A beginner’s guide to getting involved in science advocacy

Abstract

Every scientist in the United States likely has a story of how the federal funding crisis for biomedical research has affected him or her personally. The sharing of these powerful anecdotes will enable policy makers to fully grasp the extent to which the decline in federal funding has negatively affected the scientific community. However, many scientists do not know where to begin or are uncertain that their advocacy efforts will have an impact. In an effort to encourage more scientists to become involved in science advocacy, we describe how to form and maintain a student science advocacy group.

INTRODUCTION

Recently the scientific community received a much-needed boost in federal funding when Congress approved a $2 billion budget increase for the National Institutes of Health (Mervis, 2016). This is a great start to getting scientific funding back on track; however, our fight is not over. To see long-lasting change, scientists must continue to advocate for the United States to make scientific research a top priority.

Many scientific societies provide resources and opportunities for scientists to get involved in advocacy, including Capitol Hill Days. These visits to Washington, D.C., provide graduate students, postdocs, and faculty with the opportunity to advocate for scientific funding directly with their congressional representatives and staff.

In 2013, the Coalition for the Life Sciences invited a handful of Emory University students to take part in a Capitol Hill Day. As two of the students who participated in the Capitol Hill Day, we found it to be an eye-opening experience. For many of the congressional representatives and staff that we spoke with, our meeting was their first time they had spoken with scientists. Similarly, many scientists have never communicated with their elected officials. Often, scientists are uncertain that their advocacy efforts will have an impact or where to begin such efforts. Participating in the Capitol Hill Day made us realize the great need for more scientists to be involved in advocacy. In effort to address this need, we created the Emory Science Advocacy Network (EScAN). EScAN is a graduate student group that provides a forum to discuss issues facing the scientific community and build advocacy skills to empower students to promote scientific funding.

Everyone’s voices need to be heard, not just those of senior scientists and Nobel Laureates. Young scientists especially can have a great impact when visiting Capitol Hill. Policy makers focus on securing the future for Americans, so when young scientists tell their story of how the funding crisis affects their future, it can have an enormous effect. In an effort to share our experiences from attending Capitol Hill Days and successfully forming EScAN, we present a point-by-point strategy on how to start an organization at an academic institution, build a membership, and help make a change that will serve us all in the future.

FORMING A SCIENCE ADVOCACY GROUP

The first step to forming a student science advocacy group is to gather a core of individuals interested in science policy and advocacy and to determine whether the group has the passion and time to organize colleagues. At this point, the nascent group should do the following:

• Identify leadership: The Executive Board will be the engine that powers the group and will require coordination to run smoothly. In the beginning, the founding Board members should determine the various duties that will be necessary to successfully run the group. Some of the general duties of Board members are given in Figure 1. This is only one example of the overall structure of an Executive Board. For best results, adjust the roles and responsibilities as needed.

• Identify a faculty mentor: A faculty mentor is important to provide guidance and support throughout the establishment of the group. In addition, many universities may require a faculty mentor for student groups. Talk to the dean, department chairs, and so on to help identify a faculty member who is also invested in science policy and advocacy.

• Draft a mission statement: The mission should be clear and straightforward. An example mission statement is, “To provide a forum for graduate students interested in science policy and advocacy to discuss issues facing the community, and to determine what we, as scientists in training, can do to support a better funding environment.”

• Obtain official university recognition: At this point, the group should petition to become a university-recognized and -funded organization. The requirements for becoming an official student group will vary but will likely require a document including the mission statement, the organization and structure of the Executive Board, and any membership requirements. Inquiring with the Office of Graduate Affairs or the dean of the graduate school is often a good place to start.

FIGURE 1:

Example Executive Board roles and responsibilities. The various responsibilities of running a student advocacy group should be divided among the members of the Executive Board. This chart provides a breakdown of suggested positions and specific responsibilities for each position. There are also a handful of ongoing responsibilities shared by all members of the Board listed as common responsibilities.

