#126: Katharina Schwaiger on Starting a Career in SciComm While Finishing a PhD

PhD Career Stories

Are you a recent or soon-to-be PhD graduate trying to figure out the next steps? Have the events of the past few years gotten you interested in Science Communication? In this episode, you will hear from Katharina Schwaiger, who has been in a very similar spot!

Katharina holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Graz and currently works as a science communicator at the Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB), a position she took on while still finishing her PhD thesis!

In this episode, Katharina tells our host, Elisabeth Reithuber, how she became interested in pursuing a career in science communication after working on a SciComm project at ACIB and also after witnessing the disconnect between the scientific community and society, during the pandemic. They talk about Katarina’s experience juggling her new position with the final stretch of her PhD, and about which PhD skills can help you be a great science communicator…and which skills you might need to learn on your own!

Katharina’s warm advice touches on themes like finding your inner drive and learning to ask (for guidance, for a job…). Don’t forget, “sometimes, you have to feel the fear” and do it anyway!

For the transcript, please click here: https://phdcareerstories.com/pub/kschwaiger

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