Frequently Asked Questions

No. The resources and support we provide are free for any member. This value has been fundamental to our model since its inception. However, we also want to ensure that membership provides meaningful benefits to those who choose to join. Therefore, the modest “cost” to joining SSN involves: 1) completing a profile form to provide us with information about your research and publications. This information will be used to create a profile for you on our website, serving as a valuable resource for stakeholders seeking to connect with experts interested in engaging in policy-relevant work; and 2) writing a policy or media piece, which presents an opportunity for skill development, as you will receive various written resources and one-on-one support from SSN staff throughout the process. Learn more about SSN membership here.

You can explore the different types of contributions we accept here. Our list includes policy briefs, OpEds, policy memos by request from non-academic stakeholders, public comments, and written testimony. The linked handout provides descriptions detailing the key elements for each type of contribution, which may assist you in selecting the contribution that best aligns with your public engagement goals. Additionally, you are welcome to request a virtual meeting with our membership team to help you in this decision-making process by emailing [email protected].

We strongly encourage all incoming members to draft new pieces. Our rationale for this policy is to engage scholars who have not participated recently in policy or media discussions, and to assist them in developing new skills should they wish to explore different forms of public writing that they have not previously attempted. In limited cases, we accept pieces written in the past 6 months as long as they meet the criteria for the types of written contributions we accept.

Once you become a member of our network, your information will be included on our website and in our database. As a result, there may be occasions when we reach out to you regarding incoming requests from policymakers, civic leaders, or reporters related to your areas of expertise. However, there is no obligation to respond if it’s not a convenient time for you, or if you feel that your expertise does not pertain to the request. Membership is designed to provide support for you and your public engagement goals. We recognize the demanding schedules of academics, so we hold no expectations or requirements for our members to engage with SSN in a specific way. With that in mind, we hope that if you choose to join the network, it is because you are committed to sharing your research beyond the academic setting and applying your findings and expertise to influence policy.

While most of our members hold or pursue PhDs, it is not a requirement–you may be pursuing or currently hold another type of advanced degree, such as a master’s degree. Other SSN membership eligibility requirements include: affiliation with a college or university, conducting (or have conducted) peer-reviewed research, and a commitment to sharing expertise with policymakers, journalists, and civic leaders.

The best way to do so is to go to our profile form, where you will be prompted to select “Update Membership Information” from a dropdown menu. If you would like to add to your media hits or publications, you can do so here. However, please be aware that moving forward, we aim to maintain a maximum of 10 academic publications and 15 media hits on an SSN member’s profile. At this time, we do not intend to delete the media hits currently displayed on your page, but any new media hits added will replace the oldest entries unless specified otherwise. We encourage you to ensure that the publications listed on your page accurately reflect your research. If the updates to your profile include changing locations or chapters, our membership team will send you an introduction via email to your new chapter leadership team.

Yes. At SSN, members typically write two kinds of policy briefs: a “key findings brief” that shares findings from their own research or a “basic facts brief” that is based on their expertise in a field, even if the underlying evidence is not from their own research. Any incoming member can write either type of brief. For PhD candidates joining the network, the most common brief type is the basic facts brief.

All research can be policy relevant research. A perk of SSN membership is getting to work with our policy team to identify your policy engagement goals and then craft a strategy that pairs the research you do with the type of policy impact you’d like to have. We have found that by engaging the right policy actors and communicating your research expertise using jargon-free language, any scholarly research can be policy relevant.

SSN supports current and incoming members who are interested in writing OpEds. From an initial brainstorming session, to feedback on ideas and in-line edits on drafts, to pitching finalized pieces to news outlets, SSN’s communications team provides support throughout the entire process. Scholars interested in publishing OpEds should contact the SSN communications team for hands-on support.

If there’s no SSN chapter near you, we’d be more than happy to chat with you about what is involved with getting a chapter started in your region. We are a network of chapters across the country led by volunteer scholars. Please review our guide on what chapters do and how to start one. If you or a colleague are interested in chapter leadership, you can discuss the next steps with our Director of Chapter Development, Pamela Metz. If you are not able to start a chapter in your region, our national staff will be happy to help you strategize about any local public engagement goals or opportunities.

SSN offers both policy and media workshops. Our training program focuses on developing generalizable and repeatable skills that enhance the reach and impact of your scholarly research. We provide scholars with the tools necessary for policy and media engagement regardless of their discipline or career level. Our media workshops focus on OpEd writing and pitching and how to have successful media interviews. Our policy workshops can help scholars at each step of the policy engagement process: from identifying policy recommendations, to building relationships with community partners and policymakers, to writing policy briefs, and more. Reach out to our Director of Trainings, Shannon Kelly, with any questions about bringing SSN workshops to your organization or chapter.

SSN is funded by a combination of generous individual funders and foundations, to whom we apply for project-specific and general operations grants. For a full list of current and past funders, visit our donation page.

Yes. As an organization, SSN is dedicated to making academic research broadly accessible to the media, policymakers, and civic organizations, operating under the belief that researchers should share their findings and expertise widely. SSN has worked with scholars from a wide variety of disciplines to create more than a thousand short policy briefs and regularly supports members in producing policy and media writings like public comments and OpEds. If these are objectives you would like to write into your grant’s policy outreach and dissemination plan and budget, or if you are a principal investigator needing an external partner for policy or dissemination support, please email Lizzy Ghedi-Ehrlich.