CULTIVATING THE NASCENT GROUP

An essential component to developing the group is creating your “brand” and working to build a presence on campus and in the community. In these early stages of development, the group should do the following:

• Create a name and logo: The group’s name should clearly convey the purpose of the group and be easy to remember (or have a memorable acronym). Use the name to make a group email address that will act as the main form of communication from the Executive Board to current and future members. The logo should be clean and simple. Do not worry if you are working with a small budget—there are many graphic designers who can create professional logos for organizations with limited budgets.

• Build a public presence: A strong presence on various social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) will help to form the group brand. Use of social media can keep your members informed about the group, new legislation related to science, and pertinent articles. It is also a great way to link up with science societies, other advocacy groups, and your local elected officials (Szalinski, 2014). An important piece of advice: be mindful of partisan political undertones of any posts or tweets from the group’s social media accounts. Funding of scientific research should always be a nonpartisan topic that individuals of any political ideology can stand behind.

• Establish a university presence: Within the university, contact the Office of Government Affairs, the dean of the graduate school, and department chairs. They will be excited to hear about what the group is doing and could offer additional resources and contacts that will aid in the long-term success of the organization.

• Connect with other advocacy organizations: One of the first external connections made after developing the group should be with the National Science Policy Group, which connects student science policy groups across the nation. They hold regular meetings at which groups can exchange event ideas and share experiences with others. Scientific societies are another great resource for science policy and advocacy support.

HOSTING THE FIRST EVENT

Now that the group is formed, it needs members! The first event is an opportunity to excite students about science advocacy and gain new members. It should be simple, with the clear objective of explaining the mission and goals of the group and the importance of advocacy. A short happy hour to meet interested students and potential members is an easy way to kick things off. The following are a few pointers to making the first event successful:

• Generate publicity for the event: Getting students to attend events is truly a grassroots effort, which primarily falls on the Executive Board. Strong and proactive advertising is essential for success. The default for many is relying solely on graduate and medical school listservs. This is a great start, but you should go beyond just an email: make flyers and post them on lab doors, invite friends to come and bring people from their lab, and get creative by chalking the sidewalk outside the building with the event information.

• Connect with event attendees: The Executive Board should meet every student who comes—talk with them, and learn about what they do and why they decided to come to learn about the group. After taking the opportunity to meet everyone, give a short presentation explaining the group mission and plans for the upcoming year.

• Build a contact list: Have a sign-in sheet for everyone who comes to write down his or her name, email address, and department. These contacts will be the beginning of the group listserv, a necessary tool to stay in communication with members and keep them informed about upcoming events. Beyond the personal contacts and listserv, it is important to have a greater understanding of who the group members are. At events, have new members fill out information cards, and keep an updated spreadsheet with these details. These data can come in handy in many ways—contacts to get emails sent out to various graduate programs or department listservs, general information about the make-up of the group, and information the government affairs office will want to know in the event of a visit from a member of Congress.

EXPANDING THE GROUP

Now that the ball is rolling, keep up the momentum! The most direct way to keep members coming back and to gain new members is through a series of events on campus. At the beginning of each year, the Executive Board should plan the upcoming semester’s events, taking into account the budget and resources. The following are some ideas for events that can help educate and spur student advocacy:

• Building members’ advocacy toolbox: Once the group is established, plan on having about three general meetings each semester aimed at building each member’s advocacy toolbox. One of the most challenging aspects of running a student group is constantly developing new and stimulating event ideas. The following are a few example topics for general meetings:

1. Introduction to science advocacy and various levels of involvement (e.g., the 10-min, 30-min, and 1-day advocate).

2. Election coverage, plus how to find your representatives and their stance on science funding.

3. How to give an elevator speech.

4. How to apply for Capitol Hill Days and/or policy fellowships.

5. Practice Capitol Hill Day visits.

The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and the Coalition for the Life Sciences have online resources that are beneficial when putting together information for general meetings. Many other large science societies have advocacy sections on their websites and often announce specific advocacy campaigns, such as ASCB’s We Are Research campaign, in which your group might wish to participate.

