SCCS Internship Programme 2012 Report 2012 - final_1.pdf · series and gives young conservation scientists new skills and furthers their careers in the field ... Federal do Rio de

SCCS Internship Programme

2012

Internship Programme 2012

Overview

The Student Conference in Conservation Science (SCCS) is building the capacity of young scientists

across the world. SCCS offers a dynamic and interactive programme of talks, workshops and poster

sessions, and enables students to network with a wide variety of disciplines and organisations in the

ambridge area (including universities, government and NGOs). C

In 2012, the SCCS launched a new phase of the Miriam Rothschild Travel Bursary Programme

through generous support from Arcadia. The programme enabled 131 students from developing and eastern European countries to participate in the SCCS and then to attend a tailor‐made training

course before embarking on their month‐long internship at a conservation organisation in the UK.

The Miriam Rothschild Travel Bursary Programme has become a significant component of the SCCS

series and gives young conservation scientists new skills and furthers their careers in the field of

onservation. c

“the program was a great benefit and an excellent way to start a career in conservation of biodiversity”

Sariakanirina Rakotomamonjy, Madagascar) (

SCCS short courses 2012

Three short courses of 2 ‐ 3 days duration were held after the conference for the internship holders.

We were also able to offer some places to other students from developing and eastern European

countries who had attended the conference. Getting started in R to analyse biological field data and

Conservation GIS in practice were attended by ten delegates each, while three interns attended the

more specialised, An introduction to distance software for analysing transect and point count data. All

hree short courses received extremely positive feedback. t

“The training was empowering and changed my approach to doing research” (Henry Makuma, Uganda)

1

1 Two further internships were awarded but both were declined their visa to come to the UK


Internship placements 2012

The internship programme gives young conservationists the opportunity to work alongside UK

experts for four weeks after the conference to learn new skills and seek advice on their current work

and future plans. This year, the interns worked on a range of topics including creating a field guide to

plants in a Ugandan forest; establishing a red list network in South America; designing corridors for

tiger conservation; and analysing the key factors that contribute to successful community–led

conservation programmes. It is clear from their reports that the Interns benefit enormously from the

experience of having one‐to‐one advice from conservation scientists working in their fields. The

programme also gives interns valuable opportunity to develop new skills relevant to their work back

home. One intern commented that they had gained “a lifetime of knowledge”. The full intern reports

re available from the SCCS office. a

All SCCS interns in 2012 will receive Fauna and Flora International membership for one year,

including an online subscription to Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation. In addition, the

interns who produce the three best reports will each win £75 worth of books from Cambridge

niversity Press. Details of the prize winners can be found on page 11. U

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Internship Holders 20122

ldo (A.P. Leventis Ornithological and Research Institute. P.O. Box, 13404, Jos East,

Jennifer Arubemi Aga Plateau tate, Nigeria) S

“My writing skills have improved immensely as under the guidance and supervision of my host I was able

to come up with a draft manuscript for publication from the data analysed on “Present threats and

associated conservation implication to the Oban division Forest Nigeria’s biodiversity hotspot”

which will be submitted for publication in a peer reviewed journal.”

Topic: Survey of endangered Nigeria‐Cameroon

chimpanzee and habitat threat assessement in

Oban, Nigeria.

Host: Dr Will Cresswell (School of Biology, Institute

of Behavioural and Neural Sciences, St Andrews

University) María Eugenia Cruz Copa Alvaro (Colección Boliviana de Fauna, Street 26, Cota‐Cota Zone, La Paz City, Bolivia)

“.. during my stay with EDGEZSL my project improved as my knowledge increased.

I had time to reflect my own steps, methodology used and expected results.

I learned a new method of data analysis through multivariant analysis. The process helps me to think about other

options to improve my project”

Topic: The short‐tailed chinchilla in Bolivia: past and

current distribution.

Host: Dr Carly Waterman (Zoological Society of

London)

2 Please note that quotes from internship holders have not been edited in order to retain freshness and authenticity.

3


Imadeld Sudan)

in Ahmed Abdalla Farag (UNESCO Chair on Marine Biology & Oceanography. P.O Box 3045, Khartoum,

“The internship period was very fruitful in terms of improving my understanding of the process of Red List assessments.

Much useful discussion was generated when consulting staff at Kew who have recent field observations of many of

the taxa, and I realized that field information for my country (Sudan) is scant and often old.”

Topic: Conserving Sudanese Coastal

Plants.

Host: Dr Iain Darbyshire (Royal

Botanic Gardens, Kew)

Mariana Silva Ferreira (Laboratório de Vertebrados Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Av.

Carlos Chagas Filho, 373 Cidade Universitária CEP 21941‐902 CP 68020 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

“This lifetime of knowledge will be of great contribution to the student’s PhD and, a paper

is being produced with the results of the analysis conducted during the internship.”

Topic: Marsupial population dynamics and

conservation.

