CONSERVATION RESEARCH BOOT CAMP

An initiative of Wild Learning Centre, supported by USAID’s Bagh Activity (a project implemented by WildTeam) 

Background               

WildTeam, formerly the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB), has been actively engaged with research and conservation of the country’s nature and natural resources over decades with a special focus on tiger conservation in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. As part of its conservation initiative, WildTeam and Zoological Society of London (ZSL) jointly established Noazesh Knowledge Centre (NKC) in 2011 with an aim to conserve the biological diversity of Bangladesh through disseminating conservation knowledge across wider communities. Currently, WildTeam is implementing USAID’s Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity (hereafter mentioned as Bagh Activity) in the Sundarbans, and has extended its support to strengthen NKC as a Wild Learning Centre (WLC) to inspire, engage and empower youths and conservation professionals in nature conservation. In particular, WLC initiative has a mission to build capacity among young students, and engage the youth and women in building public-private-partnerships necessary to support continued research strategies for nature conservation in Bangladesh. To address this need, WLC is pleased to announce Conservation Research Boot Camp for 2018 for skill development and guided conservation research, with support from Bagh Activity.

The need of this training

Bangladesh boasts a wealth of biodiversity across the country’s diverse landscapes. However, by having to support an estimated 163 million human populations within its territory of 147,570 square km, many wild animals and their habitats are at stake (IUCN Bangladesh 2015). To address these issues, skilled human resource is a prerequisite. In Bangladesh, several public and private universities offer Bachelors (Hons.) and MS/MSc/MPhil programmes in Zoology, Botany, Environmental and Forest Sciences. MS/MSc/MPhil students in these disciplines are required to conduct research projects in addition to theoretical courses. However, there is an abundance of evidence that shows that most of the research conducted by the students fail to maintain the required standards, and are hardly qualified to be published in reputed journals.      

After a careful study of the situation, WLC has identified two major hurdles that contribute to the low success rate of for these research projects, and lack of publications in these disciplines. Firstly, there is a significant shortage of project conceptualization and proper training in the early stage of these particular research initiatives. In particular, there are major shortcomings in research design, and there is a lack of proper instruction in their academic curricula. Secondly, lack of financial support from their universities limits the scope to collect sufficient field data in order to subsequently produce publishable thesis papers.

Therefore, WLC aims to develop the research capacity within research students through skill-based training, and fieldwork support to collect data for the intended projects. The target groups of this initiative are students currently studying MS/MSc/MPhil at different public and private universities of Bangladesh.

Learning objectives

At the end of this research boot camp the participants will be able to:

• Develop skills in research proposal writing that focuses on wildlife conservation;
• Design research methods and collect quality field data using appropriate technology, and from diverse social and natural terrain;
• Analyze field data following standard statistical procedures;
• Write a standard scientific report ready to submit for a degree to their university;
• Publish their research work to a reputable journal; and
• Conduct independent conservation research project in the future.

Selection process of the applicants

Following vigorous programme promotion, prospective candidates will register to apply for the Boot Camp by 17 March 2018. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews. Based on the quality and conservation merit of the applications, 10 applicants will be selected for a four-day long residential training for developing full research proposals following standard proposal template with a special focus on setting research objectives, justification, data collection methods and report writing. After the training, out of the 10 submissions the best three proposals will be selected for fieldwork support.

Eligibility of the applicants

Research students studying MS/MSc/MPhil, including those recently graduated from public or private universities of Bangladesh across disciplines of Zoology, Botany, Environmental Science and Forestry can apply. Prospective project ideas should have a major component of conservation significance of threatened species or ecosystem in the context of Bangladesh.

How to Apply

Application package should include following documents:

• Updated CV;
• Cover letter in 500 words describing why the participant is suitable for this boot camp, including his/her interest, career plan, and commitment, upon success, of working with WLC team throughout of the programme;
• A brief research proposal in 1200 words outlining the research title, objectives and methods, including the conservation significance of the project;
• A recommendation letter from the thesis supervisor (wherever applicable), with a clear statement that the research project will be co-supervised by a team of scientists from WLC.
• Applications will have to be sent to nkc@wild-team.org, with subject line for the email of “Application: WLC Conservation Research Boot Camp 2018” no later than 17 March 2018. Unsuccessful candidates will not be contacted.