Science Advocacy: Why and How Should I Support Science?
To learn more about what science research is and why it is important, read our article here first: https://www.projectbrainlight.org/blog/what-is-science-research.
When it comes to supporting science research and science education, a term that you might hear often is “advocacy”. But what is advocacy? Advocacy is a term that means “to support a cause or idea”, people can advocate an idea for themselves, for others, or for organizations!
In the sciences, advocacy is an important tool that the general public (that includes you!) can use to tell others about what they think is important. Science advocacy can include:
making sure public schools have enough money to fund science education programs
creating and enforcing laws and policies about scientific research
supporting and protecting the people and animals involved in research settings
using science research findings to make our lives better!
Why should YOU care about science advocacy?
Many times, the people in charge of making the decisions about how science is used and funded don’t know a lot about the specifics of science research or about what the public thinks about supporting science. Science advocacy lets YOU tell the people in charge about what YOU want them to support, either with money or with laws and policies. Generally, the people in charge of making those decisions are in the local government (board of education members, town council members, etc.), the state government (governors, commissioners of education, secretaries of state, etc.), or the federal government (congresspeople in the US Senate or the US House of Representatives). The people that are elected to positions in these different levels of government are there to represent and act on behalf of the people in their town and/or state. When more people actively advocate for supporting science education and funding, the elected officials will be able to know your opinions and can then make decisions in support of science.
One example of advocacy is when organizations (like the Society for Neuroscience) host a “Hill Day” where they meet with members of the government on Capitol Hill. During a Hill Day, members of the organization will meet with state representatives to talk about the federal budget and how much money the organization thinks the government should spend on specific science foundations and initiatives over the next fiscal year. The organization members also take this time to talk about bills or policies that have been proposed to the House of Representatives and Congress, and ask the congressperson to either support or oppose the bill. Advocacy organizations and individuals may also have individual meetings with their state legislators throughout the year to talk about why funding science research is important, and to share their personal stories about how science impacts their lives. The information exchanged during these meetings help the representatives decide how much money to budget for scientific programs and research initiatives, and better understand how a proposed bill might affect the advancement of scientific research.
How can I advocate for science?
The good news is that anyone can advocate for science at any age and at any level of education! Advocating for science can look like:
Link to source: https://www.cienciapr.org/en/blogs/pr-span/power-advocacy-force-generate-changes-science
going to your local town, city, or school meetings to let them know that they should provide money toward science education in elementary, middle, and high schools.
using social media posts and interactions to talk about the importance of science research and funding science. You can also use social media to interact with your government representatives and organizations.
attending an event like The March for Science: https://marchforscience.org/.
sending an email, mailing a letter, or calling your government representatives to tell them that you want them to budget money toward a particular cause or organization, or that you want them to support (or not support) a particular bill that is being voted on.
You can find out how to get in touch with your elected officials at this link: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.
Another easy way to get involved in science advocacy is to join or follow an organization dedicated to science advocacy. There are many groups that are already dedicated to working with local, state, and federal employees, politicians, and organizations to advocate for science.
Here is a list of national organizations that you can look at to learn more about their particular focus of science advocacy: https://www.aaas.org/resources/workshop-advocacy-science-advocacy-initiatives. You can also search for more local advocacy organizations in your city or state, or start your own advocacy club or organization!
What do organizations advocate for?
Many organizations will advocate for support of specific fields of science (for example, neuroscience, biomedical, engineering, medical research, and more), in addition to advocating for science as a whole. Oftentimes, the members of that organization are particularly passionate about that specific topic or field of science.
Can I get involved in an organization?
Advocacy groups have a diverse range of members, including people with and without advanced degrees. As long as you are passionate about science, there are usually few or no restrictions to joining an advocacy organization! Some organizations might ask you to pay a fee each year to be a member, and other organizations might have an option to sign up for a newsletter in order to stay up to date on what they are doing.
What if I don’t want to join an organization but still want to advocate for science?
If you’re not interested in joining the group, many organizations have a public “Call to Action” section on their website where they list the topics that they are advocating for each month. This makes it easy for you to individually reach out to your elected officials, using that call to action, and let them know what to support or fund during that particular time of year. You can still also advocate for things throughout the year that are not on that call to action. However, the advocacy organizations usually know about what is happening at the state and federal level (that is, what bills are proposed and being voted on, what the timeline for approving the federal budget is, etc.) and what your elected official might be most focused on during each month.
What should you advocate for?
The best thing about science advocacy is that you can decide what you want to advocate for! If you want to, you can support policies related to or research for cancer treatments, mental health disorders, PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), Alzheimer’s disease, environmental changes, and more!
Though, if you don’t know where to start, here are some general things that you can talk to your local, state, and federal officials about when advocating for science:
funding educational programs at elementary, middle, and high school levels.
this includes providing enough money to teachers so they can run science demonstrations and experiments as a part of their science education.
funding science research at colleges and universities.
for example, providing financial support for graduate student researchers and setting aside money in the budget to fund research grants and experiments.
funding science research at federal organizations.
examples of organizations include the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
creating laws that support the advancement of scientific research, such as:
supporting new technologies.
supporting the use of animals in research (learn more about animal research at: https://psbr.org/animal-research/general-overview).
Again, you can find out how to get in touch with your elected officials at this link: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.
Links in this article:
What is science research and why is it important?: https://www.projectbrainlight.org/blog/what-is-science-research
Link to learn more about The March for Science: https://marchforscience.org/
Find your elected officials: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
List of national advocacy organizations: https://www.aaas.org/resources/workshop-advocacy-science-advocacy-initiatives
Learn about animal research: https://psbr.org/animal-research/laws-and-regulations
