Science Communication & Public Engagement Specialist

Bij de Faculteit Diergeneeskunde, binnen het Departement Population Health Sciences, zoekt het Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) een Science Communication & Public Engagement Specialist.

Cleaner air. Safer chemicals. Healthier neighbourhoods and workplaces: a climate that doesn’t make us sick but keeps us healthy. At the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), the One Health Chemical (OHC) research group studies how environmental and chemical exposures (i.e. the exposome) shape human, animal and planetary health — and how we can help reduce those risks. Our research is about more than understanding what’s wrong — it’s about figuring out what works, and helping that knowledge lands where it can change things. Are you the communicator who helps make that happen?

Wat ga je doen?

• To design and deliver external messaging on our research and proposed solutions.
• Think creatively about new formats and channels to translate scientific findings into accessible stories and concrete messages to reach all audiences such as the public, stakeholders and policy makers.
• Proactively spot and act on visibility opportunities and work together with the researchers on visibility opportunities such as a publication worth amplifying: e.g. a board or stakeholder meeting in a living lab, a policy moment, a partnership milestone, a public debate where our voice belongs;
• Support media outreach: help colleagues prepare for interviews, draft press releases, and build relationships with journalists covering health, environment and science;
• Together with our project managers you work on the science-communication efforts across our projects. For example you will design participant materials for our studies and living lab, develop and design welcome packages for new residents joining cohort studies, participate in recruitment campaigns, follow-up communications, etc.
• Act as contact point for the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine’s Marketing, Communication & Multimedia (MCM) department, Utrecht Life Sciences, central Utrecht University communications, partner institutes and freelance support;
• Develop and maintain our web presence and channels and help shape a recognisable identity for the OHC group.

Wat breng je mee?

You care about the world around you — about clean air, fair exposure, healthier work and living environments — and you want a job where that matters every day. You are early in your career or already a few years in. You enjoy translating complex science into something a neighbour or a politician or a social media viewer can understand, and you’re excited to try formats that nobody at the institute has tried yet.

Concretely, you have:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in communication, science communication, journalism, environmental or health sciences, or a related field;
• Some hands-on experience in (science) communication, public engagement, journalism or marketing. You have and can show a small portfolio of things you have created and communicated;
• Full professional fluency in both Dutch and English, written and spoken — this is a hard requirement. Our communication audiences are bilingual: much of the research community works in English while many participants, Dutch media, policy makers and stakeholders work in Dutch, and you will be writing and speaking in both languages every week;
• A roll-up-the-sleeves mentality — you enjoy designing, writing, building and sharing, not only advising;
• A strong feel for stories and for tailoring them to different audiences.
• Comfort working across disciplines and with a wide range of stakeholders; you build warm, trusted relationships easily;
• Bonus points for skills in web/CMS, social media, basic design or video, event organisation, working with journalists, or experience with citizen-science and participatory research.

Could not tick every box? Apply anyway. We care more about creativity, drive and craft than about a perfect CV.

Wat bieden wij?

• A position of 0.6–1.0 FTE (flexible, depending on the candidate), initially for one year with the intention to extend;
• 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% year-end bonus;
• A pension scheme, parental leave and flexible employment terms under the CAO NU;
• A personal development budget, access to UU’s training, sports and cultural facilities, and the chance to take part in science-communication courses and networks;
• A varied, meaningful job at the heart of an internationally leading research group — with real freedom to shape the role, try new ideas, and grow into the kind of communicator you want to become.

Over ons

You will be based at IRAS, a world-leading, interfaculty institute spanning the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine. It is organised around three core research domains: Toxicology, Environmental Epidemiology and Veterinary Public Health.

You will work within the One Health Chemical research line led by Professor Roel Vermeulen. OHC brings together several interconnected groups — Occupational Health, Environmental Health, Planetary Health, Data Science & Exposome, and Exposure Science. Our scientific drive is to unravel how chemical, physical, social and lifestyle factors affect human and planetary health. We address today’s major challenges that influence our health such as air pollution, pesticides, nitrogen emission and deposition, chemical exposure, and climate change. For example we work on Parkinson’s Disease, linking the exposome to cancer and how chemical exposures at work influences our health. We operate through extensive population studies and living labs in communities and workplaces. Finally we aim to translate our knowledge into tools, interventions and policy. Our work frequently appears in the news, parliamentary discussions, and household conversations and importantly, our research outcomes inform national and European policy makers. Our international team comes from all over the world, and our work is anchored in national and European programmes.

In short: we have a lot of stories to tell — and evidence-based recommendations to put forward. We therefore are looking for a creative, hands-on colleague who can coordinate, design and execute external communication to a broad audience on national and international level.