Our Story

The Sound Science Research Collective was founded as a nonprofit in the state of Alaska in 2018 and was incorporated as a 501(c)3 in 2019. It was founded by a group of scientists who worked closely together on various marine mammal research projects and were each disappointed by the culture of science: the leaky pipeline of female scientists, the lack of diversity across career stages, the deficit in long-term mentorship relationships, a disconnect between the scientists and the public, reliance on unpaid labor, and a lack of training for jobs in the field. Sound Science was founded with the goal to make the changes we want to see, based on a collective mission to make conservation science and our research more equitable by doing what we do best: mentoring young scientists, doing good science, and communicating our research to the public in an understandable way. While the organization is young, it is comprised of scientists with an enormous amount of experience in a diverse array of fields spanning research, conservation, and education. As we grow, we are building the type of organization we can be proud of, which pays its workers a fair living wage, centers underrepresented groups, and provides the support early career researchers need to succeed