For me, starting a career in ecology was about getting out of the artificially lit office and into the wilderness, trading pens for machetes and box-ticking for fire-lighting. Whilst I’m sure that staring at the electrical glow of a computer on a 9-5 basis has its thrills, I have always struggled to incorporate more of a balance.
And I do stress the verb struggle, as fieldwork is becoming an increasingly marginalized component of ecology/zoology/biology degrees. Therefore chances for finding valuable fieldwork experiences are limited, which on another note, isn’t conducive towards solving the catch 22 of ‘to get fieldwork experience you need fieldwork experience’. This article is to simply suggest how to break this circular paradoxical application process, but also to highlight the importance of knowing how you might take to fieldwork.
  | OK so I’m going to be presumptuous in poising this article towards students going through higher education. Firstly, ecology/biology/zoology etc. undergraduate programs generally offer at least one fieldwork module. These will introduce the student to the basics of recording in the field, but it is not necessarily a realistic representation. Usually the lecturers or demonstrators involved will have set out a definite work schedule that the entire class follows. What’s most beneficial from these courses is discovering whether you have an affinity for fieldwork or not. Undergraduate dissertations are increasingly lab or desk based and so might not be the best opportunity for gaining experience in fieldwork per say. However, they are not to be dismissed in terms of data analysis, question posing or methodological design, all important skills worth sharing on your CV. |
MSc programs will also offer a similar field work modules to a BSc and these are usual shared between UG and PG students with less and more work expected respectively. An MSc dissertation offers a higher scope for gaining useful fieldwork experience; this is when most students leave the nest and tackle the entire experience without the security demonstrators and classmates would provide should problems arise.
| Working holidays provide another pathway for amassing experience. I have some experience in these and all I can say is that you should research carefully because some can be more holiday than work. With the expense of these packages in mind you don’t want to waste your money. Also, you get out what you put in. There is value in asking the organisers to be involved in simple tasks such as organising data, logistical operations or simply shadowing staff on the more ‘boring’ and less brochure friendly aspects of the work involved. Getting involved in these areas does not just benefit your CV but also reveals what aspects – if any – of fieldwork you enjoy. I have certainly done my time in constantly refreshing the webpages of fieldwork post listings, sending my CV off to every poor soul in sight and now find myself on the illustrious pedestal of a PhD Studentship whereby I am posting fieldwork opportunities on those same websites. I now understand the importance of prior experience placed on these advertisements – you need a guarantee that you have someone who can collect the data soundly, and can withstand the physical and mental stresses of the fieldwork conditions. |   |
In reality, experience doesn’t necessarily have to come from a purely biological background and if you don’t possess this then it is not necessarily an issue in the field. A degree in biology is not required for ecological recording; these techniques are instead reliant on common sense. Excelling in class does not necessarily correlate with excelling in fieldwork. Both are components of the study of ecology, but ecology is a multi-disciplinary subject. I find the necessary qualities to possess are: being personable; being able to maintain morale; and having a good attitude and a sense of humour when things don’t go to plan (which invariably occurs). Expressing these qualities is definitely worthwhile regardless of how they were attained.
In my experience I have worked alongside individuals with no biological expertise who excelled in the field, but also stellar students whose interests were completely incompatible with the tasks at hand. So I’ll continue to look outside the box in terms of relevant qualities, but just as it is my duty to ensure that I am picking the right person, it is equally the applicant’s responsibility to understand the reality of the work involved and know whether it is right for them.
By Hagen O'Neill
Hagen is a Phd with CEG and studies red deer distribution on the island of Ulva, Scotland.
Hagen is a Phd with CEG and studies red deer distribution on the island of Ulva, Scotland.
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