State of Scientific Community Management Archives

Scientific community managers’ top challenges and training needs

In our series of posts about results of the State of Scientific Community Management survey we’ve looked into what types of organizations are home to scientific communities, examined their communication … Continue reading “Scientific community managers’ top challenges and training needs”

In our series of posts about results of the State of Scientific Community Management survey we’ve looked into what types of organizations are home to scientific communities, examined their communication channels and ways of planning activities, and analyzed scientific community managers’ backgrounds, skill sets, and how their positions are funded.

In our final blog post about survey results, we return to the topic of community managers’ skill sets, focusing on their top challenges and the areas where they want more training.

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How scientific community managers shape activity planning

We’re back with more insight from the State of Scientific Community Management survey. Previous posts have explored aspects of the community management position, the nature of the organizations where communities … Continue reading “How scientific community managers shape activity planning”

We’re back with more insight from the State of Scientific Community Management survey. Previous posts have explored aspects of the community management position, the nature of the organizations where communities are found, and features of the communities themselves such as their communication channels.

In this post we look at three findings about program and activity planning in communities. Read on to see how having a community manager leads to activities that are more frequent, strategically planned, and participatory.

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Online platforms are still making inroads in scientific communities

In previous posts about our State of Scientific Community Management survey, we’ve explored what types of scientific organizations have communities and we’ve described features of scientific community managers’ training and … Continue reading “Online platforms are still making inroads in scientific communities”

Today, we’re looking at some properties of the actual communities: their communication channels and platforms. Read on to find out about online versus offline communication channels and the adoption of online community platforms.

Continue reading “Online platforms are still making inroads in scientific communities”

Exploring scientific community managers’ skill sets

So far, our analysis of the State of Scientific Community Management survey has addressed scientific community managers’ education and training, the types of organizations that hire them, and the funding … Continue reading “Exploring scientific community managers’ skill sets”

In this post we explore the skillsets that scientific community managers rely on in their current roles. We asked our survey respondents to rate the importance of 5 key skill sets, originally delineated by The Community Roundtable for the broader field of community management outside science. Read on to learn about which skill set ranks highest, and how the rankings change depending on seniority.

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A closer look at the funding landscape for scientific community managers

Through the State of Scientific Community Management survey we’ve collected data on all facets of the field. So far we’ve looked at scientific community managers’ education and training and identified … Continue reading “A closer look at the funding landscape for scientific community managers”

Through the State of Scientific Community Management survey we’ve collected data on all facets of the field. So far we’ve looked at scientific community managers’ education and training and identified which types of organizations are hiring them. We’ve also learned that insufficient funding is the number one reason why organizations lack community managers.

Today, we’re following up on this finding by digging a little deeper into the picture of funding for community managers. Read on for 3 key findings.

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Many organizations have communities. Why don’t they all have community managers?

Posted by Dan Richman, Program Assistant for the Community Engagement Fellows Program In our first post about results from the State of Scientific Community Management Survey, we reported that while … Continue reading “Many organizations have communities. Why don’t they all have community managers?”

Posted by Dan Richman, Program Assistant for the Community Engagement Fellows Program

In our first post about results from the State of Scientific Community Management Survey, we reported that while over half of community managers in science organizations have PhDs, their community management skills are usually self-taught or garnered through reading, networking, or mentorship.

In this post we report an overview of the types of organizations that were sampled by our survey, and why some organizations don’t have community managers. This is important for the Community Engagement Fellows Program because we intend to support scientific community managers in two broad variations of the role – either within professional societies and organizations or within research collaborations. We want to understand more about what those workplaces look like and how they differ.

Continue reading “Many organizations have communities. Why don’t they all have community managers?”

Scientific community managers: often self-taught with a science PhD

Having received over 100 responses, we’ve begun analyzing the State of Scientific Community Management Survey. Read on for more details of some of the trends we’ve seen so far. If … Continue reading “Scientific community managers: often self-taught with a science PhD”

Having received over 100 responses, we’ve begun analyzing the State of Scientific Community Management Survey. Read on for more details of some of the trends we’ve seen so far.

If you’re working to build communities within science and haven’t yet taken the survey, we’re leaving it open a little longer, so please do add your data points to the overall picture.

Continue reading “Scientific community managers: often self-taught with a science PhD”

Update on the AAAS State of Scientific Community Management Survey: Your response needed!

Thanks to all the scientific community builders who have taken our State of Scientific Community Management survey so far! We hope you’ve been inspired by our recent Q&A series to … Continue reading “Update on the AAAS State of Scientific Community Management Survey: Your response needed!”

Thanks to all the scientific community builders who have taken our State of Scientific Community Management survey so far! We hope you’ve been inspired by our recent Q&A series to think creatively about what a scientific community manager can be. Our intention with this survey is to gain a better understanding of the field and lay the foundation for the upcoming AAAS Community Engagement Fellows Program.

So far we have received survey responses from a variety of scientific community engagement professionals around the world, including the UK, Germany, and the US. Wherever you’re located, you can participate in the survey – so please help us include scientific community management practices from your region in our overall picture of the field.

We’re particularly interested in hearing from community professionals working with large research collaborations, either within one institution or around the globe! We know that some of the language used in the survey may not be familiar to community builders in academic science, but we hope you’ll give it a try anyway. Research communities are key to the future of scientific community management and we want our data to reflect that.

The survey takes less than 12 minutes to complete – that’s less than the time it takes your coffee to cool! So please fill it out and then share the link with your networks (https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2642025/AAAS-State-of-Scientific-Community-Management-Survey). If you have any questions about the survey, you can get in touch by emailing us at info@trelliscience.com.

Thank you for joining our effort to understand the current state of scientific community management! We look forward to reporting back with our findings.

Take the AAAS State of Scientific Community Management Survey!

Untitled by Marcin Wichary is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Back in November, we announced the new AAAS Community Engagement Fellows Program. To recap: With support from the Alfred P. … Continue reading “Take the AAAS State of Scientific Community Management Survey!”

Untitled by Marcin Wichary is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Back in November, we announced the new AAAS Community Engagement Fellows Program. To recap: With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, AAAS will run a one year pilot program to support the professional development of community engagement experts in the scientific community.

Starting in January 2017, an initial cohort of 18 community professionals will receive training and ongoing support to help strengthen and professionalize the role of community engagement within large-scale scientific collaborations and associations.

Continue reading “Take the AAAS State of Scientific Community Management Survey!”