When searching for an internship online it was like a minefield, so many to choose from. Everyone I emailed sent me a sales pitch back, they all seemed like glorified travel agents, all too perfect.
So you came to Explore at the Royal Geographical Society! Great Decision. Perhaps it's the Sunday night, you're on the train home and still buzzing from all the amazing connections, exciting stories and endless possibilities. You're not alone!
Conservation Evidence has the wildly ambitious but conceptually blindingly obvious aim of collecting together all the evidence for how well every conservation intervention ever dreamt up actually works.
A huge bugbear among many aspiring conservationists, is that most interesting conservation jobs and roles require experience. To get experience, you often need some previous experience.. and so it goes on and on until, eventually, you get lucky.
So you want to get involved in conservation? Perhaps a little frustratingly, everyone so far has told you that the first thing you need to do is 'get experience'.
I find best way to make them ordinary is to surround yourself with extraordinary people.
"There is a darkness threatening the biodiversity of the planet. There is one generation that can act." - Mike Clarke, RSPB
I want to work in conservation, but I'm not sure where to start.
Is science and academia the only route in? What if you've had a different career and want to move into the area - do you need to go back to university and study?
Expeditions can feel like the culmination of months or years of hard work, and the comedown of stepping back into reality can be strange. But just as they say ‘it's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all’ - the same is true for expeditions.
I'm really thrilled that the video for my TEDx talk is now online!