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Introduction
Keen to start your conservation career? One of the most important skills any conservationist can have in their professional toolkit is the ability to conduct surveys of natural habitats. That’s because scientific conservation research is vital to the success of most conservation projects. Any conservation team highly values someone with data collection skills.
Our Conservation and Scientific Research online course, which is offered in partnership with the University of Richmond and UNC Charlotte, will show you how surveys are tied to conservation/management objectives, species identification, environmental impacts, survey planning, survey logistics, and health and safety in the field.
The course material is based on GVI’s more than two decades of experience conducting conservation research in remote locations around the world in close collaboration with local organisations. In fact, because we want all our conservation interns to know how to conduct scientific conservation research, this course is included in the program fee of all our conservation internship abroad programs.
Skills you’ll acquire
After completing this course you’ll be able to:
- identify the connection between monitoring and conservation objectives
- identify species targeted for monitoring during a survey
- recognise the different techniques for surveying a natural habitat
- analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different surveying techniques
- plan how to lead a survey of any natural environment
- recognise the importance of collaborating with local partners
- manage risk during a survey conducted in a remote location.
Is this course for you?
This course is for anyone interested in increasing their ability to make a meaningful contribution to conservation projects. This could be a high school, college or graduate student interested in pursuing a career in conservation, a mid-career corporate professional looking to make a career switch to conservation or even a retired senior who is interested in conservation citizen science initiatives.
Course Curriculum
Learn what the term “target species” means in the context of conservation research surveys. Understand why certain species are targeted for monitoring, including the role they play in a specific ecosystem and the current or former threats to the survival of the species. Find out how to identify these species while on a survey including their behaviour, what kinds of sounds they make and what they look like during different stages of their life, times of the year and other changing factors.
Find out why it’s important to partner with local organisations to achieve conservation objectives. Use GVI conservation projects as a case study to learn about how international organisations and volunteers can collaborate with local organisations, communities and individuals.
Learn how to plan and lead a survey. This includes preparing a brief with instructions on which species will be targeted, how surveying equipment will be used and which safety procedures should be followed. It also includes providing a debrief after the survey listing key achievements and noting any problems that might need to be addressed for future surveys.
Conservation research is often carried out in remote locations. This is why health and safety procedures are so important. You’ll learn how to set up health and safety protocols for surveys and how to use Emergency Action Plans (EAPs). Topics covered include: first aid requirements for a survey, how to ensure reliable transport and the importance of establishing meeting points.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
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Alumni Testimonials
Our Conservation and Scientific Research online course, which is offered in partnership with the University of Richmond and UNC Charlotte, will show you how surveys are tied to conservation/management objectives, species identification, environmental impacts, survey planning, survey logistics, and health and safety in the field.
The course material is based on GVI’s more than two decades of experience conducting conservation research in remote locations around the world in close collaboration with local organisations. In fact, because we want all our conservation interns to know how to conduct scientific conservation research, this course is included in the program fee of all our conservation internship abroad programs.
Conservation and Scientific Research
The information was very interesting as where the case studies and the posts that where posted by other students. I learnt about species that i am unfamiliar with
Our Conservation and Scientific Research online course, which is offered in partnership with the University of Richmond and UNC Charlotte, will show you how surveys are tied to conservation/management objectives, species identification, environmental impacts, survey planning, survey logistics, and health and safety in the field.
The course material is based on GVI’s more than two decades of experience conducting conservation research in remote locations around the world in close collaboration with local organisations. In fact, because we want all our conservation interns to know how to conduct scientific conservation research, this course is included in the program fee of all our conservation internship abroad programs.
Conservation and Scientific Research
This course was a great addition to the basic information I already had on this subject. I learnt about areas in a lot more detail than previously and I know this will come in handy in the future when I aim to be working in this field. I would recommend this course to anybody who wants a helping [...]
Our Conservation and Scientific Research online course, which is offered in partnership with the University of Richmond and UNC Charlotte, will show you how surveys are tied to conservation/management objectives, species identification, environmental impacts, survey planning, survey logistics, and health and safety in the field.
The course material is based on GVI’s more than two decades of experience conducting conservation research in remote locations around the world in close collaboration with local organisations. In fact, because we want all our conservation interns to know how to conduct scientific conservation research, this course is included in the program fee of all our conservation internship abroad programs.
Conservation and Scientific Research
The course covers a lot of material in an accessible and interesting format. Lovely to be able to meet people with the same interests and be taught by a professional in the field! Highly recommend
