The Society for General Microbiology is a membership organisation for scientists who work in all areas of microbiology. They are looking for an individual who is enthusiastic about microbiology and communicating its importance to policy makers and the public to join our Public Affairs team for a 3 month internship.

The internship offers you the opportunity to gain an understanding of science policy and the broader engagement work of a major learned society. You will develop transferable skills in networking, policy work, events organisation and communication. You will meet and work alongside science professionals from a variety of organisations, as well as researchers working across diverse areas of microbiology.

Based at their central London office at Charles Darwin House, which is also home to number of other bioscience learned societies, you will have the opportunity to:

• Research and write a policy briefing examining how soil microbiome research can contribute to tackling grand challenges, such as food security. The briefing will be disseminated to policy makers and parliamentarians across the UK and Ireland and will be timely given that it is the UN 2015 International Year of Soils.
• Help organise and run one of their public engagement events about antimicrobial resistance.
• Contribute to the Society’s wider policy and engagement work, which may include attending policy and parliamentary meetings and events, conducting research (desk-based and interviews), producing reports (e.g. drafting a consultation response) and writing articles for their blog and magazine.

The internship will run for three months, ideally starting July 2015, but the exact timing is negotiable. This will be an exciting time in science policy, being so soon after a general election. Knowledge of soil microbiology and food security issues is not required; an enthusiasm for microbiology and the contribution it can make to tackling global issues is more important.

A grant of up to £2750 is available to cover travel and subsistence incurred over the course of the internship.

Please contact their Policy Officer, Paul Richards (p.richards@sgm.ac.uk; 020 7685 2542) for further information. Apply by emailing your CV and brief cover letter detailing your suitability for the role to Paul Richards. Closing date: Monday 18 May 2015. Interviews will be held Wednesday 3 June 2015.

Please note that due to UKVI restrictions, they will not contemplate overseas applications unless there is clear evidence of existing permission to work in the UK. The Society for General Microbiology does not have a UK Border Agency sponsorship licence.