Host: Professor Tim Coulson (Department

of Life Sciences, Imperial College,

London)

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Maria Fernanda Gomez (Transversal 4 # 42‐00 piso 8 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá‐ Colombia)

“During my internship I had the opportunity to discuss with Rebecca Miller (my host in IUCN) how best to integrate the

national Red Listing process with the IUCN Red List, particularly during the process of reassessing Colombian species to

update our national Red Data Books.”

Topic: Red Data Book (RDB) of Colombian

Birds: Assessment of extinction risk of

birds in Colombia based on the IUCN

criteria.

Host: Rebecca Miller (International Union for

Conservation of Nature, Cambridge)

Francisca Malembeka (Department of Wildlife Management, P. O. Box 3073, Sokoine University of Agriculture, goro, Tanzania) Moror

“This month offered me an opportunity to practice R under supervision of experts, an activity which was preceded by

a two day workshop in Cambridge. Furthermore, the internship gave me the chance to concentrate on data analysis

under the supervision of world leading experts in the field of ecology and trophy hunting evaluation.”

Topic: Ecological sustainability of trophy

hunting in Tanzania: case study of six

species in Selous Game Reserve.

Host: Professor David Macdonald (Wildlife

Conservation Research Unit , University

of Oxford)

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Henry Massa Makuma (Makerere University College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Department of Environmental Management, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

6

“During my internship, I was able to develop an identification key for trees of Kibale Forest National Park and

described 61 tree species for the tree guide.”

“My supervisors and I are planning on describing all the tree species of the forest to come up with a proper tree guide.

I am to test the key with Students from Imperial College who will be doing a tropical biology course in

Kibale Forest National Park in September, 2012. We hope to publish this into a proper book.”

Topic: To produce basic documentation for an

illustrated field guide of the trees of Kibale.

Host: Vincent Savolainen (Royal Botanic Gardens,

Kew)

David Oc

Uganda)

handa (Makerere University, Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala,

“The overall aim of my internship was to develop the research ideas emerging from my MSc and write a PhD proposal

on how climate change and landuse change would affect the spatial congruence between biodiversity and

ecosystem services in the Albertine Rift.”

Topic: Potential impacts of climate change on

birds in the Albertine rift.

Hosts: Dr Ben Phalan & Dr Ruth Swetnam

(Conservation Science Group, University of

Cambridge and the Department of

Geography, Staffordshire University)


Sariakanirina Nokoloina Rakotomamonjy (Madagasikara Voakajy, B.P. 5181, Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar)

7

“To think back on the program, it was the best experience in the life of a newbie conservationist like me.

In fact, a lot of working experience, new impressions and contact with many new and interesting people were possible.”

Topic: Does environmental education change

knowledge and attitudes about lemurs?

Host: Dr Julia Jones (School of the Environment

and Natural Resources, Bangor

University)

Mahefatiana Ralisata (Madagasikara Voakajy, B.P. 5181, Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar)

“The data and the results I have got generated more knowledge on this bat species.

A publication of an article on echolocation calls of M. aurita in a scientific journal is also useful for the next step.”

Topic: Population ecology of the sucker‐footed bat:

Myzopoda aurita in southeastern Madagascar.

Host: Professor Gareth Jones (Bristol University)


Miliana Tilomila Ravuso (BirdLife International Pacific Secretariat, 10 MacGregor Road, Suva, Fiji)

“The internship programme allowed me to accomplish much more than what was originally planned. The meetings

with the different people and different organizations have resulted in more partnerships and networks developed

and a stronger support base, in terms of technical advice in areas that I work with in Fiji and the Pacific region.”

Topic: Implementing locally led Biodiversity

Conservation.

Host: Dr David Thomas (BirdLife

International, Cambridge)

ishor Rithe (Satpuda Foundation 1st Floor, "Pratishtha",Bharat Nagar, Akoli Road, Near Sainagar, Amravati, aharashtra state, India. Pin‐ 444607)

KM “Another objective was to finalise the study design of "Planning and Managing tiger Corridors in Satpuda Landscape"

for next one year duration.”

“The WildCRU provided me best facilities and better opportunities to learn and collaborate during the internship.”

Topic: Village relocation impacts on tigers.

Host: Dr Claudio Sillero (WildCru,

Department of Zoology, University of

Oxford)

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Andrea Isabel Salcedo (Universidad San Francisco de Quito: Quito, Ecuador, Av. Valle Interoceánica y Diego de Robles.)

“This internship allowed me to develop new ideas of projects that can be done to gather data on

monkey behaviour and conservation. I plan to keep researching monkey status in the future and developing

new methods to do so.”

Topic: Developing methods to improve the

conservation status of Ecuadorian

monkeys.

Host: Dr Katie Slocombe (University of

York)

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Feedback

Feedback from the interns on the Conference, their short courses and their month‐long internship

placements was extremely positive. All three short courses received high scores on the anonymous

assessment questionnaires: the total scores allocated were 95% of the maximum possible for all

three courses. All of the delegates said they were “very likely” (86%) or “likely (14%) to apply the

skills learnt on the courses in their work back home. All of the interns rated their internship

experience as either excellent (80%) or good (20%). As in previous years, they commented that the

most beneficial aspects of the internship were access to internet resources; access to useful advice;

elp with writing papers and proposals; and meeting other conservation scientists. h

The contribution of the hosts to making this scheme work is vital. The hosts put a great deal of

thought into maximising the learning opportunities for the interns. Hosts actively encouraged

interns to network with colleagues, attend seminars and present their work to different audiences.

