Science beyond the lab
As a science student, you might assume that your options for using your scientific knowledge on graduation either involve working in a laboratory or teaching. However, there are plenty of career paths where you can use your scientific background in a different setting.
Here, we have chosen eight alternative careers for scientists, to give you a taster of what else is out there.
- Engaging the public with science
- Science writing
- Medical sales
- Intellectual property including patent attorney work
- Regulatory affairs
- Medical writing
- Bio and health informatics
- Science policy
PhD and masters students
Look out for these boxes - information specifically for you!
Spotlight On: Science Careers Beyond the Lab
We invited four professionals to talk to you about their roles outside the lab.
- Lucy Aher, Sales Associate, ERT
- Tom Harding, Patent Attorney, Potter Clarkson
- Emma Mizen, Biology Teacher, Bourne Grammar School
- Carolyn Simpson, Environmental Health Officer at Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
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- Alumni: Email us to gain access to the webinar
Engaging the public with science
About the role
Scientific institutes and museums often have teams that are focussed on engaging the public with science. This could include a range of job titles and different responsibilities, such as:
- Museum education officer (also search ‘museum engagement officer’, ‘learning officer’, ‘visitor engagement officer’, and other similar titles). These roles will involve engaging the public with educational activities at the museum or institute. This could include giving talks or leading activities relate to the exhibits at the institution. You could have a particular focus on engaging with children and young people, or focus more generally on communicating with the public
- These roles could also involve writing press releases or social media content to engage the public, either as part of a role that also includes in-person communication, or as a separate role
- Your role could also specifically include running events for the museum or institution. Depending on the organisation, this could be a separate role, or included as part of your communication and engagement responsibilities
An ability to communicate scientific ideas to different audiences will be key for all these roles.
See our ‘Museums and heritage’ career paths page for further information on gaining the right skills and experience to work in the museum sector.
Typical employers and vacancy sources
There are many large, well-known museums in the UK, including the Science Museum in London and We The Curious in Bristol. There are also smaller museums. See our ‘Museums and heritage’ career paths page for further information on where to search for museum jobs. You can also go directly to museum websites. Smaller museums may be open to speculative applications. Prospects lists other sources of vacancies, although these are not all specific to science.
Research institutes are organisations whose primary purpose is research. This is often although not always science-based. Large and well-known research institutes in the UK include The Francis Crick institute and the UK Space Agency. Lists of research institutes can be found through the Royal Society, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and on the government website.
About the role
Science writers research, write and edit scientific news, articles and features in a range of different formats, including:
- business, trade and professional publications
- specialist scientific and technical journals
- general media
- promotional brochures
- press releases
- websites
- podcasts and blogs
- freelance writer
As print media circulation falls, roles in traditional scientific journalism are reducing. However, there is a growing need for organisations to promote their research to the wider public (often a requirement of funders), so universities, NGOs, charities etc. are increasingly recruiting writers to produce blogs, write web articles and use social media.
Skills: Key skills include a flair for writing clear, compelling copy and the ability to find a good angle on a story. As an increasing number of writers are working on a freelance basis for a range of different employers, networking and business management skills are also important.
Qualifications: Almost all science writers will have an undergraduate degree, but if you have the right skills, and substantial evidence of your talent (e.g. obtained through writing for the student media), a postgraduate qualification is not necessary.
Search the Prospects postgraduate courses database for relevant courses.
Typical employers
Employers include:
- most major newspapers and news magazines
- specialist publications with news sections, for example, Nature, Science
- science, media and communications offices in universities, charities and other science-related organisations
- science podcasts
- broadcast media, including independent production companies
Vacancy sources
Much of the journalistic work in this field is undertaken on a freelance basis and is obtained through networking and speculative submissions.
However, there are also a number of relevant recruitment websites.
Association of British Science Writers - jobs (membership required)Journalism.co.uk Media.info - media contacts for speculative applications Nature - search 'writer' New Scientist - search 'writer'
About the role
Medical sales representatives or ‘Reps’ are a key link between medical and pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals. They typically sell medicines, prescription drugs and medical equipment to GPs, hospital doctors, pharmacists and nurses, working to raise awareness and use of their company’s products.
Qualifications: Reps will usually specialise in a particular product or medical field and, while previous scientific knowledge is not always essential, degrees in subjects such as life sciences, pharmacy, medicine, nursing and dentistry can give you an advantage.
If a role requires very specific technical knowledge, it may be necessary to have a postgraduate qualification, but this is usually not a requirement.
Skills: In addition to your scientific knowledge, you will need to be an excellent communicator, with a persuasive manner, confidence and persistence. Flexibility and self-motivation, commercial and business awareness are also important.
Employers
ABPI - directory of pharmaceutical companies and recruitment areas
Recruitment websites
Diversity in Research Jobs
Pharmiweb New Scientist Jobs - search for sales
Patent attorney and intellectual property
Patent attorney and intellectual property solicitor are separate but related roles. A patent attorney will usually have a science or engineering degree. They will use their knowledge alongside further legal training to gain and protect patents, which protect rights to make or sell a particular invention.
