Student field courses with Discover Eden
I am a conservation biology research associate at the School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I have an active research profile covering various topics, focusing mainly on marine sciences, ornithology, and anthropogenic impact research.
With my colleague Elton du Plooy, our company Discover Eden has put together some exciting short-term fieldwork opportunities for International undergraduate and recent graduate students to gain valuable field experience in the conservation field in South Africa, Kenya, and Ecuador. These opportunities are based on our combined experience working in research and conservation and our passion for providing experiential opportunities for early career researchers to gain hands-on practical experience and better understand the range of career opportunities available in conservation.
We have these exciting options for your students:
- 14-day Marine Biology field course in South Africa
- 19-day Big 5 experience in South Africa
- 19-day Ecology South Africa course
- 16-day Ecology Kenya course
- 11-day Ecology Ecuador course
Discover Eden is well-placed to see your students’ expectations for meaningful field experiences fulfilled. Our courses in 2022 and 2023 went exceptionally well, with students from universities in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia participating and giving good feedback. We now have great partnerships with over 60 universities that share these opportunities with their students and around 10 that now assign credit to participating students. Our courses are designed to expose students to a wide range of career options in the conservation sector, with a mix of practical hands-on experiences and interactions with some of the field's top research and conservation professionals.
As an active publishing researcher, I understand the value of early field experiences in shaping career choices for undergraduate and postgraduate students. We would love to provide these opportunities to your institution's students and are hopeful you would be open to sharing these opportunities with your students. For more information about who we are and what we do, please visit https://discovereden.co.za. If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact me. If you are interested in discussing a more structured partnership, we are open to that, too. Please feel free to email our information poster to your students or print it out to place on a department noticeboard.