PIPS Internship Organisation Name 

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT)- farmland ecology

Location

Fordingbridge, Hampshire

When deciding on your internship, what did you want to experience and what did you hope to gain from that experience? 

I was interested in gaining experience in ecological research as I have possible ambitions to become involved with wildlife disease and ecological projects in the future. I am also passionate about wildlife conservation and I am interested in finding a setting in which I could pursue this. I was also aiming to gain experience in computer programming and data analysis. Finally, I wanted to gain experience in research in a non-academic setting.

Did you get the experience you were expecting and did you achieve the personal development you had hoped to make?  

Yes, I gained a lot of experience how charity-based ecology research is done. I became proficient in programming in R.

Did you discover anything about yourself or make any achievements that you were not expecting?  

I wasn't expecting to be involved with public engagement during the internship and discovered that while it isn't something I haven't considered much, I was very excited by the benefit and can see the importance.

Has the internship made you feel differently about potential career options and has it helped to put the skills from research into a broader context?    

I am now very interested in going into charity research as I enjoy working in this environment.  The project was based primarily around research, so my research skills couldn't be applied to a boarder context.