An intellectual property solicitor is a legal professional that has specialised in intellectual property law. This can include patents, but also the ideas involved in art, science, literature, and more.
About the role
Patent attorney
IP careers describe the work of a patent attorney in this way: ‘A patent attorney assists their client, or their employer, in obtaining a patent. This includes drafting the description of the invention and the claims, as well as communicating with the patent office to make the case for why a patent should be granted.’A patent attorney is a member of a specialised legal profession who is qualified to advise clients about patents (and usually other intellectual property rights) and who assists them in obtaining patents granted by patent offices around the world. They may be employed ‘in-house’ by companies or work in private firms (just like solicitors).
They continue: ‘A patent attorney is a member of a specialised legal profession who is qualified to advise clients about patents (and usually other intellectual property rights) and who assists them in obtaining patents granted by patent offices around the world. They may be employed ‘in-house’ by companies or work in private firms (just like solicitors).’ (IP Careers)
Employers hiring patent attorneys will usually look for a background in science, engineering, or maths, as opposed to law. You will do specialist legal training on the job, undertaking supervised practice and taking a series of professional exams. In practice, this process may take four to six years. You can find out more about the role and the qualification process through Prospects.
Intellectual property lawyer
There are different types of intellectual property, and the law works in different ways to protect these. For example, copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects creative works. An intellectual property lawyer will help their clients to protect their intellectual property. An intellectual property lawyer may have one or several specialisms within their discipline. For this career path, you will first train as a solicitor.
Both roles require exceptional written and verbal communication skills, analytical thinking, and close attention to detail.
What IP lawyers do:
- Search domestic, European and international registers of patents, trademarks and registered designs to establish ownership of existing rights or the potential to register new rights.
- Take all steps to protect clients’ interests by securing patents, trademarks and registered designs; appeal unfavourable decisions; attack decisions that benefit others but harm the lawyer’s own client.
- Write letters to require that third parties desist from carrying out infringing activities or risk litigation for damages and an injunction.
- Issue court proceedings and prepare cases for trial by taking witness statements, examining scientific or technical reports and commissioning experiments and tests. Junior lawyers may find themselves conducting consumer surveys and going on covert shopping expeditions.
- Instruct and consult with barristers. Solicitor advocates can appear in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court; the advantages of having a specialist IP barrister for higher court hearings are obvious.
- Draft commercial agreements between owners of IP rights and those who want to use the protected invention, design or artistic work. The most common documents will either transfer ownership or grant a licence for use.
- Work as part of a multidisciplinary team on corporate transactions, verifying ownership of IP rights and drafting documents enabling their transfer.
A postgraduate qualification is not required, although many patent attorneys have a PhD.
Typical employers
Explore more...
Careers in Ideas - lots of resources on IP careers
Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys – register of patent attorneys and jobs
Source Advisors - How to become an IP analyst
IP Inclusive - Making IP professions more diverse and accessible to everyone
IP Inclusive - Recording of a masterclass about applying to train as a patent or trademark attorney
Intellectual Property Office
Yellow Sheet blog - for student members of CIPA
Vacancy sources
Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
Dawn Ellmore Employment - recruitment agency for patent, trade mark and legal roles
European Patent Office
Intellectual Property Office – recruitment pages
IP Careers - for advice and job vacancies
IPjobs.co.uk
New Scientist – jobs
Sacco Mann - recruitment agency for legal and IP recruitment
World Intellectual Property Organization – careers pages
About the role
TOPRA (The Organisation for Professionals in Regulatory Affairs), defines regulatory affairs as
“a profession developed from the desire of governments to protect public health by controlling the safety and efficacy of products in areas including pharmaceuticals, veterinary medicines, medical devices, pesticides, agrochemicals, cosmetics and complementary medicines, and by the companies responsible for the discovery, testing, manufacture and marketing of these products wanting to ensure that they supply products that are safe and make a worthwhile contribution to public health and welfare.”
It goes on to explain that regulatory professionals are responsible for:
1. Keeping track of the ever-changing legislation in all the regions in which a company wishes to distribute its products
2. Advising on legal and scientific restraints and requirements
3. Collecting, collating and evaluating scientific data
4. Presenting registration documents to regulatory agencies and carrying out any subsequent negotiations necessary to obtain or maintain marketing authorisation for the products concerned
5. Giving strategic and technical advice at the highest level in their companies, making an important contribution both commercially and scientifically to the success of a development programme and the company as a whole
6. Helping the company avoid problems caused by badly kept records, inappropriate scientific thinking or poor presentation of data.
Skills: As well as analytical skills, attention to detail and project management skills, you’ll need to be able to negotiate and arbitrate with a variety of people. You must also have an understanding of both legal and scientific matters, the ability to grasp new concepts quickly, and to assimilate data from a range of scientific areas.
Qualifications: Relevant degrees include life, physical, mathematical, applied and medical sciences.
A postgraduate qualification is not essential but may be an advantage.
