As a first step to see if you're interested in policy work, try out a real policy and advocacy job task through a job simulation.

The best way to pursue this career is to apply for and win a fellowship in science and technology policy advising. Some fellowships are listed below. 

• AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship
• American Chemical Society (ACS)
• American Geophysical Union – Congressional Science Fellowship
• American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
• American Institute of Physics and Member Society Government Science Fellowships
• American Physical Society
• American Psychological Association
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• American Society for Microbiology
• Belfer Center, Kennedy School of Government
• California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) Policy Fellowships
• Health and Aging Policy Fellowship
• Hellman Fellowship
• John A. Knauss Sea Grant Fellowship
• Morris Udall Foundation
• National Academies Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program
• National Academies Jefferson Science Fellowships
• National Human Genome Research Institute - Genetics and Public Policy Fellowship
• Presidential Management Fellowship
• Research!America
• The Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships Program

Additional fellowship lists:

• Genetics Society of America
• Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
• Christopher Kanan

The AAAS also offers many other programs through which you can become involved in science policy.

You may also want to consider a Science Policy degree program. Here are a few examples of Science and Technology Policy Degree Programs:

• Georgetown University
• Virginia Tech (Northern Virginia Campus)
• Georgia Tech
• George Washington University

• UCSF Science Policy group
• Women in Life Sciences (WiLS)
• UCSF Faculty participants in 2017's Stand Up For Science event
• Identify the people who do policy work within your scientific professional organization

Good question! Find out by completing an assessment.

• If you're in basic or biomedical sciences, use AAAS's My Individual Development Plan Assessment Tool, which OCPD co-created. Answer three assessments and it will calculate and compare your skills/interests/values responses to key factors for 60 different career paths within 20 different career categories that are options for you as a scientist.
• If you're in social or population sciences, use the ImaginePhD Skills, Interest, and Values Assessments. Make an account for free and then click the Assessments tab at the top. They will match your skills, interests, and values to families of jobs and provide resources for learning more about the jobs in the families that are best suited to you.

• Public Service Careers posts jobs in public service, including science policy
• View job descriptions from the NIH
• Take a look at some sample job descriptions:
  • Social Scientist, Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) Program (Program Director), National Science Foundation.docx
  • Program Director (Social Science), National Science Foundation.docx
  • Health Policy Researcher, RAND.pdf
  • Regulatory Science and Policy Scientific Program Administrator, American Association for Cancer Research .docx
  • Director Science & Health Policy, American Association for Cancer Research.docx