From lab to leadership: why today’s science graduates need more than just science skills

But increasingly, we’re asking scientists to do more than just science — and we’re asking them to do it in more than just traditional scientific domains. Today’s scientists work at all different scales and across a vast range of disciplines, from business to agriculture, health care and manufacturing, and everything in between. 

As a result, the problems they face in their day-to-day work aren’t just scientific, which means they need more than scientific expertise to solve them. Today’s science graduates need to manage people and projects, to navigate change, to influence and inspire — in short, to lead — across vast and ever-changing professional landscapes. 

A lack of leadership skills is hurting science graduates 

Despite this, many contemporary science degrees continue to emphasise the development of theoretical and technical skills, rather than preparing graduates to keep pace with the changing world of work. 

In a piece published in Nature, American scientist Jessica Seeliger argues that traditional science education doesn’t prepare young scientists for the challenges of the business side of science — running a lab, managing staff, mentoring. Instead, as they progress through their careers, many scientists find themselves being expected to perform these skills without any prior training. 

“When it comes to running our labs and managing people, we have to rely on our gut feelings, our limited know-how from mentoring a few students or our observations of our previous advisers. We can often feel ill-prepared,” she writes. 

And it’s not just scientists themselves who are noticing the skills gap. According to Scientific American, research shows ‘a mismatch in the skills desired by employers and those that science graduates enter the workforce with.’  ^[1]

Chief among those skills is leadership, which the World Economic Forum has identified as one of the most in-demand skills of 2023.

Many of these skills — analytical thinking, technological literacy, attention to detail, curiosity, quality control — are already part of a traditional science education. But equipping scientists with those other capabilities will prepare them to function as effective leaders, both in traditional science and academic environments and in adjacent fields where business, government and community needs are likely to dictate the scientific agenda.  

Postgraduate study: producing the next generation of science leaders

So, who’s responsible for teaching these skills? If undergraduate study is where students master core science capabilities, then postgraduate study is a natural home for cultivating the next generation of science leaders.  

The good news? A small handful of universities are heeding the call. At the University of Technology Sydney, a new Master of Science Master of Business Administration is producing what the university calls ‘lab to leadership’ professionals. 

This one-of-a-kind course, which is one of a suite of science leadership degrees on offer at UTS, combines the development of advanced science expertise, business acumen and leadership learning, and purpose-designed science business education. 

While the UTS courses are currently part of only a very small handful of Australian postgraduate degrees to position leadership as an integral component of an advanced science qualification, it’s only a matter of time before other institutions are forced to follow suit. 

“The global science profession is facing unprecedented challenges, both in terms of the problems science is now being called on to solve and in the context of the rapidly changing environment in which scientists are now expected to operate,” says Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) for the UTS Faculty of Science, Professor Willa Huston.

“Science has never mattered more than it does now. As a university science faculty, we see it as our responsibility to produce graduates who understand the business of science and who have the skills to empower and influence others.” 

The 10 skills of 2023, according to the World Economic Forum   
1. Analytical thinking  
2. Creative thinking  
3. Resilience, flexibility and agility   
4. Motivation and self-awareness   
5. Curiosity and lifelong learning   
6. Technological literacy   
7. Dependability and attention to detail  
8. Empathy and active listening  
9. Leadership and social influence   
10. Quality control 

Find out more about UTS postgraduate science

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 Tertiary Education and Management, 2015.^[1]