Communication roles in research infrastructures

Our science communication careers commonly grow from an ambition to share our fascination with science. But many of our jobs with science organisations no longer deal in the public wonderment of science. This talk offers an insider’s glimpse into what it is like to work at Australian research infrastructures. Research infrastructures need science communicators to work across a range of responsibilities. Communications Officers and Outreach Managers often speak to non-public target audiences, demonstrate return on investment to funders, train stakeholders, and even recruit new customers. The speakers’ roles in the digital research infrastructure, Australian BioCommons, encompass training in both practical and strategic ways. Suspecting that multifaceted shared roles are quite common in this domain, a survey was undertaken to investigate how science communication roles are paired with other responsibilities. This talk probes how and why this happens, and who benefits.