As well as gaining one‐to‐one supervision, the interns made visits to conservation organisations, and

were taken on field trips. These interactions help broaden the interns’ knowledge on biodiversity

conservation and gain useful feedback and insight into their own work. It is clear that the internship

scheme is valued highly by the hosts with several hosting interns for a third or fourth time. One host

rote “Keep the scheme going. It is extremely valuable for the conservation community.” w

The internship programme has a positive impact upon the work of the young conservation scientists

who take part. Many interns are already applying what they have learnt into their work back home

and several have shared their new knowledge with others. One has set up a network for listing red

date book species in South America while many others have submitted proposals for new

collaborative projects that arose as a result of their time spent with UK conservation institutions.

“You have made a difference in my life and I believe many more developments are yet to come as a result

of the internship.”

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Prize winners

Each year, we award prizes kindly donated by Cambridge University Press and Fauna & Flora

International to the three best interns. This year the three best reports will each win £75 worth of

books from Cambridge University Press in addition to membership of Fauna & Flora International for

one year, including a subscription to Oryx ‐ the International Journal for Conservation.

The prize winners were as follows:

Jennifer Arubemi Agaldo (A.P. Leventis Ornithological and Research Institute. P.O. Box,

13404, Jos East, Plateau State, Nigeria)

Jennifer attended two short courses after the Conference and is already using her new GIS skills to

produce a new distribution map of the chimpanzees she studies in Nigeria. During her internship at

St Andrew’s University, Jennifer learned new techniques that enabled her to analyse the data she had

brought with her from Nigeria. She wrote two draft papers for publication as well as a proposal for

er PhD. h

Maria Fernanda Gomez (Transversal 4 # 4200 piso 8 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

Bogotá Colombia)

Hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Cambridge, Maria designed a

strategy for integrating South America’s national red listing processes and the global IUCN Red List

assessments. Once back in Colombia, Maria began creating a network of South American experts

who can have a stronger voice and contribute more effective to global initiatives. She has already

held a video conference and set an agenda of activities for the next few years.

Henry Massa Makuma (Makerere University College of Agricultural and Environmental

Sciences, Department of Environmental Management, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda)

Henry came to Kew with a rather ambitious project to write a field guide to the trees of Kibale Forest,

a national park in Uganda. He produced an excellent first draft of the guide covering 61 tree species.

The guide will be trialled during a field course in Kibale Forest later this year. Henry also learned

valuable analytical skills during the short course he attended after the Conference and is already

haring his new skills with others at Makerere University in Uganda. s

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Arcadia for the Miriam Rothschild Travel Bursary Programme (known as the

SCCS Internships). Thanks also go to Oryx‐The International Journal of Conservation, Cambridge

University Press and Fauna & Flora International for providing subscriptions and prizes. We are

grateful to the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge for hosting the SCCS administration

nd providing facilities for the short courses. a

We acknowledge the enthusiasm, collaboration and dedication of the internship hosts in making the

Internship Programme such a success. We thank all the following:

Dr Will Cresswell (School of Biology, Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences, St Andrews

University), Dr Carly Waterman (Zoological Society of London), Dr Iain Darbyshire (Royal Botanic

Gardens, Kew), Professor Tim Coulson (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London),

Rebecca Miller (International Union for Conservation of Nature, Cambridge), Professor David

Macdonald (Wildlife Conservation Research Unit , University of Oxford), Dr Vincent Savolainen

(Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), Dr Ben Phalan & Dr Ruth Swetnam (Conservation Science Group,

University of Cambridge and the Department of Geography, Staffordshire University), Dr Julia Jones

(School of the Environment and Natural Resources, Bangor University), Professor Gareth Jones

(Bristol University), Dr David Thomas (BirdLife International, Cambridge), Dr Claudio Sillero

WildCru, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford) and Dr Katie Slocombe (University of York). (

We would also like to thank the following for their invaluable teaching of the short courses:

Getting started in R to analyse biological field data : Dr Will Cresswell (School of Biology, Institute of

Behavioural and Neural Sciences, St Andrews University), with helpers Tharsila Carranza

(Conservation Science Group, University of Cambridge) and Kirsty MacLeod (Large Animal research

Group, University of Cambridge).

Conservation GIS in practice : Ian Edwards (Society for Conservation GIS UK).

An introduction to distance software for analysing transect and point count data : Dr Eri

(Research Unit for Wildlife Population Assessment, CREEM, University of St Andrews).

c Rexstad

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SCCS Internship Programme 2012 Report 2012 - final_1.pdf · series and gives young conservation scientists new skills and furthers their careers in the field ... Federal do Rio de