Where to use Behavioural and Social Science
Are you interested in behavioural and social science and want to work within this area?
While public health careers are quite clearly marked out, the behavioural and social science career path may at first seem less obvious. The good news is that there are more and more roles coming up which are specifically for behavioural and social scientists, or which utilise behavioural and social science skills. These generally range from more research-oriented roles to practitioner or strategic roles. So what are they and how do you find them?
Search NHS jobs, national public health organisations (Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Scotland, Public Health Wales, and Public Health Agency (NI)), and local government websites. You can also try other more general career websites, or look in third sector or private organisations focussing on population health. Trying using search terms such as “behavioural science”, “social science”, “behavioural scientist”, “social scientist” or “behaviour change” combined with other terms such as “public health”, “health improvement”, or “health protection”. If you are trained in a particular discipline, consider using terms synonymous with that area.
Additionally, social media can be a powerful recruitment tool, such as LinkedIn and Twitter. If you have an account, then make sure you are following other behavioural and social scientists as jobs are often posted. Follow us @BSPHNetwork on Twitter – we regularly retweet job adverts.
If you are looking for professional development, take a look at our upcoming events – we hold an annual conference. Try having a look at other specific disciplines with the behavioural and social sciences, for example the Division of Health Psychology also holds an annual conference.