Typical employers
The ABPI has developed a comprehensive list of pharmaceutical companies, their contact details and some of the areas they regularly recruit into. It is searchable by location, category, employment area and type of role e.g. internship, graduate training programme etc.
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Large companies with training schemes
For example, MSD runs regulatory affairs graduate training scheme.
Those that develop and manufacture other regulated products e.g. agrochemicals, medical devices, veterinary products etc.
For example The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency
About the role
In its ‘Career Guide for New Medical Writers’, The European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) describes medical writing as ‘communicating complex scientific information in simplified, clear, and concise words while remaining scientifically accurate and, usually, based on regulatory, ethical and technical guidelines. It can involve creating text for a wide variety of uses, such as clinical research documents, educational and promotional materials, healthcare websites, news articles, and scholarly manuscripts for journal submissions.’
Skills: A good understanding of anatomy and human physiology is important, and knowledge of diseases and their treatment is an advantage. As well as your scientific knowledge, you’ll need evidence of your excellent writing skills, ability to develop effective relationships with a wide range of individuals, and strong attention to detail. You must also be able to master complex ideas and translate them into the right language for your audience.
Qualifications: Most medical writers have a life sciences or health related degree qualification.
Typical employers
The ABPI has developed a comprehensive list of pharmaceutical companies.
- Contract research organisations
These are service organisations that provide support to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the form of research services outsourced on a contract basis. The Clinical and Contract Research Association (CCRA) has a list of corporate profiles on its website
- Medical communications or MedComms agencies
MedCommsGo Networking provides a directory of MedComms companies
Costello Medical: A Career in Medical Writing and Scientific Support for Healthcare for PGRs
Hear from Dr Andrew Wilhelmsen, an alumnus from the University of Nottingham, who works for Costello Medical.
Costello Medical provides scientific support in the analysis, interpretation, and communication of clinical and economic health data.
Andrew elaborates on his journey before Costello Medical, his current role as a senior analyst in the Pro Bono and Publications divisions, and the types of roles available within the sector.
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Bio and health informatics
About the role
The Genomics Education Programme describes bioinformatics as: ‘a relatively new and evolving discipline that combines skills and technologies from computer science and biology to help us better understand and interpret biological data.’
Bioinformatics, essentially, is used to help give meaning to large quantities of data.
The European Bioinformatics Institute helps to define the difference between bioinformatics and medical informatics: ‘on the whole bioinformatics deals with research data and uses it for research purposes, medical informatics deals with data from individual patients for the purposes of clinical management, (diagnosis, treatment, prevention…) and biomedical informatics attempts to bridge these two extremes.’ It acknowledges, however, that some projects may bridge the gap between the two.
Typical roles fall into three broad categories, with some overlap:
- Bioinformatics researcher/scientist – an individual who uses computational methods to advance scientific understanding of living systems.
- Bioinformatics analyst – an individual who performs the analysis either for their own research or for other scientists.
- Bioinformatics engineer – an individual who creates the novel computational methods needed.
Another possible job title in this field is bioinformatician.
Skills: Include strong statistical and computational skills; an imaginative interest in using IT and information; analytical and problem solving skills; meticulous attention to detail; the ability to work with others in multidisciplinary teams; the ability to present large amounts of information in a clear manner.
Qualifications:
Most bioinformatics researchers and analysts will have a relevant masters qualification or PhD.
Search the Prospects postgraduate courses database for specialist courses. It is possible to enter the industry either with a computer science specialism combined with strong biological knowledge or a biological science specialism and strong computing skills.
Typical employers
- Pharmaceutical companies, usually in R&D or IT departments, or within specific therapeutic areas.
- The NHS
The NHS employs health informaticians through the Scientist Training Programme.
The ABPI has developed a comprehensive list of pharmaceutical companies.
For a list of biotech companies, searchable by sector, visit the UK Biotech database.
Those that specialise in bioinformatics, for example, Partek, Qiagen, Illumina, Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Search Google to identify other relevant companies.
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Universities
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Research Institute
For example the Sanger Institute, the European Bioinformatics Institute , Wellcome Trust and Genomics England
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Medical research charities
Search the Association of Medical Research Charities member directory for a list of organisations.
Spotlight On: Science Policy
We invited three science policy professionals and UoN alumni to talk to you about their roles.
- Alasdair Taylor, Head of Policy (Research Sustainability), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
- Dr Sam Gaines, Head - Companion Animal Science and Policy, RSPCA
- Roya Ziaie, Policy Advisor (Covid-19 Vaccine), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
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About this area of work
Science policy involves communicating scientific knowledge to Government and the public, to inform and assist in policy formulation. Policy topics are diverse, ranging from vaccination campaigns to common agricultural policy or biodiversity.
Skills: To be successful in a science policy role, you must have an enthusiasm for science and its relevance to society combined with knowledge of business and politics. Key skills include the ability to work collaboratively and to explain complex scientific issues to a lay audience. Adaptability is also important as you may be involved with a wide variety of topics.
Qualifications: A relevant science degree is required.