I agree that the process of getting tenured is incredibly stressful, and I fear what that might look like for me if I go into academia too. However, I do want to highlight that it is very possible to get research positions where they want PhDs and will pay well for it. Many of these positions enable you to publish your work too, meaning hat if you choose to switch into academia later, you have recent publications to demonstrate your continued capabilities as a researcher. Similarly, going into academia doesn’t prohibit you from working in industry. In fact, many industry researchers also teach at universities part time. Switching back and forth between academia and industry is more common and easier than you think!

Since that Communicating Science workshop we did, I’ve been wondering if the reason why we’re so terrible at it is similar to the reasons why promoting open access is difficult right now: certain venues for presenting your research are considered more prestigious than others. For example, presenting your research at a conference in your field or publishing at a journal (even open access) in your field is generally considered “better” than giving a public talk about your research. The reason for it is that you can communicate your ideas directly to the scientific community that will be immediately affected by the new research. However, this does perpetuate a situation where we aren’t talking to other scientists in different fields, let alone laypeople. Thus, we get no practice at doing it, and many don’t see the point in trying. After all, if you can describe your research to the people who care about it most, why do you NEED to be able to describe it to anyone else?

The reason that we should be able to communicate our ideas outside our fields are all the reasons you stated and then some. We need to be able to connect with each other and scientists and researchers. In so doing, we can form unique collaborations and do some really cool research. We also need to be able to explain to people why our research matters so that they understand what it is we do and how it affects them. I think this matters to the general public even beyond their taxpayer dollars.