I am currently just under a month away from the end of rotation number 2 and, I have to admit, I will be sad to leave the Science team.

Science was a team I had my eye on from the very start of the graduate scheme and the rotation hasn’t disappointed. I have been involved in diverse projects working in science policy, event and competition management and promotion, and on a large scale campaign lobbying Government to increase and protect science funding.
 
Writing summaries for some of our excellent policy reports in areas like Human Health and Disease, and Solar fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis, gave me a valuable insight into science policy writing. The project required me to look at each report in-depth and work with the report authors which also gave me a greater understanding of some extremely interesting and globally important science and research.
 
Real responsibility has also been a recurring theme: as part of the Chemistry: We Mean Business campaign to influence Government’s decisions on science funding, I have been a core project team member responsible for co-ordinating the team in all work streams. Last month I met with a Labour MP and BIS Select Committee member to convince her of the value of our campaign and discuss other work the RSC does that was of interest to her. Most recently I took the lead in producing an infographic to promote the campaign in ModernGov magazine, a publication for director-level decision-makers across Government and the public sector (so no pressure!).
 
I am also working on our Take 1…minute for chemistry in health video competition, that challenged young researchers to explain how chemical scientists can tackle global challenges in human health to the public. I worked on the initial project set up and then the promotion of the competition during the entry stage, learning a lot about social media and other marketing tools. I have since taken ownership of the promotion for the RSC Organic Division Poster Symposium  using the knowledge I gained from the competition, as well as learning about trackable links and Google Analytics to monitor the efficacy of your promotional tools.
 
Now, for Take 1…, we are waiting for the judges to shortlist the top 5 videos before the voting gets under way so watch this space and the website to vote for your favourite!