Dr. Kelly Fleming is a chemical engineer, AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, and Policy and Advocacy lead for 500 Women Scientists — a grassroots organization started by four women in science following the 2016 election. By mid-November, the group had grown to 500 who signed onto an open letter pledging to stand up for scientific integrity and for women, minorities, immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA. Today, over 17,000 women have pledged their support and Local Pods for action have sprung up in over 100 locations around the world. The Science Soapbox team sat down with Kelly to chat more about 500 Women Scientists’ mission and how, with outreach, she hopes to promote an inclusive and diverse scientific community to solve global challenges.

Here are some of the links and references mentioned during the show:

• To learn more about 500 Women Scientists, check out their site, take their pledge, check out their press clippings, and find your local pod
• Check out this op-ed in The Seattle Times penned by Kelly and two fellow 500 Women Scientists calling for EPA head Scott Pruitt to act on climate change
• You can learn more about Kelly in this fabulous interview featured on 500 Women Scientists’ blog
• And read this great op-ed in Scientific American last week by a fellow 500 Women Scientists leader Krista Bywater: We Are Never Just Scientists

This episode was recorded on February 18, 2017 at the AAAS Annual Meeting. Special thanks to Visager for music. Photo credit goes to Amanda Kowalski for ClimateTruth.org.

Danielle Fox is a campaign manager and manager of the Science Network for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. As campaign manager, Danielle develops and implements campaigns for advocates, partners, and scientists to protect and promote the role of science in democratic dialogue, and the policy making process. She also manages the UCS Science Network, which offers scientists and technical experts training, resources, and engagement opportunities to bring their distinct expertise to the public. In this episode, we chat with Danielle about UCS’s latest watchdogging efforts to track science in the current administration, and about the role of scientists as advocates in democracy.

Here are some of the links and references mentioned during the show:

• To learn more about and join Union of Concerned Scientists’ Science Network, visit here
• If you want to sign-up to join the Science Network in watchdogging for science, fill out this short survey to share a little about yourself so UCS can tailor opportunities to your interests, strengths, and availability
• Want tools to get more involved in defending science in your community? Check out UCS’s Watchdog Toolkit
• Join the Science Network LinkedIn group to easily get the lasted developments on attacks on science and opportunities to take action, or follow @SciNetUCS on Twitter to join the conversation and connect with others
• Get access to secure means for federal scientists or scientists working on federally-funded research to share any information of experiences or risks of political censorship, manipulation, or interference with Secure Share

This episode was recorded on February 18, 2017 at the AAAS Annual Meeting. Special thanks to Visager for music.

Dr. Jessica Polka is the Director of ASAPbio, which advocates for the use of preprint servers in biology, and co-founder of The Future of Research. She also sits on the steering committee for Rescuing Biomedical Research, determining what actions can be taken to address systemic flaws in the biomedical research enterprise. In this Abstract, Jessica shares her thoughts on the infrastructure of science and how young scientists can be grassroots agents of change in the research endeavor.

Here are some of the links and references mentioned during the show:

• Check out the great work ASAPbio is doing to advocate for preprints in the biological sciences by visiting their website
• Jessica mentioned “hypercompetition” as a central problem in science, which was referenced in this now-famous letter to PNAS by Alberts, Kirschner, Tilghman, and Varmus
• The Alberts, et al. paper inspired the formation of Rescuing Biomedical Research. Learn more about their mission and the actions they’re taking to tackle systemic flaws in biomedical research on their website
• Jessica’s advocacy for preprint servers got her featured on Agents of Change in Nature Jobs, along with her fellow Future of Research leaders
• This interview was recorded at the Advocating for Science Symposium, so do be sure to check out our hosts, the Future of Research (FoR) and Academics for the Future of Science (AFS) to learn more about what they’re doing to change the future of science

This episode was recorded on September 17, 2016 at MIT during the Advocating for Science Symposium. Special thanks to Visager for music and to the Future of Research and the Academics for the Future of Science for making this interview possible. Thanks to Rick Groleau for the photo used in this post.

Dr. Gary McDowell kicks off our short-form Abstract series, featuring interviews with up-and-coming thinkers and policy issues and conundrums facing science. Trained as a biologist, Gary is the Executive Director of The Future of Research and runs the day-to-day operations of the organization, funded by a grant from the Open Philanthropy Project. In this episode, we chat about gaps in scientific training and how we can reform the system to better serve science and its practitioners.

Here are some of the links and references mentioned during the show:

• Avital mentioned the excellent feature Nature magazine put out last month on Young Scientists
• You can read some of Gary’s great answers in Agents of change on NatureJobs
• Gary mentioned the “Alberts, et al. PNAS paper, so here’s a link to Rescuing US biomedical research from its systemic flaws
  
• The Future of Research has a super handy resource for postdocs to know their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act
• This interview was recorded at the Advocating for Science Symposium, so do be sure to check out our hosts, the Future of Research (FoR) and Academics for the Future of Science (AFS) to learn more about what they’re doing to change the future of science

This episode was recorded on September 16, 2016 at MIT during the Advocating for Science Symposium. Special thanks to Visager for music and to the Future of Research and the Academics for the Future of Science for making this interview possible.