with the opportunity to renew the professorship for a further five years.

Eligibility Criteria

• This scheme is for you if:
  • You are a well-established scientist with exceptional scientific communication skills and media experience.
  • You hold a permanent post at a UK university or not-for-profit institution.
  • Your background is within the Royal Society’s remit of natural sciences, which includes but is not limited to biological research and biomedical sciences, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics.

For more information, visit The Royal Society.