Return to the Transferable Skills for PhD Careers Index
Communication as a Deputy Branch Chief (Scientific Review Officer) in Public Sector
Both oral and written communication are critical to success in peer review administration. Scientific Review Officers and managers are expected to communicate peer review policy and procedures clearly to subject matter experts participating in review panels and to their colleagues and stakeholders. They are also expected to write accurate, concise summaries of discussions that take place at peer review meetings, conveying the factors driving the scoring of grant applications and contract proposals.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Oral communication skills
- Speaking clearly and effectively
- Written communication skills
Teamwork as a Deputy Branch Chief (Scientific Review Officer) in Public Sector
It is expected that Scientific Review Officers and managers will participate in internal institutional committees. As an example, the program designs and implements its own annual training program for staff, and the training committee is responsible for working together to ensure that training materials are accurate and up to date, and presenting this material to staff. They are also responsible for identifying areas that would benefit from new Standard Operating Procedures, drafting and implementing these documents.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Ability to work on a team
- Ability to work with people outside the organization
- Contributing to institution (ie participating on committees)
- Providing constructive feedback
Managing Up/Down as a Deputy Branch Chief (Scientific Review Officer) in Public Sector
Scientific review officers are expected to manage subject matter experts participating in peer review panels, but have no formal authority over these individuals. This requires a delicate balance of deference to experts in their fields and management of their participation in the panel.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Ability to manage others
- Dealing with conflict
- Negotiating difficult conversations
- Seeking advice from advisors and mentors
- Training and mentoring individuals
Integrity as a Deputy Branch Chief (Scientific Review Officer) in Public Sector
Integrity is a key aspect of peer review administration. Fore example, there are policies and practices that must always be followed to ensure a fair, objective and complete review process.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Complying with rules and regulations
- Maintaining positive relationships with colleagues
- Serving as a role model
- Upholding commitments and meeting deadlines
Interpreting Information as a Deputy Branch Chief (Scientific Review Officer) in Public Sector
As an example of interpreting information, peer review administration requires the ability to interpret complex policies and ensure compliance throughout the review process.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Ability to gather and interpret information
- Ability to learn quickly
Communication as a Health Director and Health Officer in Public Sector
During the COVID-19 pandemic, community partners (businesses, churches, schools, healthcare providers, etc.) complained loudly about feeling like the health department was talking "to" them rather than talking "with" them. During the hiring process, which came one year into the pandemic, the elected officials stated that they supported my selection for this role because of my demonstrated history of transparent, bilateral communication. People want to feel heard and understood. Even if we don't agree, it feels better to walk away from a situation believing that the other person put in the time and effort and understand your perspective.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Oral communication skills
- Presenting to nonscientists
- Written communication skills
Teamwork as a Health Director and Health Officer in Public Sector
Addressing the COVID pandemic required an interdisciplinary approach in which clinicians, health scientists, epidemiologists, attorneys, elected officials, business leaders, and many others all actively participated in mitigation and response planning. By bringing representatives together from these different fields, we were able to design and deliver programming and services that was more likely to be effective and efficient rather than just "spinning our wheels." As a result, our county has the lowest cumulative incidence of any urban county in our state (locally defined as 80,000 residents or more). We also currently have the highest vaccine productive rate of any county in the state. This is a direct result of the team-based approach.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Ability to work on a team
- Ability to work with people outside the organization
- Providing constructive feedback
Strategic Thinking as a Health Director and Health Officer in Public Sector
The Missoula City-County Health Department was the first health department in our state to develop an academic health department in partnership with our local university. This was done one year prior to the COVID pandemic and having that structure in place provided us with the foundation for our data-informed approach to mitigation and response.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Ability to make decisions and solve problems
- Creating vision and goals
- Creativity/innovative thinking
Communication as a Commercial Innovation Manager in Public Sector
Externally, a large part of our job is awareness-raising, educating the general public and potential partners and customers, and providing subject matter expertise, through events, conferences, webinars, workshops, and other engagements. Our audience can range from high school students, researchers, non-science audience, to policy makers, company executives, entrepreneurs and investors. "Thinking outside of gravity" or doubting an assumption that hardly anybody doubt (that is gravity) is not intuitive at all. It often requires in depth scientific understanding of a particular subject matter to tailor the conversation to "strike a cord" and make it relevant to the target audience. In addition, especially when speaking to business-focused people, it requires business acumen to show the relevance of space-based experiment or partnering opportunity to their business priorities. "Space" easily get people's attention but communicating in a way that convince of the relevance of space-based research to their life and/or interest is hard. Internally, in order to manage the ISS National Laboratory, we have marketing and communication specialist, legal and contract team, operation team, finance team, stakeholder manager, science team, etc. It requires good communication hygiene, tactics, and practices between these teams to make this machinery going.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Basic writing and editing
- Oral communication skills
- Presenting to nonscientists
- Speaking clearly and effectively
- Writing scientific publications
- Written communication skills
Teamwork as a Commercial Innovation Manager in Public Sector
It really takes a village to send an experiment to the ISS! Our operation team works with commercial service providers and payload developers specialized in translating ground-based experimental design to work on the ISS in microgravity environment for maximizing scientific return. They also coordinate with NASA on scheduling, resource management, including upmass and downmass allocations, and crew time. Legal and contract team make sure all the regulatory and legal requirements are in order. For startups and investors in our ecosystem, we provide opportunity to connect with one another. Our marketing and communication team help spread the words of innovative experiments, their results and stories to the world.
What specific skills are part of how you apply this transferable skill?
- Ability to work on a team
- Ability to work with people outside the organization
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