IMPORTANT: This Advertiser has requested that applicants MUST be National Residents / Valid Work Permit-holders. Other applicants need not apply.
Research
Internships
Based
at ZSL for IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group
The Zoological Society of London is offering an excellent opportunity to gain experience with one of the UK’s leading conservation research organisations, and to be part of a team which will provide a major contribution to a new comprehensive assessment of the threat status of the world’s small mammal species for the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM (the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant, fungi and animal species).
The IUCN SSC (International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission) Small Mammal Specialist
Group (SMSG), formed in 2011, serves as the global authority on the world’s small mammals through developing a greater scientific understanding of their diversity, status and threats, and by promoting effective conservation action to secure their future. A primary role of the SMSG is, through the Small Mammal Red List Authority (RLA), to contribute status assessments of the world’s rodents, insectivores and tree-shrews, which comprise over 2800 species (more than half of the world’s entire mammalian species diversity), to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. As part of the new Global Mammal Assessment, due to be completed in 2015, all of the world’s small mammal species need to receive an up-to-date status assessment according to the IUCN Red List’s standard Categories and Criteria (see http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/categories-and-criteria). The overall aim of the Red List is to convey the urgency and scale of conservation problems to the public and policy makers, and to motivate the global community to reduce species extinctions.
The successful candidate will liaise closely with SMSG members at ZSL, IUCN SSC, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Sapienza Universita di Roma, the Smithsonian Institution, and Texas A&M University, to evaluate whether the status of all rodent, insectivore and tree-shrew species that are currently considered to be threatened with extinction (listed on the Red List as either Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered) has changed since their previous assessment, and to
draft new formal Red List assessments on the status of these species. This six-month internship position will also provide ample opportunity to gain experience across the different projects run by ZSL’s Indicators and Assessments Unit,
including the Sampled Red List Index, Living Planet Index, and National Red List project. Specific tasks can include: collaborating with a network of international scientists and species experts to compile data; reviewing, drafting and validating IUCN Red List assessments; and preparation of conservation assessment documentation to submit to the IUCN Red List Unit,
including the creation of distribution maps in GIS. The role will also include updating the SMSG website with latest news and results.
Candidates will ideally have an undergraduate degree or above in biology, zoology, ecology, conservation biology or a related
subject. They should be IT proficient and should have exceptional attention to detail, along with strong research, analytical and communication skills and an ability to work independently. Database experience is highly desirable. Knowledge of GIS would also be an advantage, though training is provided.
We are looking for someone who is available for up to six months and who can be available for ideally five days a week, following normal office hours from 9am to 5pm. The internships are unpaid, although lunch (up to £5 a day) and travel
expenses (up to Zones 1-6) will be reimbursed.
Please send a covering letter outlining your interest and suitability for the roles, and CV to Samuel Turvey (samuel.turvey@ioz.ac.uk) by 7th August 2013. You will be contacted by 19 August 2013 if you have been selected for an interview. Interviews will be held on the week of 26th August 2013, with an ideal start date of 9 September 2013.
