We believe the appropriate policy solution is to increase government funding for all forms of scientific research. Further, we believe that a critical missing element from this conversation is stability – the importance of allowing good scientists to know that taking risks will not end their careers after decades of training and preparation. Today's powerhouse labs were built decades ago, in a funding climate in which it was possible for a brilliant early-career scientist to secure stable funding.

Science will not be given renewed priority unless legislators and policymakers hear from those on the front lines of the crisis. Research scientists must all become advocates, able to explain their work and career trajectories to non-scientists. Unfortunately, advocacy is not part of the graduate or postdoctoral curriculum.

We propose two complementary strategies to bring advocacy organizations together with scientists for maximal effect:

1. Building an informed and modern advocacy community: A community of science advocates needs to be formed to achieve greater public funding. Communication is the key to collecting compelling stories from scientists and disseminating information about the state of science funding. As part of Academics for the Future of Science, we are working with local colleagues at MIT and the greater Boston area, as well as other organizations of scientists (such as Future of Research (www.futureofresearch.org), to modernize the way our community shares ideas about the uncertain future of science. Through our extensive online presence we have developed a number of resources for advocacy and we have collected many first-hand accounts of the effects of funding on scientists (Academics for the Future of Science, 2015). We continue to develop shareable information in the form of infographics (see Figure 1 for an example), short social media posts, and even cartoons. Social media and email allows us to reach out to early-career scientists, minorities and others underrepresented in the national dialogue. Social media in particular allows us to connect with scientists who express any level of interest (for example, by liking our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/academicsforthefutureofscience) or following us on Twitter (@SaveScience)), then gradually involve them further in advocacy through repeated follow-up.

2. Community outreach: Individual scientists have powerful stories to tell, but they are often too busy or removed from the political process to advocate for themselves. Advocacy organizations can help coordinate their efforts, and provide the tools and knowledge necessary for scientists to become self-advocates. Our organization has contributed to this goal by creating an online advocacy tool (http://save-science.org) to make it easier for busy scientists to communicate with their representatives. Open-source advocacy platforms now make it possible, in a few weeks, to deploy methods that were once available only to well-funded lobbying groups. We plan to introduce additional easy-to-use tools that enable scientists to represent themselves in legislative conversations. These are optimized for the US Congressional system, but could be tailored for a different representative body.

Figure 1 Download asset Open asset An example of advocacy. This infographic was prepared by Academics for the Future of Science to show how reduced levels of federal funding for scientific research adversely affect the career prospects of early-career researchers.

The three scientists who shared their stories above are examples of a much deeper problem, but they are also reason for hope. If more of these narratives can be placed in front of policymakers and the true cost of under-funding science made clear, the prospects for consistent funding for the next generation of scientists can improve. We hope that this article and the associated tools will be the beginning of a necessary change.