Reflections on an Internship at Sense about Science

Niklas Edler undertook a 6-week summer internship at Defra as part of UCL's Public Policy Global Citizenship programme.

It started well. While my friends were making hot drinks during their first week interning in the windowless back-room of a university department, I found myself in conversation with MPs, peers, civil servants, researchers and industry professionals in the Upper Waiting Hall of the Houses of Parliament. Admittedly, I did then go on to make a fair few teas and coffees myself over the course of my internship, but I feel this stark contrast with the experiences of my friends in their first week is rather symbolic of the invaluable experience I had this summer.

But let’s take a couple of steps back: what is Sense about Science and what was I doing in the Palace of Westminster in my first week?

Sense about Science is an independent campaigning charity. It aims to promote a healthy public conversation about science and evidence by challenging misrepresentation and encouraging open, honest and evidence-based public discussion and policymaking. Their publications, events and campaigns are all about equipping the public, researchers and policy-makers to properly make sense of scientific issues and think critically about statistics and uncertainties. Another central aim is to encourage members of the public, as well as decision-makers, to seek a holistic picture of the evidence behind claims and proposals and evaluating whether it can bear their weight.

Having applied for an 8-week internship with the charity through the (fantastic) UCL Global Citizenship policy summer school, I was thrown in at the deep end at Evidence Week – an initiative of the charity aimed at engaging parliamentarians with the evidence behind 20 pressing policy issues. The idea behind the 3-day event was to bridge the chasm between research and policymaking by giving MPs 3-minute briefings on the latest research and evidence behind issues ranging from the pupil-premium to greenhouse-gas emissions. According to Tracey Brown, the Director of Sense about Science: “Worrying about whether politicians have science backgrounds is a mistake. What we should ask is, what are the insights and resources from research that would help politicians? That’s what Evidence Week is for.”

Although I don’t have any evidence to back up the claim, I’m convinced there is a direct correlation between the interconnectedness of research with the policymaking process and the efficacy of government policy. In my view, events like Evidence Week do a lot to develop that interconnectedness and so are crucial to improving the outcomes of our policy decisions.

My job during this first week was to engage with the parliamentarians and civil servants, introduce them to the event and direct them to one of the ‘evidence pods’ where I passed them on to an expert in a particular field. In addition, I was tasked with monitoring the number of interactions as well as gathering feedback on the event. This included a fascinating 10-minute conversation with Thangam Debbonaire, the MP for Bristol West, in which I interviewed her about the role of evidence in policymaking and her thoughts on the event.

Having documented the feedback and analysed the data from the event, I turned to my actual focus for the internship: organising, facilitating and co-delivering a workshop for 42 early career researchers. The great thing about having been set this single extended focus was that I had a clear target and a strict deadline to work towards, which really helped to structure the internship.

The workshop was entitled ‘Standing up for Science’ and its purpose was to equip PhD students and post-doctoral researchers with the skills and knowhow to get their voices heard in public debates about science and evidence by engaging the public, media and policymakers with their research. The idea being: encourage scientists to engage and teach them how to communicate effectively with these different stakeholders, and we’ll be a big step closer to ‘evidence-informing’ our policymaking and public conversation.

My job was to research, select and invite the panellists, lead all communications with them and brief them on details and talking points. Other organisational tasks included writing, editing and printing all the workshop materials and advertising the event. On the day, I delivered a session on identifying stakeholders in research and generally ensured the smooth running of the event. The workshop received highly positive feedback all-round and personally, I think it was a real success.

And what did I learn? Well, more than I can list here. In communication: how to word a persuasive email to a high-profile government official, how to publicise an event and how to deliver a workshop session in front of a room full of people… In organisation and administrative decision making: how to plan out and manage 8 weeks of time in order to have a million and one things done in time for the deadline, how to prioritise tasks and how to curate the content of a workshop… How to write and produce professional documents, how to work as part of an international team and how to think about the strategy of a campaigning charity… Who the movers and shakers are in UK policymaking and how scientific evidence fits into the picture... Not bad for 8 short weeks!

I’d already realised towards the end of my first year studying natural sciences at UCL that I don’t have the patience to be a lab-scientist and I knew I might be looking around for a career outside of the lab and potentially even outside of science altogether. Having been exposed to the world of science-policy and science-communication during my internship, I’m now strongly considering gearing my career in that direction – perhaps working for a charity like Sense about Science, for an NGO as a policy advisor, or as a science communicator of some sort. Whichever road I end up going down, the insights and experience I’ve gained this summer have certainly been instrumental in leading me to this crossroads.