• Develop an annual signature event: One way to really extend the reach of the group is to have a large signature event with participation from students, postdocs, faculty, and administration. The idea behind this is to host an event that will give the group a lot of exposure, get members engaged, and leave people feeling like they have made an impact. Each year, EScAN caps off the spring semester by hosting a large letter-writing campaign in which Emory students and staff come together and write letters to local members of Congress urging them to support robust funding of biomedical research. This event has been wildly successful. From EScAN’s first and second annual letter-writing campaigns, we collected ∼1000 letters. In addition, many participants received follow-up letters from the elected officials to whom they wrote. A detailed description of how to run such an event can be found on an ASCB blog (York, 2014). Whether the signature event is hosting a guest speaker or writing letters to Congress, the goal is to have an event that will draw a large crowd and leave the participants eager to get involved in science policy.

SUSTAINING THE GROUP

After the group has provided members with advocacy education and skills, empower them by arranging an opportunity to put these skills to use. There are various ways to get your group involved beyond regular group meetings:

• Meetings with elected officials at their local offices: Give members direct advocacy experience without traveling all the way to Washington, D.C., by taking advantage of the times when members of Congress are at their local office. Early August, when Congress is in summer recess, is a great time to schedule visits to their local offices to meet one-on-one with legislators to discuss funding for scientific research.

• Invite an elected official to campus: Members of Congress enjoy meeting their constituents, and having them visit the campus is a great way to show them the exciting research happening within their district. Organizing these visits requires early action and collaboration with your university’s Government Affairs Office. Doing so will ensure these visits are well organized and run smoothly. After all, the Government Affairs Office will have more resources at their disposal and experience in hosting elected officials. These opportunities will empower students by allowing them to showcase their research, put a fresh face to science, and open the lines of communication between students and policymakers.

• Find community outreach opportunities: Communicating with politicians is only half the battle—educating the community on the importance of federal funding for science and the current funding crisis is just as important. Previously, EScAN members participated in a 5K run/walk aimed at raising awareness for a particular disease and received permission from the event coordinators to give a small speech about the importance of funding basic and biomedical research. In addition, this year, EScAN will volunteer for a local science festival and work with local elementary schools to open children up to the world of science, as well as educate parents about the current funding crisis and how they can help.

• Changing of the guard: After one to two years (depending on the guidelines set in the group’s constitution), a change in leadership can be very beneficial by bringing new perspectives and ideas to the group. However, finding new leadership also presents its own hurdles. To ensure that the process runs smoothly, start early. Inform members at the beginning of the year when elections will be held and provide general information regarding each position. We found that interested students were often reluctant to run for leadership positions because they worried that the position would be too time consuming or felt underqualified if they had not participated in a Capitol Hill Day. Talk to interested students to alleviate any apprehension they might have regarding responsibilities and time commitment. In addition, allowing interested students to sit in on Executive Board meetings is a great way for them to see the manageability of the time commitment and the responsibilities that go with each position.

After elections, allow for a period of overlap with the incoming and outgoing Executive Board members. This will ensure that the group continues to run smoothly during the transition. In addition, it is a great idea to keep a binder that contains helpful information for each leadership position, such as information on past events, resources, passwords, and so on, that can be passed on to the incoming Executive Board.

CONCLUSION

If you want to be a scientist in 10 years, you need to be an advocate today. As two students who have been through the stresses of building and running a student advocacy group, we can attest that the rewards are well worth the time and effort. As young scientists, we need to fill the gap in communication between the lab and the federal government to secure our future. The opportunity to found and lead a peer group has been extremely valuable in our career development.

We know that there is no set protocol for successfully developing a student advocacy group. We hope that our experience will inspire others to become involved in advocacy. Even if the numbers are small, together we can amplify the message about the value of scientific research.

Abbreviations used:

ASCB

The American Society for Cell Biology

EScAN

Emory Science Advocacy Network