Research Communications Specialist

About the role

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) is looking for a Research Communications Specialist who reports to the Assistant Director, Digital Engagement and Marketing. The specialist supports the External Relations and Communications team by producing clear, engaging written content for internal and external channels, including news stories, features, op-eds, social media copy and video scripts. The role works closely with colleagues across the department to communicate the university's mission, research, events and academic achievements, with a focus on science literacy and consistent tone.

Key responsibilities

• Translate complex research findings and scientific concepts into accessible content while preserving meaning and nuance
• Verify research claims, data, terminology and context with researchers before publication, and avoid overstating significance
• Write news stories, features, social media captions, video scripts, web copy and newsletters
• Showcase faculty, student, staff and alumni research achievements through interviews and story development
• Adapt tone and detail to each audience and channel, and suggest new angles to increase engagement
• Manage multiple assignments and tight deadlines, and link research to current affairs and global issues
• Help edit, proofread and format materials produced by colleagues, and support photography and video production
• Support data analysis and reporting, and coordinate with academic departments and administrative units
• Maintain editorial calendars, draft briefing materials and support campaign and project-based writing

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communications, English or a related field
• More than 3 years of professional writing experience, ideally in an agency, newsroom, nonprofit or university setting
• Excellent written English with strong grammar, storytelling and copy-editing skills
• Proactive, able to manage several assignments and deadlines; understanding of the higher education and research environment is a plus
• Preferred: experience writing research content on topics such as space science, health, life sciences, AI, clean energy or heritage and culture; fluency in another language, especially Arabic; familiarity with multimedia teams, shorthand and SEO

Required skills

• Familiarity with digital publishing platforms (e.g. CMS, social media schedulers) is an advantage
• Ability to write video and voiceover scripts